Word families, roots and origins · Year 3
In Year 3 you learn: word families: help, helpful, helper.
Many English words are built from roots that come from Latin and Greek. If you know the root, you can often work out a new word: tele means far away, so a telescope looks at things far away. A word family is a group of words made from the same root word: act, action, actor, active.
Key facts
- A word family shares a root word and its meaning: help, helpful, helpless, helper. Prefixes and suffixes make the new words.
Worked examples
Example 1
Which word is in the same family as child: childhood or chill?
Answer: childhood
Example 2
Write three words in the family of help.
Answer: helpful, helper, helpless
Example 3
Which word is not in the family: play, player, plate, playful?
Answer: plate