Word Family
A word family is a group of words that may share a common root word with different prefixes and suffixes in morphology. They’re used for teaching spelling.
What is a Word Family?
A word family is a group of words that may share a common root word with different Prefixes and Suffixes in morphology. They are used for teaching spelling.
The ‘Help’ Word Family
Examples of Word Families
These words all belong to the same word family:
- writer;
- written;
- writing;
- writes;
- rewrite.
What do they have in common?
These words all come from the root word ‘write.’ This means they’re part of the ‘write’ word family.
These words also belong to the same family:
- triangle;
- tricycle;
- tripod.
They come from the Latin prefix ‘tri,’ meaning ‘three.’
When do children learn about Word Families?
Children should learn about word families in year 3 English as part of the English national curriculum. At this stage, children are shown that common words are associated in form and meaning.
Key Stage 2 pupils should be able to understand prefixes, suffixes, and root words in preparation for the SATs grammar, punctuation, and spelling exam at the end of year 6.
Year 6 pupils could be tested on the following SPaG rules to do with word families in their SATs:
- Look at related words from a word family and define the meaning of the root word.
- Matching prefixes with their root words (i.e., unhappy and happy).
- Adding suffixes to nouns to make adjectives (i.e., noise and noisy).
The national curriculum states that children should be able to match prefixes with correct root words, give several words within the same family in list form, and add suffixes to nouns (which turns that suffix into an adjective).
For example, the root word happy might have a prefix added (unhappy) or a suffix added (happiness). The terms happy, unhappy, and happiness all belong to the same word family
Many root words come from Latin. For example, ped – the Latin word for foot – is the root of pedicure, pedestrian, pedal, and expedition.
Why learn about Word Families?
Seeing the patterns in language that link words to each other is helpful in reading, writing, and spelling.
This is distinct from studying sound families, where different letters make the same sounds, although the learning benefits are similar. In some places, you might hear them called related words instead.
Knowledge of word families makes spelling and identifying words easier, as identifying the root word will help children to be able to spell other words in the same word family.
This enables pupils to consolidate their understanding of related words, e.g., ‘happy,’ ‘unhappy,’ ‘happily,’ ‘unhappiness,’ and ‘unhappily.’ To apply this knowledge, you need to know the meaning of common prefixes and suffixes.
There are many combinations of word families; these are 37 of the most common:
Ack, ake, all, ale, an, ame, ain, ank, ap, ash, at, ate, aw, ay, eat, ell, est, ice, ick, ight, ill, ide, ill, in, ine, ing, ip, ink, it, ock, op, oke, ore, ot, uck, ug, unk, and ump.
These help children to understand how to read and build vocabulary through repetition and nursery rhymes. They also allow children to recognize familiar phonetical sounds. Phonics is the foundation that children build on for their spelling techniques.
How can I teach children about word families?
Begin with short vowels that start with an ‘a’ to ease children into understanding the different connectives between words. Often these follow a CVC/CVCC (consonant, vowel, consonant) pattern that children are typically familiar with.
For children to retain the information on word families, it’s best to introduce them one at a time. This means they’ll remain on that particular set of words and be able to remember the patterns and sequences associated with each word family.
Use these in conjunction with tricky phonics words to help discern nonsense words from correct ones. Expanding vocabulary through reading and spelling lists will help understand the structure of words and their connections.
As a simple outline of how to teach your kids about word families and root words, try this technique:
- Start with one-syllable words.
- Create a word family anchor chart for your classroom or home.
- Make new words with the pattern.
- Engage your children with hands-on learning fun.
What are the benefits of teaching word family lists?
The upsides of teaching word family lists
Word family lists are groups or words following similar patterns. They significantly increase the number of words your child is exposed to and can master. Your child can learn eight to twenty-five words in spelling patterns instead of just one or two. In addition, your child’s word recall is improved as similar expressions are stored together in their brains. This is the positive thing about teaching word family lists.
The downside of teaching word family lists
The issue comes when you stop! And only teach word lists that are grouped in word families because your teaching efforts may feel like a failure. Why so? Think about it, when you incorrectly use word families, learners can end up following the pattern of that lesson. They will blindly zip through the spellings without learning them. They will follow a way that you intended to be educational and insightful, which ends up becoming counterproductive. The child can’t then spell the words outside the organized lists.
A second downside to word family lists is that your child may put their focus on the ends of the words. We want the student’s eye at the beginning and to follow it to the end of the word. Not the other way around, as this reinforces incorrect eye movement. Keep the emphasis on moving the eyes from left to right. For example, you might like to teach the word ‘pan,’ followed by the words ‘van’ and ‘ran’… so that the learners know that they can find other spellings with the same ending.
