Preposition Worksheets

Prepositions are a huge part of the foundation of any language, so exposing young learners to them at the start of their educational experience is critical. As educators, teaching prepositions can be simple at first, but the more advanced you go, the more complicated these phrases can become. Oftentimes, students will even adopt incorrect language that they go on to use for most of their lives. In fact, many English speakers make mistakes with prepositional phrases on a daily basis without even realizing it, such as confusing "at" and "to" or mixing up "of," "for," and "about." However, with the right amount of practice and early education, teachers can help ensure students learn the proper mechanics of prepositional phrases. 

These preposition worksheets are a great way to introduce new words and phrases to your students, as well as give them practice with reading, writing, and speaking. Experience level varies with each of these activities, but there is something for all grade levels! Feel free to download any of these worksheets or share with a fellow teacher, student, or parent who may find them useful. 

Prepositions - Of Place, Time, Movement & More

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   Prepositions of Place

   If you plan to introduce prepositions of place to your students, you've got to download this lesson. It not only comes with a clear explanation of prepositions of place, but it maps out an entire lesson that highlights the most common prepositions of place like at, in, above, below, under, on, over, near/nearby/close to, and more. Each slide also contains multiple examples and "trainer's notes" for teachers to reference. These include common misuses of the prepositions that you can share with students. The PowerPoint makes for an excellent in class activity and will save you tons of time putting together your own presentation. 

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   Places Around Town

   This colorful map will help elementary students practice describing where buildings are in relation to one another. The instructions introduce a fun and engaging storyline where a young boy needs to help an elderly woman figure out where she wants to go. Students will fill in nine blanks with prepositions by looking a the map to figure out where everything in the town is located. Once they've filled out all the blanks, they can answer where the woman wants to go at the top of the page. Teachers can use this as extra practice or as a test. 

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   Relative Clauses With Prepositional Verbs Worksheet

5. If your students need some extra practice with relative clauses, this worksheet is an excellent option to test them on their knowledge and help better their understanding of these phrases. They will be given two sentences for each problem and asked to combine the sentences to create a relative clause. For example, they might have a pair of sentences that say "That's the ship. We travelled on it," with the preposition "on" being bolded. To turn it into a relative clause, students would answer "That's the ship we travelled on." This is a fun and engaging activity for pre-intermediate or intermediate students, and it comes with an answer key. 
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   Prepositions of Time - Elementary

   Prepositions of time are easy to mix up while students are still learning, but this activity will help elementary level children get a good grasp on phrases like at, in, and on to explain events and time. The first activity on the worksheet will prompt students to fill in the blanks with at, in, and on. Then, they will need to look at a word bank and place each term/phrase in the box with the corresponding preposition. 

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   Prepositions of Movement Matching Activity

   Before students begin writing prepositions, it's a good idea to show them the phrases in action or in an illustration so they have a visual representation to go off of. That is much easier to understand than simply describing what each phrase means with words. In this activity, students will match a phrase with the corresponding image. Each image shows a preposition of movement, such as around, up, or down. You can even have students stand up and act out each prepositional phrase for extra practice. For example, you could say "walk across the room" or "move onto the rug," and have students demonstrate what that means. 

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   My Room - There is/There are Prepositions of Place

   Elementary students will love interacting with this colorful image of a child in his room. They will be asked to describe where things are located in the bedroom with there is/there are prepositions of place. There is a word bank to choose the preposition so students do not have to come up with them on their own. 

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    Prepositions Worksheet

    For more advanced students, this worksheet provides extra practice and can even serve as an exam. It consists of 20 fill in the blanks questions where students will be asked to fill in the most appropriate preposition for each sentence. The activity is best suited for pre-intermediate levels students and is also great for an in-class activity or homework assignment. 

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    Public Places, Giving Directions, and Prepositions 

    With this preposition worksheet, students will practice navigating a town map. The activity follows the story of a boy named James who asks a police officer for directions to the library, but he needs your help to find the restaurant he's going to after. After reviewing the story and the town map, students will move onto the first activity where they will fill in a conversation between James and the police officer with the appropriate directions and prepositions to get from school to the library. In part two, students will help give James directions from the libary to the restaurant. 

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    Prepositions Song

    Incorporating music and songs into a lesson is always a fun way to change things up and make any difficult, drab topic more exciting. This song worksheet is perfect for complete beginners or early elementary students who are just learning about prepositional phrases. Teachers will need to hand out the lyrics sheet to each student. While the song is playing, students will need to circle the preposition that is bolded on the sheet. You can play the song multiple times if necessary - it's just a fun way to get them to start recognizing these phrases and how they are used in sentences. 

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    Adjectives + Prepositions

14. In this four-part activity, students will get the chance to practice prepositional phrases, as well as reinforce new knowledge if they are just learning about the adjectives + prepositions. In the first activity, students will go through eight problems, choosing the correct answer to fill in the blank for each of them. Then, they will be given another set of sentences that they have to complete with the appropriate preposition. Third, they will choose the correct adjective to fill in the blank, and lastly, they will have two columns that they will need to match - one with the first part of a sentence, and the other with the second. 

15. For more tips on this subject, check out How to Teach Prepositions of Place (8 Simple Steps).