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Watch: What are compound words?

An illustration of a young girl smiling.

Compound words are formed when two or more separate words are joined together.

This creates a brand new word that often has a new meaning.

For example:

  • Super and Hero = Superhero
  • Tooth and Brush = Toothbrush
  • Play and Ground = Playground

Watch this short clip to see more examples of compound words.

An illustration of a young girl smiling.

Top tip!

Be careful as not all words can be joined together to make compound words.

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Activity 1

Use the pictures to make the compound words shown.

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Activity 2

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Activity 3

Look at the two lists of words.

Match a word from List 1 to a word from List 2 to make a real compound word.

Write the new words you create on paper. The first one is done for you.

List 1List 2
Rainbrush
Superfly
Postdrum
Butterbow
Suncorn
Popflower
Earstar
Paintbox
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Activity 4

Compound words have a different meaning to the separate words from which they are made. Show your understanding of this by completing the activity below.

  1. Choose one compound word from Activity 3
  2. Write three sentences
  • Sentence one should include one of the separate words.
  • Sentence two should contain the other separate word.
  • Sentence three should use the compound word.

For example:

If your compound word is Sunflower.

  • The sun was shining all day.
  • She wore a flower in her hair.
  • The sunflower grew very tall.
  1. Now choose another compound word and do the same again.
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Activity 5

Complete the ‘Compound Word Quiz’ to see how much you have learnt about compound words.

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Play our fun English game Crystal Explorers. game

Use grammar, punctuation and spelling skills to explore jungles, caves and tombs on your mission!

Play our fun English game Crystal Explorers
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