Completing Analogies Worksheet

An analogy compares two pairs of words that go together in the same way, and learning to read one is a big step in third grade vocabulary. When a student sees calf : cow :: kitten : cat, they have to name the hidden relationship before they can finish the pair. This Completing Analogies Worksheet gives third graders steady practice with the everyday relationships analogies are built from: a worker and the place they work, a young animal and its grown-up, a word and its opposite, an animal and the sound it makes, a part and the whole it belongs to, a word and its synonym, and a tool and the job it does. Naming the relationship is the real skill, and it carries straight over into reading tests and everyday word study.

This 3rd grade analogies worksheet moves from supported practice to independent thinking in three short parts. In Part A, students choose from a four-word word bank to finish four analogies. In Part B, they fill in the bubble beside the word that finishes each pair, choosing between three words that are all related to the clue so only the relationship tells them apart. In Part C, they finish two analogies on their own and then write, in their own words, how the first two words go together. Use it as morning work, as a small-group vocabulary lesson, as homework, or as a quick check before a unit test.

What’s Included

• 1 print-ready PDF worksheet
• Answer key
• 9 analogy activities: 4 word-bank items, 3 multiple-choice items, and 2 write-and-explain items

This Completing Analogies Worksheet helps children in three ways. First, it builds vocabulary by putting familiar words side by side so students notice how meanings connect instead of memorizing definitions. Second, it strengthens reasoning, because every item asks the child to test a relationship and check that the second pair works the same way as the first. Third, the write-and-explain section turns a quiet guess into language: once a student can say “these are opposites” or “this is a part of that,” they can apply the same thinking to an analogy they have never seen before.

Teachers and parents can keep the practice going away from the page. Play a quick oral analogy game during transitions, giving three words and letting students supply the fourth. Write pairs on index cards and have partners sort them into relationship piles such as opposites, synonyms, and part-to-whole. Ask students to write one analogy about a topic from science or social studies, then trade papers and solve each other’s. Reading a story together also works well: pause and build an analogy from two characters or two settings on the page.

Related Resources

• Analogies Word Bank Worksheet
• Analogies Multiple Choice Worksheet
• Complete the Analogy Worksheet
• Context Clues Song by Have Fun Teaching