Real word families
Every family shares its root and its meaning: play, player, playful. Odd ones out look alike but are not related (display, brain), and each group has exactly one.
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Teaching guide: word families, prefixes and suffixes
Knowing that rainy, rainbow and raindrop come from rain, or that re- means “again”, helps children work out new words and spell them. This free word families, prefixes and suffixes worksheet generator uses a bank written for English in British spelling: choose the exercise, the level and, where it applies, prefixes or suffixes, and get a new A4 worksheet with its answer key.
Student worksheet 
Answer key Prefixes and suffixes
Split a word into its prefix or suffix and the word it comes from, build new words (im- + possible = impossible) and choose what the prefix or suffix means.
Three levels
From everyday families and affixes in Grade 3 (un-, re-, -ful, -less) to the Latin and Greek roots of Grades 6 and 7 (cent, century; inter-, semi-, -ify).
Sort into families
Words from three or four families mixed in a box: no word contains the root of another family in the same exercise, so there is only one way to sort them.
Its own English bank
Not a translation: English, Spanish and Catalan each have their own families, prefixes, suffixes and meanings, with British spelling for English.
Answer key
The odd one out circled, every word in its family, examples for each family, the parts of each word, the words built and the meanings, in blue on separate pages.
Frequently Asked Questions about the Word Families Worksheets
What is a word family?
A group of words that share a root, the part that carries the meaning: help, helper, helpful, helpless. These worksheets use word families in the morphological sense taught from Grade 3, not the rhyming phonics families (-at, -ig). Display is not in the play family: it looks alike but does not share its meaning.
What is the difference between a prefix and a suffix?
A prefix goes before the root and changes its meaning (unhappy, rewrite); a suffix goes after it and often changes the word class (teacher, quickly). Both make new words from a root word.
Which grades are these worksheets for?
Grades 3 to 7. The starter level has well-known families and the most common affixes; the intermediate level adds spelling changes (happy, happiness) and prefixes such as mis-, over- and il-; the advanced level works with Latin and Greek roots and affixes such as inter-, semi- and -ify.
Why does “write the family” have more than one answer?
Because a family has many words: the answer key gives examples and any word that shares the root is right. Odd one out, sorting, building and splitting words, on the other hand, have only one right answer.
Can I mix them with other vocabulary exercises?
Yes. Add exercises from other generators to the same sheet, such as synonyms and antonyms, alphabetical order or spelling, and print them together.
How do I print only the answer key?
Press Print and choose Answer key (or Worksheet and answer key). For new words with the same settings, select the exercise and press “New”.
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