Word Relationships Worksheets

Related ELA Standard: L.7.5.B

Core Standard
Answer Keys Here

There are countless English words that have multiple meanings. Some words will have an attributed positive or negative association. Some words will make us more comfortable and some words will raise the hairs on the back of neck. We can define the relationships between words in several ways. We can tag same and opposite relationships with synonym and antonyms. You can also classify words as hyponyms this means that they belong in the same category. If there is a semantic connection we would classify it as hyponym (homophones and homographs). These worksheets will help students understand the relationships that exist between well known words and word families.


Words are often interconnected. In many different ways words act as members of a family. Families often have many members that share the same occupation and hobbies, but they may look nothing alike. Words often have the same or similar meaning but look nothing like the words that they counter score. These worksheets will help students make the connection between words.

Word Relationship Worksheets To Print:

Making Comparisons – This always reminds me of the analogy portion of the SAT.

Making Shapely Comparisons – This version is at an easier level.

Sports Analogies – You will find them all over sports.

Synonyms – This is a true brainstorming activity and can be done as a class, if needed.

Synonyms Series – This is exactly why English is so difficult for second language learners.

Relationship Between Synonyms – Do the words mean exactly the same thing?

Antonyms with Anger – Don't use a dictionary unless you absolutely have to.

Slippery Opposites – If you can think of more than one good antonym write them all, but circle the one that you think comes closest to being the opposite of the word listed.

Contra-Ideas – Antonyms come in handy when there is a need for contrasting ideas and elements in writing.

Handy Idea Elements – Cross out the word in each sentence that doesn't belong.

Antonyms, Context Clues and Oxymorons – Make sense of each sentence by substituting the incorrect word with a correct one.

Increase Your Understanding of Words – Think of an antonym and a synonym for each word.

Homographs – Read each of the homographs then write two sentences that demonstrate two different meanings of the word.

Label Time – Read each set of words below. Are they synonyms (S) or antonyms (A)? Write S or A in the box.

Making Analogies – Use your creativity to complete each analogy.

How to Identify Relationships between Words?


Words in any language exist individually, but under one roof of a vocabulary set just like a family. In this family, some words are closely related to one another while others are not-so-closely related. Some words follow a parent term under which some other words come in a specific order of hierarchy.


There are some words that look and sound almost identical to one another, but are not at all closely related. At the same time, there are some words that look and sound very different from one another, but are very closely related. Understanding words in any language and being able to identify the relationship between those words is crucial to the over-all ability of speaking and writing that language.


Here are a few steps to follow to correctly identify the relationships between words in the English language:


Know What Kind of Relationships Can Possibly Exist


Before you try to find out the relationship between words, it is pertinent that you know the most basic and common forms of relationships that actually exist between the words. The most common relationship between the words is antonymic relation, synonymy, hyponymy, homonymy, part-to-whole relationship, rhythmic relationship, kinship, head to subject relation, person to location relation, source to object relation, and object to use relation. Understanding all of these and being able to clearly differentiate between them is very important for the identification of these in unknown cases.


Figure Out the Meanings of the Words to Be Identified for Relations


Once you have a full grasp on the concept of every possible relationship that exist between the words, all you need to do is to look for the meaning of the words in comparison. After getting to know the meanings, one can easily identify the relationship between those by comparing the words for meanings and sounds.


How to Spot Relationships Between Words


Many different types of words have connections between them. Here are a few relationships between words that can be easily recognized in texts.


Synonyms


Synonyms are words that are similar in meaning. These words have different spelling and pronunciation but they have the same exact meaning. This type of relationship can be used in the text to point out the same thing with different words. For example,

Nasty and dirty
Worn and used
Calm and peaceful


Antonyms


These are the words that are exact opposites of each other. This relationship of words can be used to describe the meaning of a certain word or a contrast between two entities. For example,

New and old
Hot and cold
Late and early
Night and day


Analogy


Analogy refers to the connection or comparison between two things for better clarification. For example,

As light as a feather
As white as snow
As cute as a baby


Homonyms


Homonyms are the words that have different spellings and different meanings but they sound the exact same. Their pronunciation has little to no difference. For example,

Blue and blew
Hear and here
Their and there


Rhyme


Rhyme is another relationship amongst words. Rhyming words are words that have similar ending sounds. However, the difference between rhyming words and homonyms is that they don't have the same starting sound. For example,

Goat and boat
Trouble and bubble
Hot and rot
Cat and hat
Slow and toe


Person to Location


The person to location relationship of words refers to the place which is associated with the person. For example,

Ship and sailor
Criminal and jail
The prime minister and prime minister house


How to Determine the Relationship Between Vocabulary Words?


Vocabulary sets in every language of the world contain a lot of related words. All of these words can be related to one another within a set in a variety of ways. As a reader and a learner of any language, it is your job to determine what specific relationship is in there between two different words within a set of words.


Determining the relationship between vocabulary words is not an easy task and requires a lot of care and attention on the part of a reader. However, here are a few tips that can help you find the relationship between two words easily and by utilizing less amount of time:



Compare the Meanings


The best way to find the relationship between words in a vocabulary set is by comparing the words for their meanings. Meanings can tell a lot about the relationship between the words. Comparing the meanings of two words tell us whether those words are antonym, synonyms, or hyponyms of each other or have any other such relationship among them.



Compare the Word Parts


Sometimes, two words look alike because they either share a similar root word or an affix. Comparing the words for their word parts can easily help us identify whether any of the word part in both the words matches or not. If two different words are sharing one or more word parts, we can easily determine the relationship between the words by comparing the parts of the word and the role they are playing in the individual words.



Compare the Context of Words


The context of a word can tell a lot about the word and therefore, comparing and contrasting the contexts of the words can tell a lot about the word's relationship with each other. Even if you do not know the meanings for the words, comparing the contexts can help in determining their relationship.


How to Spot Word Relationships?


In the English language, many words are related to each other in various interesting ways. To understand the meaning of these related words, one must first understand how they are related to each other. Students must be able to spot the relation between the words. Words can be related to each other by having a similar meaning, different meaning, a similar sound or similar spellings. Given below are some common relations between different words and their understanding will help one to spot the relationship between words easily:


Synonyms


Words are called synonyms if they are related to each other by having a similar meaning. For words that are related to each other and have a similar meaning, one can easily spot that they are synonyms. For example, word awareness and familiarity are used widely and are related to each other because they both mean the same thing which is ‘to know'.


Antonyms


Words that are related to each other due to them having different or opposite meanings are called antonyms. For example, words pros and cons are mostly used together which mean advantages and disadvantages. Thus, these two words are related to each other by having a difference in their meanings.


Homonyms


Words are also related to one another by having same pronunciations, for the words that have the same sounds but different meaning, one can easily spot them as homonyms. For example, word right and write are pronounced in the same way but are different in their meanings.


Part to Whole or Whole to Part


Words are also related to each other part to whole or whole to part. In part to whole, a piece or portion of something is related to the whole object. For example, leaf to plant and toe to the foot are related to each other. Similarly, in whole to piece an object is related to one part. For example, house to rooms and shirt to the button are related to each other as whole to parts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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