Verbs ESL Games, Worksheets and Activities

ESL Action Verbs Worksheet - Vocabulary and Writing Exercises: Matching, Gap-fill, Identifying, Writing Sentences In this handy action verbs worksheet, students learn and practice common physical action verbs. Students begin by matching action verbs to pictures. Students then do a gap-fill exercise where they complete sentences using the action verbs. Next, students read about someone's daily routine and circle all the action verbs in the text. Students then move on to practice the action verbs by writing about their daily routine using the verbs from the worksheet. When the students have finished, they read their daily routines to the class. show less

ESL Common Verbs Activity - Vocabulary and Listening: Crossword, Reading Clues, Guessing, Gap-fill - Pair Work In this free verbs crossword activity, students complete a crossword with common verbs by guessing missing words in sentences. In pairs, students take it in turns to ask their partner for a clue to one of their missing verbs. Their partner then reads the sentence for that verb using the word 'blank' where the verb should go. The student then tries to guess the verb. If the student guesses the verb successfully, they write it in the crossword. If not, their partner continues to give more clues until the student is able to guess the word. Finally, students check their answers and spelling by comparing worksheets. show less

ESL Verbs Miming Game - Vocabulary: Miming Guessing, Forming Sentences from Prompts - Pair and Group Work In this entertaining verbs miming game, students practice using verbs and verb phrases with various sentence patterns. Teams take turns choosing a square. One teammate picks up a card and mimes the verb or verb phrase to their partner, who watches the mime, guesses the words and makes a sentence using the gap-fill above the game board. If the sentence is correct, the team wins the square, marking it with a circle or cross. If the sentence is wrong, the card is placed at the bottom of the pile. The first team to get three squares in a row wins the round. Students play four rounds, alternating which team starts and using the cards provided for each game. The team who wins the most games is the winner. show less

ESL Verb Collocation Games - Vocabulary: Pelmanism, Matching, Forming Sentences from Prompts, Freer Practice - Group Work In these two engaging verb collocation games, students practice verb collocations and make sentences with 20 common verbs. The game can be used with the '20 Common Verbs' worksheet which provides practice with the same verbs. First, students play a pelmanism game to practice common verb collocations. In groups, students take it in turns to turn over one verb card and one collocation card. If the verb matches with the phrase on the other card to make a collocation, the student keeps the two cards, scores a point and has another turn. If not, the student turns the cards back over. When all the cards have been matched, students add up their scores and move on to the second game. In this game, students take it in turns to pick up a verb card and make a sentence with the verb. Students are not allowed to repeat a collocation from the first game and must try to create new sentences using the verbs. If the sentence uses the verb correctly and is grammatically correct, the student keeps the card and scores a point. Finally, students add up their points from both games to find the winner. show less

ESL Common Verbs Worksheet - Grammar, Vocabulary and Writing Exercises: Matching, Gap-fill, Writing Sentences This comprehensive verbs worksheet helps students learn and practice 20 common verbs in English. The worksheet can be used along with 'Collocations Challenge', which provides practice with the same verbs. First, students match verbs with the phrases in each column. Next, students complete sentences with the verbs, adding 's' or 'es' to the verbs when needed. Lastly, students write four sentences of their own using the verbs from the worksheet. show less

ESL Verbs Board Game - Vocabulary and Speaking: Providing Vocabulary, Forming Sentences - Group Work In this productive verbs board game, students practice making sentences with common verbs. Players take turns rolling the dice and moving their counter along the board. If the player lands on an empty square, they turn over a verb card and have 30 seconds to create a sentence using the verb, e.g. 'I add sugar to my coffee.' If the other players agree the sentence is correct, the player stays on the square. If not, they move back two squares. If a player lands on a 'Name a verb' square, they name a verb that fits the description before picking up a card. If they are unable to do this, they go back two squares. The first player to reach the 'Finish' wins the game. As a variation, you can make the game easier by having the students play in competing teams of two. show less

ESL Verbs Game - Vocabulary: Guessing, Gap-fill - Pair Work In this fun verbs guessing game, students guess missing verbs in sentences. In pairs, students take it in turns to read the sentences on their worksheet to their partner using the word 'blank' for the missing verb. Their partner listens and writes their guess in the space on their worksheet and says their answer to the other student. If the verb is correct, they score a point. The student with the most points at the end of the game wins. show less

ESL Verbs Game - Vocabulary: Gap-fill, Guessing - Group Work In this enjoyable common verbs game, students guess who wrote certain sentences. First, students complete sentences on cards with true information, e.g. 'I go to the park every week'. In groups, students then shuffle all their cards together and place them in a pile. Next, students take it in turns to pick up a card, read the sentence to the group and guess who wrote it. If the student guesses correctly, they win and keep the card. If not, the card is placed at the bottom of the pile. The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins. show less

ESL Confusing Verbs Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Binary Choice, Gap-fill, Writing Sentences from Prompts This useful confusing verbs worksheet helps students understand the differences between some commonly confused verb pairs. To begin, students read about the differences between come and go, and bring and take. Students then complete sentences with the correct verb in brackets in its appropriate form. Next, students complete sentences with come, go, bring or take. Students then move on to read about the verbs say and tell, and look, watch and see. After that, students do a gap-fill exercise where they complete sentences with the correct verb in brackets. Finally, students use verb pairs to create example sentences of their own to demonstrate the meaning of each verb. show less

