FREE Printable Alphabetical Order Worksheets - Free Printable

Let’s solve this step by step.

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Part 1: Put the words in ABC order

We have these 12 words:

1. podium
2. pointer
3. poem
4. plentiful
5. fluent
6. flower
7. fluoride
8. feather
9. greetings
10. gristle
11. greet
12. grief

We need to sort them alphabetically — that means from A to Z, letter by letter.

First, let’s group them by their first letter:

- f: fluent, flower, fluoride, feather → 4 words
- g: greetings, gristle, greet, grief → 4 words
- p: podium, pointer, poem, plentiful → 4 words

Now, within each group, we compare the second letter (and third if needed).

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Group F:

Words: fluent, flower, fluoride, feather

Look at second letters:

- fluent → l
- flower → l
- fluoride → l
- feather → e ← “e” comes before “l”, so feather is first.

Now among fluent, flower, fluoride — all start with “fl”

Third letters:

- fluent → u
- flower → o
- fluoride → u

“o” comes before “u”, so flower comes next.

Now between fluent and fluoride — both are “flu...”

Fourth letters:

- fluent → e
- fluoride → o

“e” comes before “o”, so fluent, then fluoride

So F-group order:
→ feather, flower, fluent, fluoride

Wait — let me double-check:

Actually, let’s list them again carefully:

feather → f-e-a-t-h-e-r
flower → f-l-o-w-e-r
fluent → f-l-u-e-n-t
fluoride → f-l-u-o-r-i-d-e

Compare second letter:

- feather → e
- others → l → so feather is definitely first.

Now among flower, fluent, fluoride — all start with “fl”

Third letter:

- flower → o
- fluent → u
- fluoride → u → so flower comes before the other two.

Now fluent vs fluoride — both “flu”

Fourth letter:

- fluent → e
- fluoride → o → e comes before o → so fluent before fluoride.

✔ So F-group: feather, flower, fluent, fluoride

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Group G:

greetings, gristle, greet, grief

All start with “gr” or “gre”?

Wait:

- greetings → g-r-e-e-t-i-n-g-s
- gristle → g-r-i-s-t-l-e
- greet → g-r-e-e-t
- grief → g-r-i-e-f

Second letter: all “r”

Third letter:

- greetings → e
- gristle → i
- greet → e
- grief → i

So group by third letter:

“e” group: greetings, greet
“i” group: gristle, grief

In “e” group: greetings vs greet

Both start with “gree”

Fifth letter:

- greetings → t
- greet → t → same

Sixth letter:

- greetings → i
- greet → (ends here) → shorter word comes first? Wait — no, we compare until one differs.

Actually, “greet” is 5 letters, “greetings” is 9.

Up to 5th letter: both “greet”

Then “greetings” has more letters → but since they’re identical up to “greet”, and “greet” ends, it comes BEFORE “greetings”.

Rule: When one word is a prefix of another, the shorter one comes first.

So: greet → then greetings

Now “i” group: gristle, grief

Both start with “gri”

Fourth letter:

- gristle → s
- grief → e → “e” before “s” → so grief before gristle

So G-group order:

greet, greetings, grief, gristle

Wait — let’s write them out:

greet → g-r-e-e-t
greetings → g-r-e-e-t-i-n-g-s
grief → g-r-i-e-f
gristle → g-r-i-s-t-l-e

After “gre”:

greet and greetings → same until end of “greet”, then greetings continues → so greet < greetings

grief and gristle → after “gri”, fourth letter: e vs s → e < s → so grief < gristle

But where do the “gre” words go relative to “gri” words?

“gre” vs “gri” → third letter: e vs i → e comes before i → so all “gre” words come before “gri” words.

So full G-group:

greet, greetings, grief, gristle

✔ Correct.

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Group P:

podium, pointer, poem, plentiful

All start with “p”

Second letter:

- podium → o
- pointer → o
- poem → o
- plentiful → l → “l” comes before “o” → so plentiful is first.

Now the rest: podium, pointer, poem — all “po”

Third letter:

- podium → d
- pointer → i
- poem → e

Order of third letters: d, e, i → so podium (d), then poem (e), then pointer (i)

Wait — let’s check:

podium → p-o-d-i-u-m
pointer → p-o-i-n-t-e-r
poem → p-o-e-m
plentiful → p-l-e-n-t-i-f-u-l

Yes — plentiful starts with “pl”, others “po” → so plentiful first.

Among “po” words:

Compare third letter:

- podium → d
- poem → e
- pointer → i

Alphabet: d, e, i → so podium, poem, pointer

✔ So P-group: plentiful, podium, poem, pointer

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Now combine all groups in alphabetical order by first letter:

F comes before G, which comes before P.

