Primary 5 · English · Vocabulary & Word Meaning
Vocabulary & Word Meaning questions for Primary 5 English
12 questions to work through online, 4 of them written out the way the paper asks. Answer and you get the working straight away, then a score at the end. No sign-up, and you can retake it as often as you like.
- Connotation
- Phrasal verbs
- Figurative meaning
- Shades of meaning
- Words that look alike
- Precise verbs
- Idioms in context
- Formal and informal words
- Writing the word
- Writing the opposite
Answers and explanations for all 12 questions
Every answer with the reasoning behind it. Worth reading after you have tried the set — or on its own, if you are a parent marking it.
Which word tells you the writer disapproved? The developer ______ the old shophouses to make room for the car park.
Answer: demolished
Demolished carries the violence of the act — it is the word you choose when you think something was worth keeping.
What does "put off" mean in this sentence? The committee put off the decision until the next meeting.
Answer: delayed it
Put off means postpone, and until the next meeting tells you when it was moved to.
What does "a mountain of marking" mean? My form teacher went home with a mountain of marking every night that term.
Answer: a very large amount of it
Comparing a pile to a mountain is a way of saying how much of it there was.
Which word fits best? The witness gave a ______ account of what she had seen, down to the colour of his shoelaces.
Answer: detailed
The shoelaces are the clue: an account that goes down to that level is a detailed one.
Which word fits best? Her grandmother's ______ improved once the new medicine was prescribed.
Answer: condition
The state of a patient's health is their condition, which is what a medicine improves.
Which word fits best? The minister ______ the rumours about the new station within the hour.
Answer: denied
To deny a rumour is to state publicly that it is not true.
What does "kept his cards close to his chest" mean? Throughout the negotiation, the older brother kept his cards close to his chest.
Answer: He did not let anyone know what he was planning.
A card player who holds his hand against his chest is making sure nobody else can see it — the idiom means keeping your intentions to yourself.
Which word suits a formal report? The class ______ that the recycling bins were emptied only once a week.
Answer: observed
Observed is the formal word for noticing something on purpose, which is what a report describes.
Write one word for the blank. After three weeks of drought, the reservoir was at its lowest ______ since 2014.
Answer: level
Water in a reservoir is measured by its level, and after a drought it is at its lowest level.
Write the opposite of the marked word. The instructions were [deliberately] vague, so that each group could interpret them differently.
Answer: accidentally
Deliberately means on purpose, so its opposite is accidentally.
Write one word for the blank. A person who gives up their time to help without being paid is a ______ .
Answer: volunteer
Someone who works unpaid because they chose to is a volunteer.
Write one word for the blank. The two accounts of the accident were so different that they could not both be ______ .
Answer: accurate
If two accounts contradict each other, at most one can match what happened — so they cannot both be accurate.