Year 1 — Vocabulary

Word relationships and meaning

Find opposites, learn that some words mean almost the same thing, and work out a new word's meaning by looking at the words around it.

Back to Year 1

💡Understand

OPPOSITES are words that mean the exact opposite of each other, like 'hot' and 'cold'. Some words mean almost the same thing as each other — like 'happy' and 'glad'. If we don't know a word, the other words nearby can give us clues about what it means.

“The huge elephant was much bigger than the tiny mouse.”

If we didn't know 'huge', the word 'bigger' right after it, and the opposite word 'tiny', both give us clues that 'huge' means very, very big.

🔍Spot it

What is the opposite of each word?

Question 1

What is the opposite of 'big'?

💡 'Big' and 'small' are opposites — they mean the exact opposite of each other.

Question 2

What is the opposite of 'up'?

💡 'Up' and 'down' are opposites.

Question 3

Which word means almost the same as 'happy'?

💡 'Happy' and 'glad' mean almost the same thing.

🧠Think about it

If you read 'The gigantic whale was the biggest animal in the sea', how could you work out what 'gigantic' means, even if you'd never seen the word before?

✍️Try it

What is the opposite?

The opposite of 'fast'

Question 1

What is the opposite of 'fast'?

💡 Think of a word that means the exact opposite speed.

📝Practise

Choose the opposite or the word with a similar meaning.

Question 1

What is the opposite of 'hot'?

Question 2

What is the opposite of 'happy'?

Question 3

Which word means almost the same as 'quick'?

Question 4

In one word, what do we call two words that mean the exact opposite of each other?

💡 It's the first idea covered in this lesson.

Question 5

What is the opposite of 'day'?

Question 6

Which word means almost the same as 'little'?

🎯Apply

Read the passage, then answer the questions below.

The enormous dinosaur was much bigger than the small mouse next to it.

Question 1

What clue words help us guess that 'enormous' means very big?

💡 Look at the words right after 'enormous'.

Question 2

What is the opposite of 'enormous' in this sentence?

💡 The mouse is described using this opposite word.

Question 3

What animal was described as 'small'?

💡 It's the animal next to the dinosaur.

🏆Challenge

Can you think of the opposite of 'open'?

🔄Review

A quick mastery check — 3 questions.

Question 1

What is the opposite of 'wet'?

Question 2

How can nearby words help us guess a new word's meaning?

Question 3

Which word means almost the same as 'big'?

Want to practise building words from prefixes, suffixes and roots? Try the word-family builder →