Understanding compound words and compound words puzzles Pack1

Compound words are two or more words put together to form a new word with a new meaning.

Let’s take a few examples. ‘hand’ and ‘bag’ are two words with meanings but when they are fused together, they form another word, ‘handbag’ which has a new meaning.

Words such as

mail + man = mailman

water + fall = waterfall

hot + dog = hotdog

tea + bag = teabag look like one word and are called closed compound words. Closed compound words are usually made up of only two words.

There are compound words like living room, post office, ice cream etc. which are written as separate words but when we read them together, a new word is formed. Such words are called open compound words.

Compound words that use a hyphen in between two or more words, such as well-known, mother-in-law, second-rate, merry-go-round, etc. are called hyphenated compound words.

Today we shall be discussing ‘closed compound words.’

 

You can download the compound words anchor chart by clicking on the image above.

The English language is ever-evolving so when certain words that have become commonplace over a period of time lose the hyphen or space between them and become closed compound words. They are eventually written as one word. We could take the example of take-out which is now takeout or on-line which became online.

Students begin to recognize and understand simple compound words, such as rainfall and campfire, in first grade and then progress to more complex compound words.

Compound word families

There are many compound word families that use the same base word. We could take the example of the word, ‘sun.’ A lot of new words can be formed using ‘sun’ as the base word. For example, sunburn, sunrise, sunset, sunshine, sunlight, etc.

Another example could be the base word ‘ball’. ballpoint, basketball, ballroom, football, volleyball etc.

Studying compound words build interest in words and a strong vocabulary foundation. Also, it provides an opportunity to understand the language better.

It also prepares students to learn word roots, prefixes, and suffixes.

I have created a pack for practicing compound words with children. It is a free pack of 7 worksheets and can be downloaded by going here.

I am going to share a pack of compound words puzzles with you.

These puzzles are not only fun and interesting but will enrich your child’s vocabulary.

 

 

There are six puzzles on each of the 5 sheets in this ‘compound words list’ pack.

 

Cut the puzzles horizontally. For a classroom setting, it would be a good idea to print these on card stock and laminate them. There are 5 sheets with 6 puzzles on each sheet. There are 30 puzzles in this pack! And they are absolutely free! You will need to print these sheets and cut them. Print these sheets on card stock.

 

Cut them from the center which is the line between the compound words pictures.

Have the kids form the compound words using the word strips and write them on this compound word addition word work worksheet.

If you are doing these worksheets with your child at home, you can print the sheets below.

Form the compound word and stick it on the sheet. You can stick three puzzles on one sheet. Write the compound word after pasting it. Then, form a sentence using the compound word.

 

It is a more detailed way of doing these puzzles. You can also have the children stick the puzzles in their notebooks.

 

The next set of puzzles are cupcake, butterfly, pancake, jellyfish, keychain, and mailbox.

 

This is a tried and tested activity in my class and is loved by each kid. I love how it adds to their vocabulary.

 

With such wonderful activities, kids do not even realize that they are being taught something. It makes my job so much easier.

This ‘compound word‘ pack is a subscriber freebie.

DOWNLOAD THE COMPOUND WORDS LIST BY CLICKING ON THE ‘COMPOUND WORD LIST CHART’ BELOW.

 

I hope you find this ‘compound word‘ pack useful.