Year 3 Root Words and Word Family Worksheets

This bright, appealing grammar worksheet is an excellent way to practise and revise root words in KS2 and word families in KS2. This root words worksheet is divided into five sections: understand, challenge, test, explain and apply.

• Understand

Write the root word next to each example. Create new words by adding prefixes or suffixes to root words.

• Challenge

Choose two root words and use prefixes or suffixes to create a new word. Use each word in a sentence.

• Test

What do the root words scrib, struct and vis mean in the examples? What is the common root word for the examples given?

• Explain

Using your own words, explain what a root word and a word family is. Use examples.

• Apply

Write a short story about the picture. Make sure that you include five different root words in new words and underline them

This 15-minute challenge features activities that include SATs-style questions and opportunities for creative writing responses, with eye-catching images as prompts.

What is a root word?

Root words can stand alone, whereas suffixes or prefixes can’t. For example, ‘help’ is the root word for other words in its word family, such as ‘helpful’ and ‘helpless’, and also for its inflections such as ‘helping’. Compound words can contain two or more root words, such as ‘help-desk’.

Root word examples

• played [the root word is play]
• unfair [the root word is fair]
• football [the root words are foot and ball]

National Curriculum English programme of study links

Apply their growing knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes (etymology and morphology), both to read aloud and to understand the meaning of new words they meet.

This resource is part of the SPaG Gym collection.
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• Worksheets featuring 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