Grade 6 Vocabulary List: 31 Words for Meaning, Context and Transfer
This page uses a historical Singapore Primary 6 word bank as Grade 6-level English practice. Grade 6 is an international age-stage label here; it does not imply that different national curricula are identical.
The RFE of this page is simple: help a learner carry vocabulary from one passage into unfamiliar reading and writing contexts.
31-Word Practice Bank
well-to-do, merchant, respected, alms, townsfolk, borrower, creditor, trading, cargo, repayment, immediate, possession, bitterly, plagued, fitful, monk, lifetime, barber, gazed, bowed, witnessed, measure, monastery, shrieked, scrambled, frantically, weary, shuffling, feebly, assaulting, compensate.
Learn by Semantic Field
| Field | Words |
|---|---|
| trade and money | merchant, borrower, creditor, trading, cargo, repayment, possession, compensate |
| community and roles | townsfolk, monk, barber, alms, respected |
| emotion and condition | bitterly, plagued, fitful, weary, feebly, frantically |
| action and movement | gazed, bowed, witnessed, shrieked, scrambled, shuffling, assaulting |
| time, place and abstraction | immediate, lifetime, measure, monastery, well-to-do |
Why Grouping Helps
Semantic grouping makes relationships visible. It also creates useful contrast:
- borrower / creditor: opposite sides of a debt relationship;
- weary / feeble: tiredness versus weakness;
- gazed / glanced: sustained versus brief looking;
- repayment / compensation: returning borrowed value versus making up for loss or harm.
Word Families
- repay → repayment
- possess → possession
- immediate → immediately
- weary → wearily
- feeble → feebly
- compensate → compensation
- respect → respected → respectful
Collocations
- fitful sleep
- plagued by worry
- cargo ship
- make a repayment
- in possession of
- gazed at
- compensate someone for a loss
Context Shift
A word is more secure when it survives a change of topic.
Original field: a merchant transports cargo.
New field: an aircraft carries medical cargo.
Original field: a borrower makes a repayment.
New field: a student explains why a loan repayment is due.
Original field: a traveller is weary.
New field: a runner feels weary after a long race.
Retrieval Round
- Person or organisation to whom money is owed: ________.
- Goods transported by ship or aircraft: ________.
- Irregular and interrupted: ________.
- Very tired: ________.
- Make up for a loss or harm: ________.
- Looked steadily: ________.
Answers: creditor; cargo; fitful; weary; compensate; gazed.
Precision Round
Choose the better word and explain why:
- He was weary / feeble after walking all day.
- The injured patient spoke wearily / feebly because his voice had little strength.
- She gazed / glanced at the painting for several minutes.
- The company offered repayment / compensation for the damage it had caused.
Likely answers: weary; feebly; gazed; compensation.
Transfer Task
Write two short paragraphs on completely different topics. Use three words from the bank in each paragraph without repeating a target word. Then check meaning, grammar, collocation and tone.
When Is a Word Secure?
A word is secure when the learner can:
- explain it;
- recognise its grammatical role;
- use a natural phrase;
- distinguish a nearby word;
- retrieve it without seeing the list;
- use it after the topic changes;
- retrieve it again after a delay.
For Singapore Primary 6-specific routing, see PSLE Vocabulary. For the wider public collection, use the eduKate Vocabulary Lists hub.
Historical Nan Hua Source Media
