Word families – 6 of the best KS1 and KS2 worksheets and spelling resources for primary English
Teach each student this peach of a selection of word family resources. Is that a reach? You get the point…
- by Teachwire
What is a word family
The words in a word family are normally related to each other by a combination of morphology, grammar and meaning.
Word family examples
- teach, teacher, teaching
- extend, extent, extensive
- grammar, grammatical, grammarian
National Curriculum English Programme of Study links
Pupils should be taught that word families based on common words, showing how words are related in form and meaning [for example, solve, solution, solver, dissolve, insoluble]
1 | Year 3 root words and word families challenge worksheets
This bright, appealing grammar worksheet is an excellent way to practise and revise root words and word families in Year 3. It is divided into five sections: understand, challenge, test, explain and apply.
Activities include SATs-style questions and opportunities for creative writing responses, with eye-catching images as prompts.
2 | Word families video and dance routine
As part of the BBC’s SuperMovers initiative, this video has The Dumping Ground‘s Tyler and Sasha tell your class all about word families and help them understand how words are related in form and meaning.
This song-and-movement routine also encourages physical activity in the classroom, and there’s a downloadable lyric sheet PDF so your class can sing along too.
3 | One-syllable word families posters and card-sorting activity
The resources in this word family pack will help children to practise recognising letter patterns through interactive wall displays and card-sorting activities.
It looks at groups of short (3- and 4-letter) words with letter patterns like -ill, -in, -ad and -en.
4 | Word family word spinners
Another way to help children practise and identify common letter strings in one-syllable words is by using these word wheels.
Children turn the wheels to see how different prefixes and suffixes create different words, and how the same spelling patterns apply to groups of words.
Word Wheels covering 28 letter strings are included, such as words ending in ‘-ab’, ‘-ip’ and ‘-ell’.
The spinners are colour coded to identify the vowel with which each letter string begins, and blank templates are also included so that children can create their own word spinners.
5 | Rhyme match ice cream game
This printable PDF resource features scoops of ice cream with words on. There are also cones with words on, and children are tasked with matchin the rhyming words in ice cream scoops to the correct word family cone.
How tall will each ice cream be?
6 | Word family spelling cut out sheets
This large set of spellings based on different word families was originally intended for use with Year 4.
It has 14 pages, each with eight copies of a different word family (the last page is a blank template for children to create their own).
Word families include appoint, expect, forget, horror, image, laugh and more.
Browse more Year 3 and 4 spelling list resources and Year 5 and 6 spelling list resources.
