Onomatopoeia ESL Games and Worksheets
In this free onomatopoeia game, students guess what makes the sound of different onomatopoeic words while attempting to bluff their classmates with false answers. Each card shows an onomatopoeic word in bold, a correct answer in bold and an incorrect answer. Students begin by adding one more realistic incorrect answer to each of their cards to try to trick the other students. Students then take it in turns to read their cards to the group. The student reads the onomatopoeic word and three possible answers for what makes that sound. The other group members then take it in turns to guess which answer is correct and the student reveals the correct answer. If a group member guessed correctly, they score a point. The student with the most points at the end of the game wins.
This useful onomatopoeia worksheet helps students learn about onomatopoeia and practice onomatopoeic sounds commonly used in English. To begin, students match sentence halves together and underline the onomatopoeia word in each sentence. Next, students put the onomatopoeia words they underlined into the correct categories. In pairs, students then talk about and write down sounds people, animals and things make in their own language. Next, students read clues and complete a crossword with onomatopoeia from Exercise A. Afterwards, in pairs, students think of two things that make each of the noises shown and write them down. In the last exercise, pairs discuss their favourite onomatopoeic sounds and the sounds that annoy them the most.
In this fun onomatopoeia game, students race to complete sentences with onomatopoeia words often used in the English language. The reader turns over a card and reads the sentence aloud to the players using the word 'blank' for the missing onomatopoeia word. The players listen and then race to grab the correct onomatopoeia word card to complete the sentence. The first player to grab the correct onomatopoeia word card from their set and give it to the reader, saying the sound at the same time wins and keeps the two cards. The player with the most cards at the end of the game wins.
