Mother's Day Vocabulary Worksheet

Press Print worksheet to match twelve Mother's Day words, from grateful and bouquet to handmade, to their meanings.

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NameDateMade at homeroomtools.comDraw a line from each one on the left to its partner on the right.Mother's Day vocabularyMother's Daygratefulappreciatebouquetcardbreakfast in bedhuggiftcelebratesurprisethoughtfulhandmadea note of good wishes with art onits covera tray of morning food brought tothe bedroomglad about a kindness andwanting to say thanksto notice how much someone doesand value itto make a day festive with food,fun or a partythe spring holiday for thankingmomsshaped by a person's fingers andsimple toolsflowers gathered and wrapped tohand to someonea treat sprung on someone withno warninga way to hold someone close for amomenta present, given without askingfor payshowing care for what anotherperson would like
NameDateMade at homeroomtools.comDraw a line from each one on the left to its partner on the right.Mother's Day vocabularyAnswer keyMother's Daygratefulappreciatebouquetcardbreakfast in bedhuggiftcelebratesurprisethoughtfulhandmadea note of good wishes with art onits covera tray of morning food brought tothe bedroomglad about a kindness andwanting to say thanksto notice how much someone doesand value itto make a day festive with food,fun or a partythe spring holiday for thankingmomsshaped by a person's fingers andsimple toolsflowers gathered and wrapped tohand to someonea treat sprung on someone withno warninga way to hold someone close for amomenta present, given without askingfor payshowing care for what anotherperson would like
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All 36 terms

Thanks, Mom 12

  • appreciate To notice how much someone does and value it. Example: The twins appreciate the lunches Grandma packs for them every morning.
  • bouquet Flowers gathered and wrapped to hand to someone. Bouquets are often given on special days such as birthdays and anniversaries.
  • breakfast in bed A tray of morning food brought to the bedroom. Serving it is a common way of showing appreciation for the person who gets it.
  • card A note of good wishes with art on its cover. Example: Eli draws tulips on his card and writes Thank you inside.
  • celebrate To make a day festive with food, fun or a party. Example: The family celebrates with a picnic in the park.
  • gift A present, given without asking for pay. Example: The gift is a jar of paper slips, each one naming something the children love about Mom.
  • grateful Glad about a kindness and wanting to say thanks. Example: Jo is grateful that Mom stayed up to help with the science project.
  • handmade Shaped by a person's fingers and simple tools. Example: A handmade card takes scissors, glue and time, and no trip to a store.
  • hug A way to hold someone close for a moment. Example: Before school, Mia gives her mom a long hug.
  • Mother's Day The spring holiday for thanking moms. In the United States a law of 1914 fixed its date: May's second Sunday.
  • surprise A treat sprung on someone with no warning. Example: The clean kitchen was a surprise. Dad and the children had done it before Mom woke.
  • thoughtful Showing care for what another person would like. Example: It was thoughtful of Noah to pick the yellow flowers, his aunt's favorite color.
Show all 36 terms (24 more)

Family words 12

  • aunt A woman whose brother or sister is your mom or dad. Example: Aunt Dee is Mom's younger sister. She taught Mom's children to ride bikes.
  • caregiver The one who tends to another person's daily needs. When parents cannot look after their children, grandparents often become the main caregivers.
  • generation All the family members born at about one time. Example: Nana, Mom and Lucy are three generations of one family.
  • grandmother The woman whose child grew up to be your mom or dad. Grandma, granny, nan and nana are some of the names families use.
  • great-grandmother Your grandma's or your grandpa's mom. Example: Rosa's great-grandmother is 91 and still writes her a letter every month.
  • guardian Someone a court trusts with raising a child. Example: Since the hearing, Uncle Ray has been Maya's guardian and signs her school forms.
  • maternal Related through the mom, not the dad. Example: Your maternal grandfather is your mom's dad.
  • mother The woman in a family who brings up the children. Mom, mama and mum are everyday names for a mother. Mom is common in the United States and Canada, mum in Britain and Australia.
  • mother-in-law The mom of a person's husband or wife. Example: Dad calls Grandma Lee his mother-in-law, because she is Mom's mom.
  • motherhood All that comes with being someone's mom. The holiday is for mothers, for motherhood and for the bond between a mother and her children.
  • parent Someone who has a son or a daughter. Example: The note from school asks for a parent to sign it.
  • stepmother A woman who joins a family by marrying a child's dad. A family with a stepparent in it is called a stepfamily.

