Grade 3 Synonyms and Antonyms word search, scramble and crossword puzz

Grade 3 Synonyms and Antonyms word search, scramble and crossword puzzle

I made this synonyms and antonyms puzzle set for my 3rd graders during our vocabulary unit. The kids could say a word was "like" another, but they had no idea what words like synonym, antonym, or opposite meant when we started using the vocabulary. They also kept mixing up the two terms and couldn't tell which was which in a sentence. So I put together a word search, a word scramble, and a crossword using pairs like big/large (synonym) and big/small (antonym), hot/warm and hot/cold, fast/quick and fast/slow, happy/joyful and happy/sad, and more. Nothing fancy — just puzzles to help the concepts finally stick.

The PDF is four pages. Three puzzles plus one answer key page. The word search works well for quiet time after recess or independent practice. The scramble gets them talking because they argue about the spelling of "synonym" (it's a tricky one) or whether a synonym and an antonym are the same thing (they're not—they always have opinions about it). The crossword I use for partners or as a review, and I usually have a list of synonyms and antonyms nearby for the kids who need the extra support. I added a couple simple happy/sad face and big/small object drawings but nothing too busy.

Works for 3rd through 4th grade. Print and go. Sometimes I have early finishers write one synonym and one antonym for a word of their choice on the back. The kids actually ask for these now.