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Paraphrase What You Heard is a free printable Grade 4 English worksheet on choosing the paraphrase that keeps what a speaker meant, aligned to Common Core standard SL.4.2. It prints 8 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two students in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 23 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Paraphrase What You Heard

SL.4.2

NameDate

Circle the right answer.

1.A speaker says: "Fleming spotted the mold by luck, but it took others years to make it useful." Which is the best paraphrase?
  • A.Fleming made the medicine by himself.
  • B.Nobody ever used the mold.
  • C.The find was lucky, but others worked for years to make a medicine.
2.A speaker says: "Please keep the lab door shut, or the mice may escape." Which is the best paraphrase?
  • A.Leave the door open for the mice.
  • B.Shut the door so the mice cannot get out.
  • C.The mice have already escaped.
3.A speaker says: "Bees carry pollen between flowers, and without them many fruits would never form." Which is the best paraphrase?
  • A.Bees make fruit taste sweet.
  • B.Flowers grow fruit without any help.
  • C.Many fruits only grow because bees move pollen.
4.A speaker says: "Most of the rain falls in just three months of the year." Which is the best paraphrase?
  • A.It rains the same amount all year.
  • B.Most of the year's rain comes in a short season.
  • C.It never rains for three months.
5.A speaker says: "The team lost the match, yet the coach said she had never been prouder." Which is the best paraphrase?
  • A.The team won, so the coach was proud.
  • B.The coach was angry about the loss.
  • C.Even though they lost, the coach was very proud.
6.A speaker says: "If we leave now, we will miss the worst of the traffic." Which is the best paraphrase?
  • A.There is no traffic today.
  • B.We should wait for the traffic to get worse.
  • C.Leaving now means we avoid most of the traffic.
7.A speaker says: "Our class collected more cans this semester than in the whole of last year." Which is the best paraphrase?
  • A.We collected fewer cans this semester.
  • B.We collected more cans in one semester than all last year.
  • C.Last year we collected no cans.
8.A speaker says: "Only one in ten of the seeds we planted came up, because the soil was too dry." Which is the best paraphrase?
  • A.The soil was too wet for the seeds.
  • B.Most of the seeds grew well.
  • C.Dry soil meant few of the seeds grew.

LessonPrint · SL.4.2 · Set 23 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Paraphrase What You Heard

Set 23. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.The find was lucky, but others worked for years to make a medicine.
  2. 2.Shut the door so the mice cannot get out.
  3. 3.Many fruits only grow because bees move pollen.
  4. 4.Most of the year's rain comes in a short season.
  5. 5.Even though they lost, the coach was very proud.
  6. 6.Leaving now means we avoid most of the traffic.
  7. 7.We collected more cans in one semester than all last year.
  8. 8.Dry soil meant few of the seeds grew.

More practice for SL.4.2

Put part of what you heard or saw into your own words.

Teaching this next? Paraphrasing What You Heard is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 4 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to SL.4.2 of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.