5th Grade Word Analogies worksheets

About this worksheet

An analogy asks a reader to find the relationship inside one pair of words and then apply that exact relationship to a second pair — hot is to cold as up is to down works because both pairs are opposites, not because the words share a topic. A fifth grader who has not been taught to name the relationship often guesses a word that is merely related to the third word instead of one that matches the pattern. Every analogy on this worksheet is explained in a short teaching sentence first, spelling out the relationship in plain words, before your child is asked to complete it, name the relationship, or match a different pair to the same pattern.

The seven relationships covered are opposites, synonyms, category membership, part-to-whole, tool-to-job, animal-to-baby, and worker-to-workplace. The common mistake is choosing a word that is simply associated with the third word rather than one that repeats the same kind of relationship. Ask your child to say the relationship out loud in their own words before choosing an answer.

What your child will learn

• Complete an analogy by matching its relationship
• Name the kind of relationship connecting a pair of words
• Match a new word pair to the same relationship
• Explain why a tempting choice does not match the pattern