Synonyms Fill in the Blank Worksheet

Synonyms are words that mean the same thing, and knowing a few of them is what lets a writer say enormous instead of big for the third time in a paragraph. This synonyms fill in the blank worksheet gives third graders eight short sentences and a box of eight words, and asks them to find the one word that could take the underlined word’s place. Because the replacement has to fit the sentence, students practice reading for meaning rather than matching two words on a list.

Each sentence describes something a child already pictures easily: a tidy desk, a chair being repaired, a cold morning, a rabbit running through grass. One word in every sentence is underlined, and the student writes the matching word from the box on the line to the right. The words in the box are printed in alphabetical order while the answers run in a different order, so nobody can solve the page by pairing the first blank with the first word. Every clue points to exactly one box word, which makes the page quick to check and fair to grade.

What’s Included

• One printable page with eight sentence items and a word box of eight synonyms
• An underlined target word in every sentence, with a full writing line for the answer
• Grade-level vocabulary measured to the third-grade reading band
• A complete answer key on the second page
• A clean, uncluttered layout with room to write in pencil

Three reasons a 3rd grade synonyms worksheet like this one helps kids. First, replacing a word inside a real sentence is the skill the standards actually test, and it is harder than matching word pairs on a list. Second, the eight box words are ones students can start using in their own writing that same day. Third, the page is short enough to finish in one sitting, so a struggling reader gets the whole experience of finishing something correctly.

Teachers and parents can use the page more than once. Work the first two items together on the board, then let students finish alone. When the page is done, ask students to read a sentence aloud twice, once with the underlined word and once with their answer, and decide whether the meaning changed. Keep a class synonym chart on the wall and add the eight box words to it. For an extra challenge, have students write one new sentence of their own using any word from the box. This synonyms fill in the blank worksheet also pairs well with an antonyms page later in the same week.

Related Resources

• Synonyms Word Bank Worksheet
• Synonyms Matching Worksheet
• Writing with Synonyms Worksheet
• Context Clues Song