Idioms and Their Meanings — Answers
Answer sheet with model answers and success criteria for the Year 6 vocabulary worksheet.
Success TutoringWorksheetsAnswer sheetYear 6 · English · VocabularyIdioms and Their Meanings — Answers
Part A: Match the idioms
An idiom is a group of words that means something different from what the words say. No one really eats cake when a test is a piece of cake!
- a piece of cake
- under the weather
- spill the beans
- once in a blue moon
- cost an arm and a leg
- break the ice
- tell a secret
- very easy
- be very expensive
- help people relax and start talking
- feeling sick
- very rarely
Answer: a piece of cake → very easy; under the weather → feeling sick; spill the beans → tell a secret; once in a blue moon → very rarely; cost an arm and a leg → be very expensive; break the ice → help people relax and start talking
Part B: Use the clues
Read each sentence. Use the context to work out what the idiom in bold means.
- AIt broke a window.
- BIt helped everyone relax and start talking.
- CIt made everyone cold.
- DIt upset the group.
Answer: It helped everyone relax and start talking.
Breaking the ice means ending an awkward silence so people feel comfortable.
- Ahungry
- Bnervous
- Csleepy
- Dbored
Answer: nervous
Butterflies in your stomach is the fluttery feeling of being nervous.
- AHe is in trouble.
- BHe is in the bath.
- CHe is cooking.
- DHe is very warm.
Answer: He is in trouble.
Being in hot water means being in trouble.
- Athrow our books
- Bstudy hard
- Cbuy new books
- Dtidy the shelves
Answer: study hard
Hitting the books means studying.
- Alet a pet go outside
- Btell the secret
- Copen a present
- Dbuy a cat
Answer: tell the secret
Letting the cat out of the bag means telling a secret too early.
- Avery happy
- Bconfused
- Cworried
- Dtired
Answer: very happy
Being on cloud nine means being extremely happy.
Part C: Say it plainly
Rewrite each sentence without the idiom, so it means the same thing in plain words.
Answer: It's raining very heavily, so take an umbrella.
- Any wording that means it is raining very hard is correct.
Answer: I'm going to go to bed early tonight.
- Also correct: go to sleep early tonight.
Answer: The new game was very expensive.
- Also correct: cost a lot of money.
Answer: Watch your little brother while I cook.
- Also correct: Look after / take care of your little brother while I cook.
Part D: True or false?
Answer: False
It is an idiom meaning the task is easy.
Answer: True
That is what makes it an idiom: you have to learn the meaning of the whole phrase.
Answer: False
It means something happens very rarely.
Part E: Your turn
Model answer: On the morning of the school play I had butterflies in my stomach. Once I was on stage, remembering my lines was a piece of cake, and the audience clapped loudly. I was on cloud nine for the rest of the day. That night I was so tired that I hit the hay straight after dinner. (butterflies in my stomach = nervous; a piece of cake = very easy; on cloud nine = very happy; hit the hay = went to bed)
Success criteria:
- Four to six sentences about one day
- At least two idioms used correctly in context
- Each idiom underlined
- The meaning of each idiom written correctly
Marking tips
- Give credit for correct method even when the final answer slips — the working shows where the thinking went right.
- For open-ended tasks, use the success criteria as a checklist rather than looking for one "right" answer.
- Celebrate what went well first, then pick one thing to work on next.