Most adults read without deciding to. A word on a sign, a label, or a screen is understood before there is any chance to ignore it, and that automatic pull is usually helpful. It becomes a problem when the automatic answer is the wrong one: the hand that reaches for the old bottle after the prescription changed, the familiar turn taken on the way to a new address, the reply that is half spoken before the question has finished. Holding back a practiced response long enough to give the correct one takes deliberate effort, and after a stroke, a brain injury, or a long period away from demanding work, many adults notice that this effort is harder to sustain than it used to be.
This page covers the Stroop task, a format built entirely around that effort. You can download a free complex-level worksheet below (SOT2A, the first page of the complex level), see how the 20-worksheet set is organized across its basic and complex levels, read how the format relates to the Stroop Color and Word Test used in neuropsychology (and why a practice page is not the test), and pick up a few ways to run it in a session or at home.
Download the free Stroop task worksheet
Download the PDFWant more pages like this? Stroop Task Cognitive Exercise Bundle (20 Worksheets) $3.75 See the full set
Worksheet SOT2A from the set, the first page of the complex level: twelve rows of color words, 87 in all, printed in red, yellow, green, pink, or blue ink, with the instruction line, name and date lines, a level dial, and fields for number of errors and time. Print it in color, since the task depends on the ink. Free for personal, classroom, and session use.
- Level: complex
- Words: 87 in 12 rows
- Ink colors: red, yellow, green, pink, blue
- Timing: time the whole page, or run it untimed first
- Paper: US Letter
What is a Stroop task?
A Stroop task is a page of color words, red, blue, green, and so on, printed in ink that mostly does not match the word. The instruction on every worksheet in this set is the same: “Name the color of the ink for each word as quickly and accurately as possible, ignoring the word itself.” The person works left to right along each row, saying the ink color out loud, while a partner follows along, notes errors, and keeps the time. On the free page most words are printed in a color other than the one they name, and a few are printed in their own color, so there is no shortcut of simply never saying the word that is written.
Because reading is automatic for most adults, saying “blue” when the word reads red takes deliberate effort. The word arrives first, the color has to be produced instead, and the pull of the word does not fade as the page goes on; it has to be resisted on every item. That conflict, usually called Stroop interference, is what makes a page that looks trivially easy feel surprisingly demanding by the third row.
Response inhibition
Holding back the automatic answer so a deliberate one can be given instead. Every word on the page asks for it.
Selective attention
Attending to one feature (the ink) while a louder feature (the word) competes for the same response. Most errors are the word winning.
Processing speed
How quickly each color can be found, named, and left behind. The time field tracks it across weeks.
Cognitive flexibility
Switching between rules on request. The set’s guide page adds variations where the rule changes mid-page.
The Stroop Color and Word Test, and how these worksheets differ
The format takes its name from John Ridley Stroop, whose 1935 experiments showed that naming the ink color of a mismatched color word takes reliably longer than reading the word or naming a plain color patch. That finding became one of the most widely replicated results in experimental psychology, and the task built on it is now a standard part of many neuropsychological batteries.
The common clinical version, the Stroop Color and Word Test in the form published by Charles Golden, uses three pages of 100 items each: color words printed in black ink, patches of XXXX printed in color, and color words printed in a mismatched ink. The person has 45 seconds per page, and the scores from the three pages are combined into an interference score that reflects how much the mismatched page slowed them down. It is used widely in neuropsychology to look at selective attention and response inhibition, comes with its own norms and manual, and is administered and interpreted by trained professionals.
People searching for a printable Stroop test, free Stroop cards, or a Stroop test PDF usually land on practice pages like this one, and that is worth being clear about. The worksheets here borrow the mismatched-ink format and nothing else: the word lists are different, there is no word-only page or color-patch page to score against, and no table of norms exists for them.
These worksheets are practice materials, not the Stroop Color and Word Test. They are not an assessment, they produce no score that can be compared with a population, and they are not a substitute for evaluation by a qualified professional. If someone is due to be assessed with a Stroop test, tell the clinician about any Stroop practice, since familiarity with the format can affect how a score is read.
How the 20 worksheets are graded
Ten worksheets at each of two levels, with a different word order on every page so nothing can be learned by heart:
Basic (SOT1A to SOT1J)
Three ink colors: red, blue, and green. Nine rows in a larger type, six words on most rows, for 54 to 59 words per page. With only three colors to choose between, the interference is real but the pace stays manageable.
Complex (SOT2A to SOT2J)
Five ink colors: red, yellow, green, pink, and blue. Twelve rows in a smaller type, seven or eight words per row, for 85 to 89 words per page. Two more colors to hold in mind and half as much white space. The free sample above is the first of these.
Every page carries the same instruction line, name and date lines, a level dial, and fields for number of errors and time, so results can be compared page to page. The set also opens with a guide page that lists variations for when the standard rule feels routine: a reverse Stroop (read the word and ignore the ink), a rule that leaves one color out, and a switch between naming the ink and reading the word every fifth word.
| What you get | Free sample | Full set |
|---|---|---|
| Worksheets | 1 | 20 |
| Levels | Complex | Basic and complex |
| Ink colors | 5 | 3 on basic pages, 5 on complex |
| Rows per page | 12 | 9 or 12 |
| Words per page | 87 | 54 to 89 |
| Fields for time and errors | Yes | Yes, every page |
| Guide page with variations | None | Reverse Stroop and rule switching |
| Repeat sessions without reusing a page | One page | Weeks of practice |
Stroop task instructions for a session or at home
- Say it, do not write it. This is a naming task. The person says each ink color out loud while a partner follows the same page and marks errors and long hesitations in the margin. Working alone, a phone recording does the same job.
- Read the words first. Run the page once reading the words (the reverse Stroop from the set’s guide), then run it again naming the ink. The gap between the two times is the interference the task is built around, and it gives the person a clear sense of what they are working against.
- Time the page and count errors. Start the clock on the first word, stop it after the last, and write both numbers in the fields. Decide beforehand whether a self-corrected word counts as an error, and keep that rule the same on every page so the numbers stay comparable.
- Watch how the errors happen. Reading the word instead of the color is the slip the task is known for. Slowing right down to avoid it is a different pattern, and so is a first row that is clean and a last row that is not.
- Start on basic if five colors is too much. The three-color pages with larger type are the place to learn the format. Move to complex when a basic page is steady, then try the rule variations once the complex pages feel routine.
- Adapt when speaking is hard. Make a small key card with the five ink colors and let the person point to the matching color instead of naming it. The pull of the written word is still there; only the way of answering changes.
Prefer a screen? We also offer a free interactive version, Stroop on our tools site, which shows one item at a time, records the reaction time of every response, and has a colorblind-safe variant. Nothing to print, free to use.
Who uses Stroop worksheets
- Occupational therapists and speech-language professionals
- Brain injury, stroke, and community programs running group or one-to-one sessions
- Educators working with adult learners
- Caregivers supporting cognitive practice at home
- Adults looking for structured, printable attention and inhibition activities
All of our worksheets are designed to be adult-appropriate, visually clean, and easy to understand without unnecessary visual clutter.
The free worksheet above is a single complex-level sample. If you want the full graded progression, our Stroop Task set includes all 20 worksheets across the basic and complex levels, with the guide page and its variations. The rest of the format family lives in the Executive function and reasoning collection, the task sequencing worksheet also has a free page, and the executive function guide explains how the formats fit together.
These materials support cognitive stimulation and structured practice. They are not medical treatment or an assessment, and no specific therapeutic outcomes are claimed.
