1,314 FREE Reading Comprehension Worksheets, Games and Tests
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FREE Reading Comprehension Worksheets

Reading is a very important part of learning a language. It's considered a receptive skill, otherwise known as a passive skill, which means that students don’t necessarily have to produce language - just receive it. But more often than not, students have difficulty reading because of vocabulary and/or the context involved. BusyTeacher.org offers 1,314 reading comprehension worksheets that are sure to help your students stay engaged in their reading, by providing interesting stories and effective exercises.

We as teachers don’t always have the time to make up our own stories, or go through books to pick out excerpts to present in our lessons. The reading worksheets on BusyTeacher.org offer a variety of different stories and texts in different categories and genres to help your students improve their reading ability and learn the language, all the while enjoying the stories they're reading. Depending on what you're aiming to teach, you can use these worksheets in a whole variety of different ways in the classroom. If a worksheet has a story that contains dialogue, you could assign roles to students and have them act out what the characters say. You can also use the stories on the worksheets to create comprehension questions. Some worksheets can even make for classroom discussion topics. After reading a passage, you can present a question to students, and ask them to give their opinions of where the story is going. These are just some of the many things you can do to make use of these worksheets in the classroom.

Whether you're teaching scanning, skimming, critical thinking, or reading for gist, BusyTeacher.org has the worksheet(s) you need for your lessons. There are worksheets on just about any topic you can think of - sports, business, history, and holidays to name a few. Another handy feature on BusyTeacher.org is that each worksheet has the level shown in the description, which makes it easy for you to find an appropriate worksheet for your students. The thumbnail can be opened to full page view, so you can check if the worksheet is right for your lesson. Some worksheets you'll find here are appropriate for several - or even for all levels, which means they're reusable for a future lessons with students at different levels.

No registration or subscription is necessary to download our worksheets. They’re all free to download, copy, and use in your lessons. Plus, all of them were created and uploaded by fellow ESL teachers from all around the globe, and have helped other ESL teachers in their lessons. In addition, if you have a worksheet you've created and would like to submit it to this site, you can do so by clicking the “Submit a worksheet” link at the bottom of this page. Join thousands of other ESL teachers using BusyTeacher.org, and bookmark us as your number-one stop for worksheets to use in your lessons daily! With 1,314 reading worksheets, planning your lessons has never been easier. Get started by checking out the most popular worksheets below. Try downloading one and using it in your lesson today!

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The Very Bad Yorkshire Joke

The Very Bad Yorkshire Joke

, , Reading Comprehension
Aim of the activity • To develop listening and reading practice in a light-hearted way. • To help develop students’ skills with textual cohesion and coherence.   This st ...
30 Views 55,711 IntAdvExam
Lucky Octopus

Lucky Octopus

, Reading Comprehension
Lucky Octopus is a story about a little octopus Ollie who missed the eighth leg and was really worried about it. Whether the story had a happy or rather sad end will be found out after the reading ...
19 Views 30,524 ElemPre-IntInt
The Wolf and the Lamb

The Wolf and the Lamb

Reading Comprehension
Aesop's fable. It's a short version of one of Aesop's famous, well-known fables. It's interesting and teaches children a great lesson. Moral: A cruel person will always find an excuse for cruelty ...
15 Views 21,363 Elem
Tourist Spots in Ukraine

Tourist Spots in Ukraine

, , , Reading Comprehension
The main lexical focus of this worksheet is describing places. This worksheet can be used as a hand-out for individual or group work to increase Pre-Intermediate/Low Intermediate students’ a ...
10 Views 10,938 Pre-IntInt
911: America Under Attack

911: America Under Attack

, Reading Comprehension
An article taken from Microsoft Encarta containing 10 short parts about the tragedy in the USA 9/11/2001. The article is supplied with tasks (finding synonyms) and a home-task. Questions for a dis ...
5 Views 8,324 IntAdv
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Hiram Bingham and the Lost City of Machu Picchu

Hiram Bingham and the Lost City of Machu Picchu

, Reading Comprehension
This reading comprehension activity is about Hiram Bingham, the man who discovered the ruins of Machu Picchu. The students must find the word in the text to choose the correct alternative that has ...
12 Views 11,651 Int
How To Get That First: Full Newspaper Reading Lesson Plan

How To Get That First: Full Newspaper Reading Lesson Plan

, Reading Comprehension
You are going to read an article from the Guardian newspaper. Here is the heading: How to get that first. Yvette Essen hears the secrets of two women who made the grade. Before you read it, lets ...
26 Views 29,050 IntAdvExam
The Titanic

The Titanic

, Reading Comprehension
This worksheet is about the last hours of the Titanic- the unsinkable ship. This reading comprehension activity includes answer in English, complete with the verbs, what do numbers represent, true ...
24 Views 26,353 Int
English Renaissance Writers: PowerPoint Presentation

