Click to enlargeVocabulary 1 Puzzle Book
Vocabulary practice as a game: crosswords, synonym hunts and meaning grids, with points, medals and Gold to chase.
- 36 units in the book
- Vocabulary turned into a game, with points, medals and Gold to chase
- Full answer key, independently re-checked question by question
Want the whole series? The full English series is £497, under £19 a book.
How this book is used in our course
English books are worked in short daily sessions rather than one long sitting. For vocabulary, the child covers the meaning, says it aloud, then checks; words that are missed go on a card for the week. For comprehension and cloze, the child attempts the passage under a loose time, then marks against the key and rewrites any answer that lost marks.
Where it sits in the series
- Previous book in the series: Book 19, Inference Comprehension 1
- Next book in the series: Book 21, Vocabulary 2 Puzzle Book
What's inside English Mastery 20
Five real pages from the book, so you can see exactly what your child will work from. All 10 sample pages are in the viewer.
Vocabulary practice your child will ask to do: 36 missions, points to win, and Gold to chase.
Every word in Vocabulary 1 is turned into puzzle units: learn the words in the course book, then win them here. Words in Context, a GL-style Meaning Grid, a Synonym Hunt, a Crossword and Same or Opposite Team, each worth points, then two Grand Challenge papers as the final boss. Bronze, Silver, Gold: Gold is 90% or more, and a missed puzzle is re-tried a few days later until the unit turns Gold. It feels like a game. It tests exactly what GL and CEM papers test.
Fifteen sentences, one word bank, and every clue a child finds is a point on the board.
Spot the clue words, write the word that fits, change its ending if the sentence needs it. "The new lollipop lady smiles, chats and waves to every child": affable. "After years of practice, Aisha is ____ at juggling": adept. It plays like a detective game, and it is exactly how GL and CEM test vocabulary.
Sixteen words, sixteen meanings, each used once: a matching game with the GL paper’s rules.
Abode, aisle, absent, accumulate, adjacent, abduct, adhere, affluent and eight more, matched to their meanings by letter. Because each meaning is used once, the last few matches are the real challenge: a guess early on costs you at the end. It is the format of the GL paper, played as a puzzle on words the child has just learnt.
A word search with a twist: you hunt for a synonym of each word, not the word itself.
Abate is hidden as lessen; adrift as loose; abduct as snatch. You cannot even start looking until you know the meaning, so the game only works if the vocabulary has gone in. Children treat it as a treasure hunt; it is a vocabulary test in disguise.
Score it, record it, chase Gold.
Every puzzle answered for all thirty-six units, so a child marks their own mission, adds up the points, and logs Bronze, Silver or Gold on the Mission table. Anything short of Gold gets a rematch a few days later, which is spaced repetition without anyone having to call it that.
All 36 units in the book follow the pattern shown here.
Other Year 4 books in English Mastery
Vocabulary 1
The first word list: each word with a child-friendly meaning, synonyms, antonyms and a sentence.
Vocabulary 1 Testbook
Tests every word in Vocabulary 1 the way the exam does.
English Rules 1
Grammar and punctuation rules taught one at a time, with examples a child can copy.
Vocabulary 2
992 words in 25 alphabetical sets, with meanings, synonyms, antonyms and sentences.