15 Fun Ways To Teach Vocabulary
Giving students 20 new vocabulary words each Monday and a quiz each Friday with lots of memorization in between may feel like an efficient way to help them learn new words. But these skill-and-drill words practiced out of context just don’t stick!
So how can you make sure your students are getting enough practice with new words? Today, we’re exploring 15 fun ways to teach vocabulary that you can use to help your students learn new words and stay engaged while they do it.
15 fun vocabulary activities for students
We’ve broken down these vocabulary activities into three categories to help you choose which ones are right for your class and lessons:
Reading and writing
One of the most traditional ways to teach new vocabulary is to incorporate it into other reading and writing activities. But that doesn’t mean the practice has to be boring! Here are six fun reading and writing activities you can do with your students to boost their vocabulary skills:
1. Teach words in context
Making vocabulary practice fun doesn’t always mean incorporating a project or a game. There’s evidence that deep diving into a topic can help accelerate word learning because students repeatedly encounter the same new vocabulary words.
This helps students build background knowledge and context around new words, which can be just as fun. The way you structure the activities is what makes them enjoyable.
Picking high-interest topics like social media, sports, or music can help. Using a variety of content, such as interactive videos, experiments, or demonstrations, can also help. To encourage students to practice the words correctly during these deep dives, try a sentence starter activity.
For example, you may give students a prompt to learn the word “competition,” like: The competition during the first Olympic Games was _____ because ______.
2. Try word maps
Word maps can help students build background knowledge, understand context, and make text connections among their vocabulary words. This is a good modeling activity to help students learn how to research and break down what a word means and how to use it in writing or conversation.
Let’s say you were still using the vocabulary word “competition.” You’d start by adding that word in a bubble in the center of the page. Then, ask students to brainstorm words related to “competition.” They may give answers like “games,” “fun,” or “win.”
After brainstorming, ask students to group the words into categories. Draw a line from the center bubble and create new bubbles for each category. With the sample words, the categories may be: “Reasons for competition,” “Feelings,” and “Outcomes.”
Download your printable: Web chart
3. Use the Frayer Model
The Frayer Model is a specific type of graphic organizer that helps students define and understand the meaning and context of vocabulary words. On the organizer, the vocabulary word goes in the middle, and there are four boxes around the outside for students to complete:
Top left: Definition
Top right: Characteristics
Bottom left: Examples
Bottom right: Nonexamples
You can use this as a whole-class modeling activity or have students complete the organizers in small groups with the help of tools like their textbook, the dictionary, a thesaurus, or other supplemental materials. If you make a Model for each new word they learn, students can put together vocabulary journals, with each organizer as a new page.
Download your printable: Building word knowledge
4. Practice linear arrays
Linear arrays help students extend their understanding of word relationships, connotations, and intensity.
Have students draw a line and write one vocabulary word on the left side and a more intense synonym on the right side of the line. Have them fill in three blank spaces between those two words with other synonyms.
For example, you may have them put “competition” on the left and “rivalry” on the right because rivalry is extreme competition.
From there, students can fill in the blanks with synonyms that increase in intensity from competition to rivalry. Their list may look like:
Competition
Fight
Battle
Feud
Rivalry
You may track all these arrays as a class on a large anchor chart, or have students create word journals to record the information on their own.
5. Write acrostic poems
Help students learn the vocabulary words and practice writing by creating acrostic poems. In an acrostic, each letter of the word acts as the first letter of a line in the poem. If we shorten our sample word to “compete” for the sake of this example, an acrostic may look like:
Come together
Olympic Games
Matches and races
Play to win
Exciting to watch
Try your best
Everybody can play
This activity challenges students to use what they know about the definition and the context of the vocabulary word to expand on it.
Visuals
Part of learning vocabulary words is also learning how to assign meaning to them. Visual representations and activities can help students make those all-important connections between a word on a page and what it means.
6. Add images
Showing pictures, GIFs, and illustrations that correspond with vocabulary words can help students make associations between the word and its meaning. This is especially helpful for abstract concepts like emotions, homonyms, and words with multiple meanings. It’s also a good tool for students still learning to read and English language learners.
For example, if students are learning the word “frightened,” you may show a picture of someone whose eyes are wide and eyebrows are high on their forehead. Or you may show a GIF of a person or cartoon character shaking or hiding. When students can see how a word “looks,” they may be more likely to remember it and discover how to use it in context.
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7. Act it out
Another way to help students connect a word to its meaning is by actively using it. You may create readers’ theater scenarios that help students illustrate each vocabulary word. If we return to the word “competition,” you may have students perform a pretend tennis match or act out playing checkers.
Charades and Pictionary are two fun acting games to play to help students learn their vocabulary words. Charades is similar to the readers’ theater scenarios, only students can’t use words—just actions—to get others to guess their word. Pictionary is silent like charades, but involves drawing instead of full-body acting.
8. Draw the definitions
If you want to remove the game aspect of Pictionary from your lessons, you can still encourage students to draw definitions for their vocabulary words. This may be a helpful exercise for students who are still learning to read and write, those who need learning adaptations, and English language learners.
Students can draw their definitions in a vocabulary journal, on a graphic organizer, or in any other place where they’re keeping track of their vocabulary words.
