Year 6 · SPaG · Spring: Vocabulary
Year 6 antonyms worksheet and PowerPoint
To recognise antonyms and to make opposites with the prefixes un-, dis-, in-, im-, il- and ir-.
Antonyms
Antonyms are words with opposite meanings. Some antonyms are different words (hot, cold). Others are made by adding a prefix (happy, unhappy).
| different words | hot / cold, fast / slow, victory / defeat |
|---|---|
| un-, dis- | happy → unhappy, agree → disagree |
| im-, il-, ir-, in- | possible → impossible, legal → illegal, regular → irregular, correct → incorrect |
| careful | not every word has one antonym |
Examples
- The soup was hot. → The soup was cold.
- It was possible. → It was impossible.
Key words
- antonym
- a word with the opposite meaning
- opposite
- as different as possible
- prefix
- letters added to the start of a word
- negative prefix
- a prefix that means not, such as un- or dis-
What is on the worksheet
Every sheet for this lesson has a short teaching box and 12 questions that get gradually harder: 8 fluency questions, then 4 reasoning questions that ask pupils to explain or choose. A writing challenge follows. The questions use the same styles as the key stage 2 grammar and punctuation test (circle, underline, tick, fill the gap, add punctuation, rewrite, explain). They are written for this website, not copied from past papers.
All the answers are on the last page of the same editable Word file. New questions are made every time, so you can print a different sheet for every group or for homework. The same sheet code always gives the same sheet.
Writing challenge: Write ten sentences that each contain a pair of antonyms, such as 'The hot soup cooled until it was cold.' Underline each pair.
Pupil target: I can find antonyms and make opposites.
The PowerPoint
A 20-slide lesson deck for the same lesson: a starter that revisits earlier learning, key words, an I do and a You do question on each slide with a countdown timer, answers that appear one click at a time, and a challenge. Download the antonyms PowerPoint.
Where this lesson fits
This is lesson 49 of 72 in the Year 6 SPaG scheme, in the Spring term, block “Vocabulary”. It is taught before the SATs grammar test in May.
Other lessons in this block
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