Dictionary Skills - Free Printable

You're working on a Dictionary Skills worksheet that teaches how to use guide words to find words in alphabetical order.

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## 📚 What Are Guide Words?

Guide words are the two words at the top of each dictionary page. They tell you:

- The first word on the page (left guide word)
- The last word on the page (right guide word)

All words on that page fall alphabetically between those two guide words — including the guide words themselves.

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## ✔ Your Task: Sort the given words under the correct guide word pairs.

You have 3 sets of guide words, and for each, you need to list 5 words from the word bank that fall alphabetically between those guide words.

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🧩 Word Bank:

> belly, canine, smell, legs, breed, puppy, paw, fur, fleas, pet, bowl, bark, growl, mutt, domesticated

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## 🔍 Part 1: Guide Words — abalone–dog

We need words that come after “abalone” and before or equal to “dog”.

Let’s look at the word bank and sort alphabetically:

- abalone → start point
- belly → B — after A → ✔
- bark → B — after A → ✔
- breed → B — after A → ✔
- bowl → B — after A → ✔
- canine → C — after B → ✔
- dog → end point → we can include it? Usually, if the guide word is “dog”, words up to and including “dog” are on the page.

But note: “dog” is the *end* guide word — so words ≤ “dog” go here.

Now, let’s pick 5 that fall between abalone and dog:

✔ bark, belly, breed, bowl, canine

(“smell” starts with S — way after “dog” — not here. “fur”, “paw”, etc. also too far.)

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## 🔍 Part 2: Guide Words — doll–listen

Words must be ≥ “doll” and ≤ “listen”

Look at word bank:

- doll → start
- fleas → F — after D → ✔
- fur → F — after D → ✔
- growl → G — after D → ✔
- legs → L — before “listen”? Let’s check:

“legs” vs “listen” — both start with L.

Compare letter by letter:

- l-e-g-s vs l-i-s-t-e-n → e < i → so legs comes before listen → ✔

Also, pet → P — after L → ✘ too far.

puppy → P — too far.

So good candidates:

✔ fleas, fur, growl, legs, mutt? Wait — “mutt” starts with M — after L? “listen” ends with N — so M comes after L but before N? Let’s check:

“listen” = L-I-S-T-E-N

“mutt” = M-U-T-T → M > L → so after “listen” → ✘

Wait — “domesticated”? D — before “doll”? No, D < doll? “doll” starts with D — “domesticated” starts with D — compare:

“doll” vs “domesticated”

d-o-l-l vs d-o-m-e-s-t-i-c-a-t-e-d

First 2 letters same: d-o

3rd letter: l vs m → l < m → so “doll” comes before “domesticated”

→ So domesticated comes AFTER “doll” → ✔

But is it before “listen”? “domesticated” starts with D, “listen” with L → D < L → so YES, it’s before “listen”.

Wait — no! D comes before L, so “domesticated” is before “listen” — but is it after “doll”?

Yes — because “doll” = d-o-l-l, “domesticated” = d-o-m... → since ‘l’ < ‘m’, “doll” < “domesticated”

So domesticated is between “doll” and “listen” → ✔

But wait — “domesticated” is a long word — but alphabetically, yes.

However, let’s double-check: Is there a better set?

We need 5 words:

✔ fleas, fur, growl, legs, domesticated

Is “puppy” possible? P > L → no.

“pet”? P > L → no.

“bark”? B < D → no.

So yes — those 5 work.

But let’s make sure they’re all in order:

- domesticated (D) — after doll (D) → yes
- fleas (F)
- fur (F)
- growl (G)
- legs (L) — before listen (L) → yes

Perfect.

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## 🔍 Part 3: Guide Words — little–volume

Words ≥ “little” and ≤ “volume”

From word bank:

- little → start
- mutt → M — after L → ✔
- paw → P — after L → ✔
- pet → P — after L → ✔
- puppy → P — after L → ✔
- smell → S — after L → ✔
- volume → end

Check if any are after “volume”? “smell” = S, “volume” = V → S < V → ✔

“paw”, “pet”, “puppy” — all P < V → ✔

“mutt” — M < V → ✔

We need 5 words.

Possible: mutt, paw, pet, puppy, smell

Is “fur” possible? F < L → no, before “little”

“growl”? G < L → no

“bark”? B < L → no

So yes — these 5 are perfect.

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## ✍️ Final Answers:

abalone–dog:

1. bark
2. belly
3. breed
4. bowl
5. canine

*(Note: You could also include “dog” itself if allowed — but usually guide words are boundaries, and “dog” would be the last word. Since “canine” is before “dog”, it’s safe.)*

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doll–listen:

1. domesticated
2. fleas
3. fur
4. growl
5. legs

*(Order doesn’t matter as long as they fall between the guide words. But alphabetically within the group is neat.)*

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little–volume:

1. mutt
2. paw
3. pet
4. puppy
5. smell

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## 💡 Bonus Tip for “WRITE ON!” Section:

Design your own dictionary page!

Example:

Guide Words: apple – banana

Words to include:
- apricot
- avocado
- berry
- bread
- butter

Then exchange with a classmate and add 3 more words to their page — like “apple pie”, “banana split”, “avocado toast” — making sure they fit alphabetically between the guide words.

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✔ You’ve now mastered using guide words to locate words in a dictionary!

Let me know if you want to check your answers or design your own dictionary page!