How it works
These category worksheets print a box of words and the headings to sort them under. The sample sorts twelve words under Fruits, Clothes and Tools. For any other categories, type your own headings and words in the box.
Read the full guide
Your own categories
Type one heading per line, then a colon and its words: Pets: cat, dog, hamster. A sheet takes up to four headings of ten words, and what you type replaces the sample.
Write, or cut and paste
Answer by has Pencil only, with lines under each heading, and Cut and paste, with the words as tiles along the bottom. Things to sort sets 6 to 20 words; from 16 words the sample adds a fourth heading, Furniture.
24 ready lists
Under the tool are 24 lists of ten words, among them vegetables, birds, insects, jobs, sports and weather. Copy a heading and its words into the box to build a sheet from them.
- A word can stand under one heading only. Typed under two, it is left off the sheet and named under the box.
Questions and answers
What is a category worksheet?
A sorting task with words. Children read each word in the box and write it under the heading it belongs to: apple under Fruits, hammer under Tools. It practices grouping things by what they have in common.
Can children who do not read yet sort this sheet?
Not this one, because the words must be read. Cut and paste takes the writing out of the task. For younger children, the sorting worksheets for kindergarten on this site sort shape tiles to cut out and paste.
Does it print an answer key?
Yes. It prints as the last page unless you untick Add an answer key as the last page under More options. The key lists every word under its heading, in the same columns as the sheet.
Why is orange not in the lists?
A word can go under one heading only, and an orange is both a fruit and a color. Duck, a bird and a farm animal, was left out for the same reason.