Completing Idioms Worksheet

An idiom is a common saying whose meaning cannot be worked out from the words themselves, which is exactly what makes idioms hard for young readers and worth teaching directly. This Completing Idioms Worksheet asks fifth graders to finish six well-known idioms that are each missing a single word, with no word box to copy from, so the saying has to come back to them whole. Sayings like raining cats and dogs, cost an arm and a leg, and back to the drawing board show up constantly in books, films and everyday talk, and a student who only half remembers them loses the sentence around them.

The worksheet prints on two pages. Page one holds the two parts and page two is the answer key. Part A gives six sentences, each carrying an idiom with one word missing and a full writing line underneath. Part B lists three more idioms in dark type with their meanings beside them, and asks students to write a sentence of their own using each one. Use this Completing Idioms Worksheet as independent practice, as a warm-up before a figurative language lesson, as homework, or as a quick check of what students already know.

What’s Included

• Six complete-the-idiom sentences with a full-width writing line for each answer
• Three idioms to use in an original sentence, each with its meaning supplied
• Nine idioms in all, none of them repeated from our other idioms worksheets
• A definition of an idiom in the directions, so no pre-teaching is required
• A full answer key with sample responses on the second page

Three reasons this helps kids. First, recall without a word box is harder and more useful than copying, because it is how the saying will have to arrive when a student meets it in a book. Second, writing an original sentence proves understanding in a way that circling an answer never does. Third, every item is a real saying students will hear again this week, so the practice keeps paying off outside the lesson.

Teachers and parents can stretch this page a long way. Ask students to draw the literal picture an idiom describes and then explain why the saying means something else. Keep a class chart of idioms overheard during the week and add to it every Friday. For a quick assessment, read an idiom aloud and ask for a thumbs up or down on whether the sentence used it correctly. This 5th grade idioms worksheet pairs well with any unit on figurative language, similes, or context clues.

Related Resources

• Matching Idioms Worksheet
• Filling in Idioms Worksheet
• Figurative Language Worksheet
• Simile Song Video