Which One Doesn’t Belong tasks, with three options that are connected and one that is not, are popular in math, but they’re also great for reading, science, and just for fun! Think collaboration, abstract reasoning, and applying concepts and knowledge, all in one activity.
Grab our free Google Slides featuring 100+ Which One Doesn’t Belong puzzles by filling out the form on this page. You can also print the individual slides to use as worksheets! Check out some of the slides highlighted below.
How To Use Which One Doesn’t Belong Puzzles in the Classroom
Which One Doesn’t Belong activities encourage critical thinking and promote discussion as students explain their reasoning. They ‘re a great way to reinforce knowledge and skills and a great activity to incorporate into instruction, provide to students who are early finishers, or use in intervention for students who need extra practice. Which One Doesn’t Belong puzzles have the most impact on student learning when students know how to approach them. Here’s how to use them:
Share the Google Slides or print them and pass out as worksheets.
Give students time to study the grid and think of their own responses.
Have students work in partners or small groups to talk about the response they chose and why.
What’s included in the bundle?
Learn more about what’s included in our free Which One Doesn’t Belong bundle below, and grab your own copy by filling out the quick form on this page.
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1. Number Sense
These Which One Doesn’t Belong activities focus on understanding numbers and how they are represented. There are activities for showing numbers, place value, divisibility, odd and even, and prime (or not prime).
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2. Fractions
Everyone’s favorite math topic! Use Which One Doesn’t Belong activities to practice showing fractions and equivalent fractions.
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3. Geometry
Which One Doesn’t Belong is perfect for analyzing shapes. This geometry worksheet has six problems that have students analyze the differences and similarities between 2D and 3D figures.
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4. Phonemic Awareness
Which One Doesn’t Belong is a great way to practice listening to sounds in words. Use these for small-group work or independent practice for rhyming, hearing beginning and ending sounds, and listening for short and long vowel sounds.
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5. Word Work
As students learn about types of words (nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs), use Which One Doesn’t Belong to practice identifying and discussing how words can be grouped. Once students identify the common type of word, can they think of any other ways the words could be grouped?
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6. Animals and Habitats
How are a dog, a horse, and a cat similar? They’re all mammals! These two worksheets engage students in thinking about animal classification and habitats around the world. Perfect to activate background knowledge during a habitat unit or to wrap up a unit on animals.
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7. Landforms
Break out maps and teach students about the different types of landforms. These Which One Doesn’t Belong prompts are great to talk about what makes landforms similar. Challenge students to create their own after they’re done learning about landforms.
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8. Water Cycle and Weather
Weather and the water cycle are topics that students cover multiple times in their lives, so bring in Which One Doesn’t Belong activities to help them discuss these topics in a new way.
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9. States of Matter
Solid, liquid, or gas? This set of slides is a great warm-up for a lesson on matter.
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10. Feelings
These Which One Doesn’t Belong activities with feelings are a way to talk about the types of feelings we have, ways to describe feelings, and levels of feelings. Use one a day to start morning meeting or a social-emotional learning lesson.
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11. Just for Fun!
Put these Which One Doesn’t Belong pages in your early finishers bin, or have them on hand for students to complete in the morning when they come in and need a quiet activity to get ready for the day. With back-to-school, holiday, and summertime themes, we designed these for kids to complete independently.
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Mary Davis is a writer for New State OK. She covered the sports beat, but she's also done a lot of health and well-being reporting, too. She's also written some things that aren't even technically news—like reviews of restaurants and other places in the area.
