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200  2nd Grade Vocabulary Words

Here is a printable list of  200 2nd grade vocabulary words, in alphabetical order.  As your browse these words, you'll no doubt think of many ways to use these with your second grades. If you still need more ideas, use our Teacher tips

Next, you'll find 100 2nd grade vocabulary list, by categories. Finally, you'll see even more 2nd grade vocabulary & spelling resources. Take your time and get the maximum benefit from this ONE amazing web page.

200 2nd grade vocabulary words-pg 1

This gigantic list of 2nd grade vocabulary words will help you help your students learn the most important words of the year! Words come from subject areas, sight word lists, and lists of everyday words that are sure to come up in conversations.

First, you'll see the entire list of 200 words, in alphabetical order. Later, you can scroll down to see 100 of the words arranged in meaningful categories. I've also created a second printable page for students to keep in their desks or notebooks. 

200  2nd Grade Vocabulary Words

Use this handy printable list. Or refer to this list: 

accept

adapt

addition

agree

almonds

amphibian

April

arrive

atoms

attract

August

award

baboon

backpack

bakery

bandage

bare/bear

believe

beneath

beyond

blindfold

blurry

boast

borrow

brake/break

bought

calendar

careful

carpenter

castle

cell

cheetah

chew

chicken

chocolate

citizen

continent

country

cricket

curious

dangerous

daughter

December

decide

dime

discover

division

dollar

doze

drift

eagle

earn

easier

edge

environment

evening

everyone

everywhere

example

excitement

exercise

extinct

fabric

fabulous

fact

famous

February

flutter

force

fraction

gathered

giraffe

glide

governor

gravity

greedy

habitat

hamburgers

hear/here

herd

hint

holiday

injure

insect

invent

its/it’s

January

jelly

July

jumble

June

jungle

kept

kettle

keyboard

knee

knock

label

lend

leopard

limit

library

lizard

lonely

macaroni

mammal

mansion

March

matter

May

mayor

meat/meet

molecules

money

motion

multiplication

napkin

nearby

nearly

nervous

never

nickel

noisy

normal

notebook

November

October

odd

odor

order

other

owl

package

pale

panda

patterns

peanut butter

penny

place value

plain/plane

pleasant

porcupine

potato

purpose

quack

quarter

queen

question

quickly

quietly

quilt

quiz

raccoon

radio

raise

reptile

right/write

rounding

salmon

scholar

seal

September

shiver

signal

smooth

snuggle

son/sun

soup

spaghetti

squash

steady

subtraction

symmetry

tangerine

tasty

telephone

thank

their/there/they’re

tiny

to/too/two

tour

trade

universe

unicorn

unlock

vanilla

veteran

village

visit

voice

waffles

warn

weak

wise

wonder

world

yawn

young

your/you’re

zebra

Teacher's Tips for Using These Words:

As a former teacher and longtime educational writer, I've spent many hours combing important second grade resources, searching out these important words for your students to master this year.

In this shorter list that follows, I've placed just 100 of the words into meaningful categories to help your students learn these words a bit more quickly. I've also added some fun clip art. Here's how to get the most from these lists:

  • Send either printable list home to parents. Encourage them to use these words at home, both orally and in writing.
  • Use these words frequently in classroom conversations.
  • If you prefer to teach words formally, introduce just 3-4 words at a time to second graders. Present the words in context. Repeat them often. 
  • Leave the new words on a classroom display for at least a week. Work these words into lessons, conversations, games, and worksheets.
  • See more ideas for using these words with individual children. 

Shorter List of 100  2nd Grade Vocabulary Words

Here's a peek at the printable page. The full version also appears below. 

Second Grade Vocabulary List of 100 Words from www.spelling-words-well.com

Remember, these are words that students in second grade should be comfortable using orally. They may not be able to read and write them at first. But you can help them work on those skills, too!  Does your child already know some of these words? That's great! Have fun using the words frequently in family or classroom discussions.

tall giraffe

Calendar  January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Animals:  reptile, mammal, amphibian, insect, cheetah, leopard, porcupine, lizard, raccoon, panda, eagle, cricket, giraffe

Science: force, attract, motion, gravity, environment, extinct, habitat, matter, adapt, cell, atoms, molecules

Math: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, patterns, symmetry, fraction, place value, rounding

singing spaghetti

Foods:  spaghetti, hamburgers, macaroni, peanut butter, jelly, chocolate, mango, tangerine, soup, waffles, almonds, salmon, chicken, squash

Homophone Sets: two/to/too, their/there/they’re, bare/bear, brake/break, hear/here, its/it’s, meat/meet, plane/plain, right/write, your/you’re

Adjectives: curious, dangerous, famous, greedy, smooth, steady, weak, nervous, lonely, tiny, wise, pale

cartoon globe

Verbs: arrive, chew, invent, agree, seal, shiver, warn, wonder

People: scholar, citizen, governor, mayor, veteran

Places: village, country, continent, world, universe


Do you want MORE words?

