P5 Chinese character choice practice
Singapore Primary 5 Chinese, character choice (选字填空): pick the right character for a blank from several that look or sound alike, testing accurate use of characters so that homophones and look-alikes do not creep in. Everything here follows the MOE syllabus. You can try one set free without signing up, and it is marked as you go — get one wrong and the same point comes back asked a different way, so your child can push towards the PSLE on telling characters apart. This page has 17 skill points and 105 questions.
What is tested in P5 character choice
In P5 and P6 this is a fixed pair in the language-use section by our five-year count, and the options mix three kinds of trap in steady proportions: same sound different form, pure look-alikes, and characters with a different reading. The characters reach upper-primary level and common idiom characters, and the sentences are full complex ones.
Common traps
- One character inside an idiom swapped for a homophone — 再接再厉 written as 再接再励.
- Look-alike characters set in a written-register phrase, where a child has no spoken habit to fall back on.
- All four characters share the same reading, so only meaning and collocation can separate them.
How to practise
The characters a child gets wrong at this level can simply be listed. Copy out every one missed over the past few terms, pair each with one correct word, and revise only that list before the paper — there is no need to reread the character tables.
P5 character choice · worked examples
弟弟不小心摔倒了，膝盖上青了一大块，看起来伤得很（ ）。
- ✓ 惨
- ・残
- ・修
- ・渗
Why: The answer is "惨". The sentence says the injury is serious. "惨" means miserable or severe. "修" means repair, like "修补"; "残" means cruel or damaged, like "残忍" (cruel); "渗" means to seep, like "渗透". So choose "惨".
小狗看见主人回家，高兴得（ ）了上去。
- ・补
- ・打
- ・卜
- ✓ 扑
Why: The answer is "扑" (pounce). "扑" means throwing the whole body forward quickly. The puppy was so happy to see its owner come home that it rushed at him, so we use "扑". "卜" is the 卜 in "萝卜" (radish), "打" is in "打球" (play ball) and "补" is in "补衣服" (mend clothes); none of them describes rushing forward. "扑" is the hand radical plus "卜", so look carefully when writing it.
花木兰为了（ ）卫国家，决定代替父亲去打仗。
- ・宝
- ・饱
- ・抱
- ✓ 保
Why: The answer is "保". It means to guard and keep safe; "保卫国家" means defending the country and keeping the enemy out. Mulan went to war to defend her country, so "保" fits. "宝" means treasure, as in 宝贝; "饱" means full after eating, as in 吃饱; "抱" means to hold in your arms, as in 抱住. None of them goes with 卫 to make a word that fits here.
Read each candidate into the sentence and check the meaning and the pairing; only the one that fits both is right.
Skill points on this page (17)
- 下L13·老师，谢谢您 · 8 questions
- 上L01·到户外去 · 5 questions
- 上L03·懂事的你 · 10 questions
- 上L04·分享是快乐的 · 4 questions
- 下L11·新加坡，我为你骄傲 · 12 questions
- 下L14·想当一棵树 · 9 questions
- 上L02·身体会说话 · 5 questions
- 上L05·我的东西找到了 · 6 questions
- 上L06·一千桶水 · 4 questions
- 上L07·和时间赛跑 · 6 questions
- 下L09·成长的烦恼 · 6 questions
- 下L10·同学之间 · 7 questions
- 下L12·汉字王国 · 5 questions
- 下L15·世界那么大 · 7 questions
- 上L02·给小主人的一封信 · 4 questions
- 下L10·选字填空 · 3 questions
- 上L08·很久很久以前 · 4 questions
吃完早餐后，小乐（ ）着书包开开心心地去上学了。