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Academy11+

11+ English · Topic explained

Root words and word families

What do telephone, television and telescope have in common?

The big idea

A root word is the core of a word: know it, and you can unlock a whole family of words.

Picture it

A root word is the trunk of a tree; prefixes and suffixes grow from it like branches.

Key words

root word
The main part of a word, before prefixes and suffixes are added.
word family
Words built from the same root, sharing a meaning: help, helpful, helpless.
Greek and Latin roots
Old roots inside many English words: tele (far), port (carry), aqua (water), graph (write).

Worked examples

  1. 1Warm-up

    help → helpful, helpless, unhelpful

    • All three grow from the root word help.
  2. 211+ standard

    tele = far: telephone, television, telescope

    • telescope: see far
    • telephone: sound from far away
  3. 311+ standard

    port = carry: transport, portable, export

    • portable: able to be carried
    • export: carry goods out of a country
  4. 411+ standard

    sign → signature, signal

    • The root explains a spelling: the silent g in sign.
    • You hear the g in signature, so you remember it's there.

The common mistake

The mistake

Any words sharing letters are in the same family: car and carrot.

Instead

A real word family shares meaning, not just letters: act, action, actor.

Why: Car and carrot look alike but aren't related in meaning.

Where it comes up in the 11+

Roots help you work out unfamiliar words in comprehension, and crack verbal reasoning word-building questions.

The video

Video coming soon

We're making a short video that explains root words and word families step by step. Until then, everything it covers is on this page.

Free printable

Root words and word families worksheet

Practice questions on this topic to print and try on paper, at home or on the way to school.

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Quick quiz

Have a go first, then tap to see the answer.

  1. 1. What is the root word of "unkindness"?

    • un
    • kind
    • ness
    • kindness
    Show the answer

    kind

    un- is a prefix and -ness is a suffix; kind is the root.

  2. 2. "Port" means carry. What does "portable" mean?

    • easy to carry
    • very heavy
    • by the sea
    • broken
    Show the answer

    easy to carry

    port (carry) + able (can be).

  3. 3. Which word is NOT in the same family as "sign"?

    • signal
    • signature
    • design
    • single
    Show the answer

    single

    Single shares letters but not the meaning of sign.