Holiday story 12

  • annual Coming back every twelve months. This annual holiday comes on the same Sunday in Canada as in the United States.
  • apostrophe The mark that shows who something belongs to. In Mother's Day it comes before the s. Its other job in English is to mark missing letters, as in don't.
  • carnation The frilly flower that stands for the holiday. Carnations are prized for their many colors, their fringed petals and their spicy scent.
  • commercial Done mainly to sell things. The founder came to dislike how commercial the holiday had become.
  • custom A habit shared by many families, kept up over time. Giving cards and presents and sitting down to a family dinner are popular customs of the day.
  • florist The owner or worker of a flower shop. Florists make up bouquets, wreaths and corsages as well.
  • founder Whoever first sets up a group or a holiday. Example: The founder of the school garden club still waters the beds every Friday.
  • keepsake An object saved because of the memory it holds. Example: Grandma keeps the bookmark her grandson made as a keepsake.
  • proclamation An official notice read out to the public. President Woodrow Wilson issued the first Mother's Day proclamation on May 9, 1914. It asked Americans to fly the flag.
  • resolution A statement a lawmaking body agrees to by vote. Congress passed the resolution that named the day on May 8, 1914.
  • second Sunday The holiday's fixed place on the May calendar. The date changes from year to year. It can be as early as May 8 and as late as May 14.
  • tribute Praise given to show how much a person matters. Example: At dinner each child gives a short tribute, one thing Mom taught them.

How this list was compiled: Term list chosen for this site on 2026-10-16. Each meaning is written in our own words and was checked that day against the entry for the word in Wiktionary, the free dictionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/) and against these public sources. For the holiday: Today in History, May 9, Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/may-09/), which bears the proclamation of May 9, 1914, the founder and her town, the gathering of 1908 and the carnations; and 36 U.S.C. 117 as published by the Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/36/117), which bears the second Sunday in May, the resolution of May 8, 1914 and the request to fly the flag. Every row was also read against the English Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/), whose text is under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license, in the articles Mother's Day (United States), Mother's Day, Anna Jarvis, Dianthus caryophyllus, Flower bouquet, Floristry, Greeting card, Grandparent, Stepfamily, Legal guardian, Caregiver and Apostrophe. The founder's wish for the apostrophe, her dislike of the selling, the customs of the day and the rows on family words rest on Wikipedia and Wiktionary alone. The earliest and latest dates of a second Sunday were worked by hand. The sentence after each meaning is our own. Licence: own work

How it works

This Mother's Day vocabulary worksheet has grateful, appreciate, bouquet, card, breakfast in bed, hug and six more words of thanks to join by a line to their meanings. An answer key follows on page 2.

Read the full guide

Mothers and family

In Set, Family words has mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, stepmother, mother-in-law, aunt, guardian, caregiver, parent, maternal, generation and motherhood.

The holiday's story

The third sheet, Holiday story, has second Sunday, carnation, proclamation, resolution, founder, florist, custom, keepsake, commercial, tribute, apostrophe and annual. Under the tool every word has an example sentence or a fact, checked against the Library of Congress, the United States Code, Wiktionary and Wikipedia.

  • Not every child lives with a mother: Family words also names the others who bring a child up.

Questions and answers

Who started Mother's Day?

Anna Jarvis of Grafton, West Virginia. After her mother died in 1905 she campaigned for a day in honor of mothers. Grafton kept one in 1908, West Virginia proclaimed it in 1910, and it became a national day in 1914.

Is it Mother's Day or Mothers' Day?

Mother's Day, with the apostrophe before the s. The founder wanted a singular possessive, a day for each family to honor its own mother, and Congress and the president spelled it the same way in 1914.

Why are carnations the flower of Mother's Day?

The founder chose the carnation as the day's emblem because it was her mother's favorite flower. Carnations were handed out at one of the first celebrations, in 1908.

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