Tone Sort Activity

Students read a collection of tone words and sort them into three categories: positive, negative, and neutral. This activity builds emotional vocabulary while helping students distinguish subtle differences in connotation. By categorizing tone words, students practice semantic reasoning and deepen their understanding of how word choice influences tone. The sorting grid encourages students to visualize tone groupings and compare word meanings side-by-side. This foundational exercise prepares students for more advanced tasks involving tone analysis in full texts.

Curriculum Matched Skills

English Language Arts – Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

English Language Arts – Connotation and Word Nuance

English Language Arts – Tone Recognition

English Language Arts – Semantic Word Sorting

This worksheet is part of our Narrative Voice and Tone Worksheets collection.