ESL Action Verbs Board Game - Vocabulary: Miming, Guessing - Group Work In this free action verbs board game, students perform, mime, or tell someone to do various actions described on cards. Players take it in turns to roll the dice and move their counter along the board. When a player lands on a 'Do an action' square, they pick up a card and perform the action described on the card. If the action is correct, they remain on the square. If not, they go back one square. If a player lands on a 'Tell someone to do an action' square, they pick up a card and tell another player to do the action on the card. If the selected player does the correct action, that player stays on the square. If not, the selected player moves their counter back one space. When a player lands on a 'Mime an action' square, the player picks up a card and mimes the action on the card for the other players to guess. If another student correctly guesses the verb, the player stays on the square. If not, the player moves back one square. The first player to reach the finish wins the game. show less

ESL Verbs Worksheet - Vocabulary and Grammar Exercises: Error Correction, Matching, Binary Choice, Gap-fill TThis productive verbs worksheet helps students practice common verbs in the past and present simple. Students start by circling the correct verbs and changing the verbs that aren't correct in a set of sentences. Students then match present and past forms of verbs that they are going to use to complete a story about Goldilocks and the three bears. Next, students circle the correct verbs in bold to complete the first part of the Goldilocks story. After that, students continue with a gap-fill exercise where they complete the second part of the story with verbs from a box in their present or past simple form.. show less

ESL Stative Verbs Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Word Search, Identifying, Binary Choice, Error Correction In this insightful stative verbs worksheet, students learn 20 common stative verbs and practice using them. Students begin by finding and writing down 20 stative verbs in a word search. Next, students read a text and underline all the stative verbs. Students then complete sentences with the correct stative verb in brackets in its correct form. In the last exercise, students correct mistakes in sentences that contain stative verbs. show less

ESL Verb Opposites Activity - Vocabulary: Providing Antonyms, Forming and Writing Sentences from Prompts, Story Writing - Group and Pair Work This imaginative verb opposites activity helps to increase students' knowledge of verbs and their opposites. Start by reading out the verbs on the worksheet and eliciting each verb's meaning from the class. Next, read out a verb at random from the worksheet. The first team to call out the correct opposite verb scores a point. For an extra point, the team then tries to make an appropriate sentence with the opposite verb. All the students in the class then write down the opposite verb on their worksheet. The team with the most points when the worksheet has been completed wins. Working alone, students then write ten sentences using a different verb from the worksheet in each sentence, e.g. 'I come to school by car'. In pairs, students then exchange sentences with their partner. Students then take it in turns to read one of their partner's sentences and make another sentence using the opposite verb, e.g. 'I go home at 3 o'clock'. Finally, pairs create a short story using ten verbs from the worksheet. show less

ESL Action and Stative Verbs Worksheet - Vocabulary, Grammar and Writing Exercises: Categorising, Binary Choice, Error Correction, Gap-fill, Writing an email In this free action vs. stative verbs worksheet, students learn and practice the difference between action verbs and stative verbs. To start, students read a text describing the difference between action verbs and stative verbs. Students then categorise a list of verbs and mark them as either action verbs, stative verbs, or both. Next, students underline the correct action or stative verb forms in a set of sentences. Students then move on to correct verb mistakes in sentences. After that, students complete an email with the correct form of the action or stative verbs in brackets. In the last exercise, students write a reply to the email using at least five action verbs and five stative verbs in their response. show less

ESL Verbs Collocations Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Matching, Gap-fill, Sentence Completion - Pair Work Here is a rewarding verb collocations speaking activity for intermediate students. In pairs, one student begins by reading a sentence half at random to their partner. Their partner listens and matches the sentence half with an ending from their worksheet, completing it with a verb from the box. The student then reads the ending and its corresponding letter to the other student. If the other student agrees that the ending matches, they write the ending down and then put its letter in the box next to the sentence, and their partner marks the end with a tick and crosses out the verb. When a matching ending has been found, students swap roles. The first pair to correctly complete all their sentences wins. show less

ESL Educational Verbs Game - Vocabulary and Speaking: Matching, Forming Sentences from Prompts - Pair Work In this creative verbs game, students match verbs related to education with their definitions and then try to make a meaningful sentence using the verb. In pairs, students take it in turns to turn over one verb card and one definition card. If the verb matches with the definition, the student keeps the two cards and scores a point. The student then tries to make a sentence that illustrates the meaning of the verb for an extra point. If the student is able to do this, they have another turn. If the cards don't match, the student turns them back over, keeping them in the same place. The student with the most points at the end of the game wins. show less

ESL Verbs Game - Vocabulary: Categorising - Pair Work In this interesting verbs game, students race to place verbs in their correct category. There are eight categories in total with six verbs belonging to each category. Pairs take it in turns to choose a verb from their list and write it in the A or B column under the category that they think the verb belongs to. The pair then crosses the verb off the list. After a pair has written a verb under a category, they are not allowed to move it. When the pairs have categorised all the verbs on their list, elicit the correct answers from the class. Pairs score one point for each correctly placed verb. The pair with the highest score wins the game. show less

ESL Verbs of Judgement and Evaulation Game - Vocabulary: Matching, Binary Choice - Pair Work In this intriguing verbs of judgement and evaluation game, students complete sentences with words and verbs of judgement and evaluation. In pairs, students take it in turns to turn over one sentence card and one word card. If the word completes the gap-fill sentence, the student reads the sentence aloud, adding in the word and choosing the correct verb of judgement and evaluation in the sentence. If the other player agrees that the verb chosen and the word used are correct, the student keeps the two cards and has another turn. If the cards don't match, or the other player thinks the verb of judgement and evaluation is unsuitable, the student turns the cards back over, keeping them in their original place. It's then the other student's turn to play. The student with the most pairs of cards at the end of the game is the winner. show less