English Renaissance Writers: PowerPoint Presentation

, Reading Comprehension
This is material for specialized school. This is material for for English literature lesson. It tells about one of the period of the English literature The Renaissance. There are also portraits o ...
20 Views 20,715 Int
The Three Sisters: Native Americal Legend. Reading Lesson Plan

The Three Sisters: Native Americal Legend. Reading Lesson Plan

, Reading Comprehension
Ss read a short story about the three sisters and answer the after-reading comprehension questions in writing. This reading activity is kindly provided by Evan-Moor Corp and is also available on ...
13 Views 25,093 ElemPre-Int
Simple Past and Past Continuous

Simple Past and Past Continuous

, , Reading Comprehension
This worksheet contains a reading passage, in which you will find past tenses and some activities for comprehension. There are some other tasks to reinforce the use of the Past Continuous and some ...
66 Views 155,190 Elem
Usual Suspects

Usual Suspects

, , Reading Comprehension
This is a short text that can be used as an introduction to the 'Crime' lesson, or to explain Past Simple, for example. This is also a brainteaser where your students will have to solve a mini-puz ...
17 Views 31,965 Pre-IntInt
A Drastic Summer Story

A Drastic Summer Story

, , , Reading Comprehension
This is a true-life story that happened to me while travelling to the seaside in my native Ukraine. The worksheet presents a nice share of summer vocabulary and the task that follows it can be cre ...
17 Views 13,434 IntAdv
Reading Comprehension And Grammar Test

Reading Comprehension And Grammar Test

, Reading Comprehension
This is a reading comprehension and grammar test for elementary students, it contains a reading activity on comparatives/superlatives, True/False, Reorder the sentences, write your own sentences, etc.
33 Views 30,290 Elem
Dealing With The Real Story

Dealing With The Real Story

A complete worksheet recording a recent Associated Press style story of 500 words dealing with an issue relevent to everyone today..."The Crises" and how it is hurting real people. Included is a s ...
16 Views 19,189 IntAdvExam
The Greatest Show On Earth

The Greatest Show On Earth

, , Reading Comprehension
This is a reading activity for grades 4-6, with 2 pages of text and several post-reading activities (multiple choice questions, prefixes practice, creative writing activity).  You will need ...
17 Views 21,534 Pre-IntInt
4 Great Reading Activities

4 Great Reading Activities

Reading Comprehension
This worksheet contains teacher's notes and detailed explanations for four great reading activities: Pleasantries, Imagine, Close Up, and Storytime. Each comes with detailed notes on what the stag ...
17 Views 28,396 All
Chewing Gum Worksheet: The Sticky Truth

Chewing Gum Worksheet: The Sticky Truth

, , Reading Comprehension, ,
This 11-page worksheet was kindly provided by Evan-MoorCorp and contains a reading text about chewing gum, spelling activities, vocabulary matching and a page (writing a letter) on using commas co ...
31 Views 38,922 ElemPre-Int
A Short History of the Fork (Parts 1-3)

A Short History of the Fork (Parts 1-3)

, Reading Comprehension
An extensive reading activity set of three wss with comprehension questions, vocabulary, fill in multiple choice and parts of speech activities. Where and when did the first forks appear? What di ...
9 Views 11,774 IntAdv
Business Protocol: Cultural Differences of Doing Business in Different Countries

Business Protocol: Cultural Differences of Doing Business in Different Countries

, , , Reading Comprehension
This is a reading text about cultural differences in business protocol: how business in done in the following countries: United Kingdom, Malaysia, India, France, Turkey. Many of your students (an ...
20 Views 22,300 IntAdvExam
Across America in a Covered Wagon

Across America in a Covered Wagon

, , Reading Comprehension
Students read a 1-page text about pioneers in America and answer comprehension and creative questions about it.
13 Views 12,316 Pre-IntInt
Worldcup Vuvuzelas: Pros and Cons Reading

Worldcup Vuvuzelas: Pros and Cons Reading

This activity includes two newspaper articles. One brings arguments against the use of noisy vuvuzelas during the worlcup and the other one gives arguments in favour of them. 
27 Views 17,408 Adv
A Good Night's Sleep

A Good Night's Sleep

, Reading Comprehension
This is a great reading text about sleeping, together with a few nice activities (comprehension questions, vocabulary and after-reading creative tasks).
33 Views 42,970 ElemPre-Int
A Bell For The Cat: An Aesop Fable Reading Lesson Plan

A Bell For The Cat: An Aesop Fable Reading Lesson Plan

Reading Comprehension
This is a 5-page lesson plan based on Aesop's fable called 'A Bell for the cat' where the learners read the story, answer a few comprehension questions, and do several after-reading activities. Th ...
22 Views 26,585 Pre-IntInt
The Ten Suns: A Chinese Myth

The Ten Suns: A Chinese Myth

Reading Comprehension
This 8-page reading worksheets with follow-up questions can be used for a series of reading lessons, or set as homework. It also contains the character analysis template and both noun and verb cho ...
22 Views 21,487 ElemPre-Int

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