So overall order:

From F: feather, flower, fluent, fluoride
From G: greet, greetings, grief, gristle
From P: plentiful, podium, poem, pointer

Let’s list them numbered:

1. feather
2. flower
3. fluent
4. fluoride
5. greet
6. greetings
7. grief
8. gristle
9. plentiful
10. podium
11. poem
12. pointer

Wait — let me verify once more by writing all 12 in order:

Start with F:

- feather (f-e...)
- flower (f-l-o...)
- fluent (f-l-u-e...)
- fluoride (f-l-u-o...) → yes, because after “flu”, e < o

Then G:

- greet (g-r-e-e-t)
- greetings (g-r-e-e-t-i...) → longer, so after greet
- grief (g-r-i-e-f) → after “gre” words because “i” > “e”
- gristle (g-r-i-s...) → after grief because “e” < “s” in fourth letter

Then P:

- plentiful (p-l...) → before “po” words
- podium (p-o-d...)
- poem (p-o-e...)
- pointer (p-o-i...) → because d < e < i

Perfect.

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Part 2: Guide words “nap - native”

We are to circle words that would fall on the same page as guide words “nap” and “native”.

That means: words that come alphabetically BETWEEN “nap” and “native”, inclusive? Or just between?

Typically, in dictionaries, guide words show the first and last word on a page. So any word that falls alphabetically from “nap” up to “native” (including those) would be on that page.

So we want words ≥ “nap” and ≤ “native”

List of candidate words:

nasal
nail
nature
napkins
nasty
nation
name
nerve
narrow
naughty

Let’s sort them mentally or compare to “nap” and “native”

First, what does “nap” look like? n-a-p
“native” → n-a-t-i-v-e

So we want words starting with “na”, and then compare further.

Let’s go one by one:

1. nasal → n-a-s-a-l → compare to “nap”: n-a-s vs n-a-p → s > p → so nasal comes AFTER nap → OK so far. Now compare to “native”: n-a-s vs n-a-t → s < t → so nasal < native → ✔ YES

2. nail → n-a-i-l → compare to “nap”: n-a-i vs n-a-p → i < p → so nail comes BEFORE nap → ✘ NO

3. nature → n-a-t-u-r-e → compare to “nap”: n-a-t vs n-a-p → t > p → after nap → good. Compare to “native”: n-a-t-u vs n-a-t-i → u > i → so nature > native → ✘ NO

4. napkins → n-a-p-k-i-n-s → compare to “nap”: same first 3 letters → then “k” vs nothing? “nap” is 3 letters, “napkins” is longer → so “nap” < “napkins” → now compare to “native”: n-a-p vs n-a-t → p < t → so napkins < native → ✔ YES

5. nasty → n-a-s-t-y → same as nasal? n-a-s vs n-a-p → s > p → after nap. vs native: n-a-s vs n-a-t → s < t → so nasty < native → ✔ YES

6. nation → n-a-t-i-o-n → vs nap: n-a-t > n-a-p → after nap. vs native: n-a-t-i-o vs n-a-t-i-v → o < v → so nation < native → ✔ YES

7. name → n-a-m-e → vs nap: n-a-m vs n-a-p → m < p → so name < nap → ✘ NO

8. nerve → n-e-r-v-e → second letter “e” vs “a” → e > a → so nerve > native? Let’s see: “na” vs “ne” → “na” < “ne” → so nerve comes after “native” → ✘ NO

9. narrow → n-a-r-r-o-w → vs nap: n-a-r vs n-a-p → r > p → after nap. vs native: n-a-r vs n-a-t → r < t → so narrow < native → ✔ YES

10. naughty → n-a-u-g-h-t-y → vs nap: n-a-u vs n-a-p → u > p → after nap. vs native: n-a-u vs n-a-t → u > t → so naughty > native → ✘ NO

So the words that fall between “nap” and “native” (inclusive?) — note: “nap” itself isn’t in the list, nor is “native”, but we include words that would be on that page.

The ones that qualify:

- nasal
- napkins
- nasty
- nation
- narrow

Check again:

nasal: n-a-s → between n-a-p and n-a-t → yes
napkins: n-a-p-k → after nap, before native → yes
nasty: n-a-s-t → same as nasal → yes
nation: n-a-t-i-o → before native (which is n-a-t-i-v) → yes
narrow: n-a-r → between p and t → yes

What about “nature”? We said no — because n-a-t-u > n-a-t-i → yes, correct.

“naughty” → n-a-u > n-a-t → too big.

“nail” and “name” → before “nap”

“nerve” → starts with “ne” → after “na” → too big.

So final list for circling: nasal, napkins, nasty, nation, narrow

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Final Answer:

ABC Order:

1. feather
2. flower
3. fluent
4. fluoride
5. greet
6. greetings
7. grief
8. gristle
9. plentiful
10. podium
11. poem
12. pointer

Words to circle (between "nap" and "native"):
nasal, napkins, nasty, nation, narrow