9. Practice with matching
Matching reviews can feel like a game, even if they’re not timed or you don’t keep score. This can make practicing vocabulary words more fun. Make the cards or slips of paper with the vocabulary words on some and the definitions on the other. Then, scramble the cards or put the slips in a bowl and have students pull them out and try to match.
Another option is to turn all the cards or slips text-side down and arrange them in rows and columns. Students can then do a memory match by turning over two at a time. If they match a word with a definition, they get to keep the pair face up. Keep working until they’ve matched all the pairs.
Formative’s practice center has matching flashcards to help students do this type of vocabulary review. You can create your own by manually typing words and definitions or by uploading your vocabulary list into Formative and assigning the sets to students. When you assign a practice set, you can also track student usage data like:
Total practice time
Total sessions
Last practiced
Last performance percentage
Games
One of the most fun ways to learn is when you don’t even realize you’re doing it! Introduce friendly competition and get your students engaged with these vocabulary games:
10. Would You Rather?
This game is helpful for teaching synonym and antonym vocabulary. Put students in pairs or small groups and give them a vocabulary list. Then, present the prompt: “Would you rather be/feel/have X or Y?” They can substitute X and Y for two words in their list.
Students can work in groups to respond to questions like “Would you rather be hot or cold?” or “Would you rather be funny or silly?” Make sure they explain why they chose their answer to help them use the words in context! You can also adapt this game into a writing assignment for independent practice.
11. Forehead sticky notes
Play a guessing game with a twist to learn vocabulary words and definitions. Write the vocabulary words on sticky notes and put one on each student’s forehead so they can’t see the word, but their classmates can.
Students walk around the room, and their classmates give clues to the words on their foreheads. When they guess their words correctly, students can remove their sticky notes and sit down.
12. Vocabulary Jeopardy
This trivia game can be a great review before a vocabulary quiz or test. Make the board manually with index cards or sticky notes, or make it electronically with a program like Formative. You can keep the categories the same each time you play:
Define: Give the word definition.
Synonym: Give a word that means the same or nearly the same thing.
Antonym: Give a word that means the opposite.
Sentence: Use the word correctly in a sentence.
Start with each of the cards flipped over or covered up so students can’t see the vocabulary word. Write the point values for each question on the back side of the card or the cover sheet. Typically, cards in the same row across columns have the same point values.
Students can pick which category and point value they want, and you can flip the card over. They have to provide the right information that pairs with the vocabulary word on the card. Traditional Jeopardy rules require contestants to answer in the form of a question. You can choose to keep this rule or reject it, as it may get confusing when answering the sentence category.
13. Prefix, suffix, and root word games
For general vocabulary practice, try games that teach students prefixes, suffixes, and root words. This can help them understand and identify more words when they’re reading inside and outside of class.
A variation of Go Fish is one option. Create your own deck of cards with root words, prefixes, or suffixes and their meanings. The goal of the game is to make pairs, and students will match the part of the word with its definition.
For example, a root word deck may contain the cards “aqua” and “water.” One student may ask another, “Do you have the root word for water?” If the other player has the “aqua” card, they have to give it up, and the first student makes a pair.
We also have matching practice sets for this type of activity on Formative. You can use the sets to have students practice through flashcards, matching, or a quiz. Another option is to use the word lists to create your cards for Go Fish!
14. Vocabulary bingo
Use a game that students already know and love to help them practice vocabulary words. Each space on the bingo board includes one vocabulary word. Don’t forget the free space in the middle!
Read students the definitions and have students cross off the spaces if they have the corresponding words. To reuse the cards, try:
Using a pencil to cross out each space.
Putting temporary bingo markers on each space.
Putting the sheets in laminated holders and using dry erase markers to cross out each space.
For a more challenging version of this game, put the definitions on the bingo card and call the words instead.
Download your printable: Bingo board
15. Password
Just like the Password game show, have students give each other clues to help them guess the secret vocabulary word. Creating word maps or using the Frayer Model before playing this game can help. Those activities encourage students to brainstorm other words they can use as clues to give their classmates to guess the password.
While traditional Password typically uses one-word clues, you may update your rules to have students give example situations, only synonyms, only antonyms, or another form of clue that best fits the activity.
Teach vocabulary with Newsela ELA
Newsela ELA can be one of your all-in-one tools to practice vocabulary while students are reading, learning, and building background knowledge of important concepts. Use resources and supports like:
Power Words: Our Power Words feature provides student-friendly definitions and activities to encourage in-context vocabulary practice.
Subject-specific vocabulary: Besides Power Words, you can share AI-generated subject-specific vocabulary definitions that appear when you assign an article to students.
Annotations: Use annotations to model how to highlight unfamiliar words and the context clues students can use to help them make sense. Shareable annotations also let you provide additional context to unfamiliar words before assigning an article.
Read aloud mode: Our read-aloud feature lets students listen to a text and hear how unfamiliar words and new vocabulary sound when spoken.
Leveled text: Expand students' vocabulary with content published at five reading levels with level control for teachers. As the text complexity increases, so does the complexity of the Power Words and subject-specific vocabulary.
ELA Standards and Skills Collection: This collection has resources to teach word meaning and choice to elementary and secondary students using fiction and nonfiction texts.
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