Wh Questions Worksheets | Who What When Where Why How | Question Words Practice

Wh questions worksheets for who, what, when, where, why and how

These wh questions worksheets give students in grades 3 to 5 steady practice with the six question words. The packet is called The Great Wh-Questions Mastery Challenge, and it has 90 questions spread across six sections.

Kids start by picking the right word, then fill blanks on their own, and finish by writing questions of their own.

What students do in each section

Section 1, multiple choice identification has 15 questions. Each sentence is missing its first word, and students choose from four options.

The sentences are everyday ones: “____ do we celebrate New Year’s Day?”, “____ many apples are in the basket?” and “____ did you put my keys?”

Section 2, fill in the blank takes away the options. Students write who, what, when, where, why or how on the line for 25 questions such as “____ wrote this book?” and “____ did the dinosaurs go extinct?”

A few items give a small hint in brackets, like “____ is the cat? (In the garden)”, which helps a hesitant reader.

Section 3 is 15 true or false statements about how each word works. Students decide if “‘Who’ is the correct word to ask about a location” is right, or if “‘When’ can be used to ask about a day of the week” holds up.

This part checks the rule behind the word, so it’s a good place to stop and talk as a class.

Section 4, short answer logic, flips the task around. Students see an answer and work backward to the question word.

There are 20 of these. If the answer is “Behind the door”, the word is where. If it’s “Because I was tired”, the word is why. “Ten dollars” and “At 5:00 PM” make them think a little harder.

Section 5, sentence construction, asks for 10 complete questions. Some prompts give a topic, like a famous person for who, a dream vacation for where, or a recipe for how. Others only name the starting word.

Section 6, critical thinking and matching, closes the packet with 5 items. Students match where, who and why with their categories and explain the difference between how and why in their own words.

What’s in the download

You get four documents, 47 pages in total:

• The student worksheet, 17 pages with all six sections and lined space for writing
• A student answer sheet, 8 pages with bubbles for the multiple choice section and numbered lines for the rest
• A teacher key, 21 pages with every answer marked and a short explanation under each one
• A lesson plan, 1 page with objectives, materials and a timed procedure

The explanations in the key are brief and useful when a student asks why. For question 4 in the first section, the key notes that how goes with many to ask about quantity.

The answer sheet is handy when you want to reuse the printed wh questions worksheets. Students record only their answers, and grading goes faster.

How to use these wh questions worksheets

The lesson plan maps out a session of 90 minutes. It opens with a review of the six words lasting 10 minutes, gives 40 minutes for Sections 1 to 4, then a short stretch break.

After that, students spend 30 minutes on the writing in Sections 5 and 6, and the class ends with a peer review of the longer answers.

You don’t have to run the wh questions worksheets in one go. Sections 1 to 3 work well as a warm up across a few mornings, and Section 4 makes a good wh questions activity for a center or a partner task.

The writing sections suit homework or early finishers. Since the teacher key has explanations, the set also fits sub plans and homeschool lessons where a parent checks the work.

ESL and ELL groups get a lot from the backward questions in Section 4, because they have to think about meaning before grammar.

Printing and preview

All four documents are PDF files. The pages are mostly black text with green headings, so they print clearly in black and white.

Please look through the preview pages of these wh questions worksheets before you buy. They show the lesson plan, the first worksheet pages, the answer sheet and a sample of the teacher key.

More from the shop

If your class needs more practice with sentence structure, browse the grammar resources for other question and verb topics.

You can also find reading and writing practice for the same grades in the ELA collection, or see everything in the shop.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many pages are in these wh questions worksheets?

The set has 47 pages across four documents. The student worksheet is 17 pages, the teacher key is 21 pages, the student answer sheet is 8 pages, and the lesson plan is 1 page. Together they cover 90 questions in six sections.

What grades is this wh questions activity for?

Every document is labeled for grades 3 to 5. The early sections suit third graders who are still learning the six words, and the writing and explanation tasks in Sections 5 and 6 give fifth graders more to think about.

Does it include an answer key?

Yes. The teacher key covers all 90 questions. Each answer is marked, and most come with a one line explanation, such as why where is used for a place or why who is used for a person.

Can I print the worksheets in black and white?

Yes. The pages use black text with a few green headings and lines, so they stay easy to read on a black and white printer. The student answer sheet also lets you keep the worksheet itself for reuse.