General Ability 4 – 1 – 5 Name: __________________________

WORD LIST
Put these words and meanings into your PERSONAL DICTIONARY and learn them for a test.
walked with heavy steps; unable to answer a question
1. Frail not strong; easily broken
2. Delight (n.) great pleasure
3. Heave lift up something heavy
4. Bray noise made by a donkey
5. Groom (v.) to brush and clean an animal
6. Matted tangled and thick
7. Disgrace loss of honour or respect
8. Frequently very often; at regular intervals
9. Support help; loyalty; strength
10. Variety a mixed assortment; many different kinds
11. Extinct have completely died out; no longer exist
12. Flightless unable to fly
13. Survive to remain alive; to live on
14. Crustacean creatures which live in water and have a hard shell
15. Spectacular (n.) an outstanding event; (adj.) being great

A. Use words from the list that best complete these sentences.
1. We _________________ our team and cheer it on to win.

2. The girl opened her present with _________________.

3. There was a great _________________ of fruit to choose from.

4. Our family _________________ goes to Queensland.

5. Does your school take part in the Schools _________________?

6. My uncle tried to _________________ the heavy box onto the truck.

7. Dodo birds are now _________________ and will never be seen again.

8. The lost boy was able to _________________ by eating native berries.

9. Always _________________ your horse before a horse show.

10. They were in _________________ for having told lies.

General Ability 4 – 1 – 5 Name: __________________________
B. Look, cover, write, check and re-write.

Spectacular

Frail

Crustaceans

Delight

Survive

Heave

Flightless

Bray

Extinct

Groom

Variety

Matted

Support

Disgrace

Frequently

C. Choose 5 words from the list and write sentences of your own.

1. ___________________________________________________________________________________

2. ___________________________________________________________________________________

3. ___________________________________________________________________________________

4. ___________________________________________________________________________________

5. ___________________________________________________________________________________
General Ability 4 – 1 – 5 Name: __________________________

‘TH’ FAMILY
these broth mouth other together clothes
those froth north brother feather teeth
that moth warmth father weather cloth
rather south smooth mother
Use the appropriate ‘TH’ word from the box to complete the sentence.
1. We felt the ________________ of the fire on our faces.

2. These shoes are mine. Who owns ________________?

3. The ________________ day I went swimming with Sally.

4. The ________________ in summer is always hot.

5. Dad said ________________ he would be home late tonight.

USING CLUES FROM ‘TH’ FAMILY

1. Not apart ________________

2. Bubbles on top of liquid ________________

3. Opposite of North ________________

4. A male sibling ________________

5. We must wear these ________________

6. Another name for soup ________________

7. A part of your face ________________

8. Birds are covered in these ________________

9. It is like a butterfly ________________

10. Wipe up spilt milk with this ________________

General Ability 4 – 1 – 5 Name: __________________________
MAKING ‘TH’ WORDS
Put ‘TH’ in the correct place in each group of letters to make a word from the box below.
feather north rather bother teeth together
smooth mother warmth clothes other clothes

1. togeer 2. warm 3. moer 4. weaer

t_______ w_____ m_____ w______

5. smoo 6. nor 7. feaer 8. boer

s_____ n____ f______ b_____

9. cloes 10. oer 11. tee 12. raer

c______ o____ t____ r_____

USING SUFFIXES
Suffixes are little words added to the end of some words to change their meanings a little bit, eg. ‘ette’ is a
suffix that means ‘little’.
What do these words mean?
1. cigarette ________________________________ 2. kitchenette ______________________________

3. statuette ________________________________ 4. wagonette _______________________________

SYNONYMS

commence piece rebuke beg gift hug

1. fragment ____________ 2. embrace ____________ 3. begin ____________

4. donation ____________ 5. implore ____________ 6. scold ____________

ANTONYMS

fresh comic impure forbid inferior tenant

1. pure ____________ 2. tragic ____________ 3. stale ____________

4. landlord ____________ 5. superior ____________ 6. permit ____________

General Ability 4 – 1 – 5 Name: __________________________
PLURALS
Rewrite these sentences making the words in heavy type plural.
1. The child made a billy cart out of a box.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

2. One of the puppets were a dwarf.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

3. A woman and a man saw a wolf.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

4. He bought a copy of this magazine.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

5. Mum cooked a potato and a tomato.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

CONFUSING PAIRS
Use the correct word from each pair to complete these sentences.
1. night – knight a) Last ____________ I had a wonderful dream.

b) The ____________ rode on his white horse.