This second grade vocabulary list is certainly not complete! Feel free to add even more second grade sight words,  homophones, or veggies.

Extension Activities

Smiling animated pencil

Copy one word on a piece of lined paper. Then, ask your child to do one or more of these things:

  • Find three words on the list that begin with the same letter. Draw a picture for each of these words.
  • Write all the words in one category in ABC order.
  • Ask students to work with a partner to write a story using at least 6 words on the list. Allow time for them to draw at least one picture about the story. 


More Second Grade Resources

2nd grade writing prompts

2nd Grade Writing Prompts  What does your pet lizard like to read? When should you NOT give your teacher a big red apple? What should always do in the morning? Your early learners will love these 2nd grade writing prompts for kids!


Double Z crossword puzzle

Double Z Crossword Puzzle - Help your child build more vocabulary skills as you complete this fun crossword together! It features 15 words that are spelled with double Zs. 

Second Grade Worksheets

Worksheets for 2nd grade, "Fill In the Family"

Fill-In the Family - Kids identify words in the same word family within a sentence, then add another word from the same family to complete the sentence. Great way to practice reading comprehension  and  spelling! 

2nd Grade Phonics Worksheets -  "Finish the Word" and "Match the Word Endings" are two colorful pages for basic phonics practice

See our entire collection of Phonics Games & Activities. You're sure to find something just right for the skills your kids need to practice!

Find lots more Second Grade Worksheets on my website!


All Vocabulary Lists

First grade vocabulary words from www.spelling-words-well.com

Kindergarten Vocabulary Words - 175 engaging, empowering vocabulary words, in alphabetical order, that every kindergartner should be learning. Use our convenient printable page. A second list features 100 of the words in helpful categories such as shapes, feelings, community helpers and more. 

First Grade Vocabulary Words - 175 great vocab words on a variety of topics for 1st grade students to learn to use in conversation, along with suggested activities. 100 words appear in meaningful categories including sports, animals, compound words and more. 

Second Grade Vocabulary Words : 200 words for 2nd grade students to learn and enjoy! 100 of the words are arranged in helpful categories and are arranged on an engaging printable for your students. Challenge your second graders with more words to use in their speaking and written vocabularies.

3rd grade vocabulary list

3rd Grade Vocabulary Words - 200 words to boost your child's spoken and written language skills, arranged alphabetically!  Print the complete list from the web page for best results. 100 of the words also appear in an engaging printable, arranged by helpful topics. 

4th Grade Vocabulary Words - 200 4th grade vocab words to keep your students on track all year long! Half of the words are also arranged in meaningful categories to help students with word meaning. 

5th Grad Vocabulary Words

5th Grade Vocabulary Words - Boost your fifth graders' spoken and written vocabularies with this BIG list of 200 words, arranged in alphabetical order. I've also selected 100 of these words to put into 10 engaging topics. Try the extension activities for best results!

6th Grade Vocabulary Words - Improve your students' understanding of LOTS of areas of learning by covering these 200 important words! I've included many ways to put these words into use, and I have links to other related pages, too!

7th Grade Vocabulary Words - Here are 240 challenging words to stretch your upper grade students this year! Follow all the tips and extra activities listed to get the most out of this mega list of vocabulary words!

NEW! 8th Grade Vocabulary Words - Stretch your own vocabulary as well as your students' with this challenging list of 250 words! Lots of extension activities are also included. 


These are lists of  sight words and spelling words that you may wish to explore with your student. 

Author Ann Richmond Fisher

Ann Richmond Fisher is a longtime published educational writer, a former classroom teacher and a former homeschool teacher. Ann's spelling bee resources, graded spelling word lists, spelling games, worksheets, and other language arts resources have become respected around the globe since she launched Spelling-Words-Well in 2010.

Ann is also the creator of www.word-game-world.com.


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