2. stairs – stares a) That old woman always _____________ at me.

b) Go up the _____________ to your bedroom.

3. roll – role a) My friend has a great ____________ in the school play.

b) The teacher marked the class ____________.

4. lesson – lessen a) Put cream on the burn to ____________ pain.

b) Tim went for his music _____________.

5. heel – heal a) The ____________ of her shoe broke off.

b) His sore leg will _____________ soon.

General Ability 4 – 1 – 5 Name: __________________________
ABBREVIATION
What do these abbreviations mean?
1. Govt. ____________________ 2. C.O.D. ___________________ 3. i.e. ______________________

4. Dept. ____________________ 5. km/h ____________________

ADJECTIVE INTO ADVERBS

Change these adjectives into adverbs, eg. Quick into quickly.
1. Bright ___________________ 2. Clever ___________________ 3. Clear ____________________

4. Slow ____________________ 5. Neat ____________________

IDIOMS
What do these idioms mean?
1. To be a wet blanket _____________________________________________________________________

2. To twiddle your thumbs _________________________________________________________________

3. To kick the bucket _____________________________________________________________________

PROVERB OF THE WEEK

Like father, like son – children have similar characteristics to their parents.

Spelling and vocabulary test

1. 2.

3. 4.

5. 6.

7. 8.

9. 10.

11. 12.

13. 14.

15. 16.

Score: _________
General Ability 4 – 1 – 5 Name: __________________________
EXERCISES
1. Choose one word from each group to make a new word. Left group first.
som rem pod ity edy ary
It means
A. cure B. precise C. improve D. sadness

2. Which word does not belong in this group of words with similar meanings?
A. convention B. tradition C. legacy D. custom

3. What is the category to which the other three words belong?

A. new B. lunar C. crescent D. full

4. MONOTONOUS is to GRIPPING as ARRESTING is to

A. RELEASING B. ENGROSSING C. DIVINE D. HUMDRUM

5. Choose a word from each group to make a pair of words similar in meaning.
channel policy session sequel capacity conduit
A. channel, conduit B. policy, conduit C. session, sequel D. session, capacity

6. Which letter ends the first word and begins the second? Chape ( ) oan
A. m B. r C. l D. t

7. A word is incorrectly used in the sentence below.

If it hadn't been for him, I would have told you that your making a big mistake.
The incorrectly used word is
A. hadn't B. been C. have D. your

8. A word is missing from the word written in capital letters in the sentence below.
As he was not from Australia, Jeremiah's accent sounded rather PEIAR.
Which is the missing group of letters?
A. VEN B. TIN C. CUL D. EMI

9. Change the order of all the letters in RUSTIC to make a word related to
A. sheep B. lemon C. metal D. spring
General Ability 4 – 1 – 5 Name: __________________________
10. Which one of these words can be pronounced in more than one way?
A. mope B. minute C. regular D. gesture

11. Find the word hidden at the end of one word and the beginning of the next in the sentence below.
When treated properly, dogs can learn to be obedient.
It means
A. ask earnestly B. ashamed C. real D. complete.

12. Choose a word from each group to make a pair of words similar in meaning.
1 2 3 4 5 6
swerve advice control guidance inform maintain
A. 3, 5 B. 3, 6 C. 2, 4 D. 1, 4

13. Which letter ends the first word and begins the next? for (?) ust
A. k B. d C. g D. e

14. Read clockwise to find a word. The missing letter is

A. N B. R C. D D. B

15. Choose the category to which three of the other words belong.
A. boat B. ship C. craft D. yacht

16. Which word also belongs in this group of words with similar meanings?
neat, tidy, arranged, ?
A. careful B. skillful C. efficient D. orderly

17. Remove a letter from SWERVE to make a word meaning ATTEND TO. The removed letter is
A. R B. E C. V D. W

18. Choose a word from each group to make a new word. Left group first
far get for close ever get
It means
A. whenever B. always C. soon D. existing
General Ability 4 – 1 – 5 Name: __________________________
19. These are four meanings of SET.
(1) PUT IN A SPECIFIC POSITION
(2) INSTRUCT
(3) DECIDE ON A TIME OR PLACE
(4) HARDEN
Which meaning of SET is used in this sentence?
The librarian set Peter the task of tidying the shelves.
A. (1) B. (2) C. (3) D. (4)

20. Which word is pronounced or said differently from the other three?
A. hearth B. birth C. worth D. earth