Compound Words

Free printable Compound Words teaching resources to make teaching compound words at the elementary level fun and easy! Use our free, printable compound words flashcards, compound word grade lists, games, charts, worksheets, and even reading passages to engage your students with simple literacy tools. Be sure to check out our Grade 1 Reading Curiculum!

What is a Compound Word?

When teaching reading to kids, you are sure to talk about compound words. A compound word is simply two words that are joined together to make a new word with a new meaning. For example, “sun” and “flower” are two separate words, but when you put them together, you get “sunflower”, which is a completely different word with its own meaning. Other examples of compound words include “rainbow”, “toothbrush”, and “bookshelf.”

How to Teach Compound Words

Teaching compound words to kids can be a fun and engaging experience. Begin with simple examples that are easy to understand and recognize, such as “cupcake”, “playground”, and “bedroom”. You can use visual aids like pictures, flashcards, and diagrams to help explain what a compound word is and how it’s formed.

Compound Word Lists

Free printable Compound Word Lists for preschool, kindergarten, first, second, and third-grade students. These printable charts provide students with simple lists of compound words they can learn to read. Each word list has been carefully chosen based on age and ability level.

Compound Word Flashcards

Free printable compound word flashcards for students to practice building compound words. These can be used as flashcards or word wall cards as they will fit nicely inside a pocket chart for hands-on practice. These picture cards includes color coded prompting as well as color coded borders by grade level. Use these printable cards with our universal learning centers for reading.

Compound Words Worksheets

Free printable worksheets for students to learn to read compound words. You’ll find cut and paste worksheets, segmenting worksheets, matching, spelling, and build a compound word worksheet.

Compound Words Games

Free printable games for learning all about compound words. Featuring Spin a compound word, roll a compound word, and more! These activities are great for independent or small group learning centers.

Compound Word Reading Passages

Simple, printable and free PDF Compound Word Reading Passages make learning to read and comprehend compound words a breeze! These printable passages are written for a variety of grade levels and work well in both homeschool and classroom settings. Each passage is engaging and features four comprehension questions helping your students to become well-rounded readers as they practice reading compound words.

Types of Compound Words

Compound words can be classified into three types: open, closed, and hyphenated. Open compound words are two separate words that are written together, such as “ice cream” or “post office”. Closed compound words are two words that are joined together without a space, such as “toothbrush” or “sunflower”. Hyphenated compound words are two words that are joined together with a hyphen, such as “well-being” or “mother-in-law”. Understanding the different types of compound words can help with spelling, pronunciation, and writing throughout a student’s learning career (and life)!

Types of Compound Words Chart

What is a compound word? Older students can learn about the different types of compound words with our free printable compound word anchor charts. These reference posters are great for students to begin to understand open compound words, closed compound words, and hyphenated compound words.

Closed Compound Words Chart

Free printable Closed compound words anchor chart for student reference. A close compound word is written without spaces between the words. This is a typical compound word and is what most students think of when they learn about compound words.

Open Compound Words Chart

Free printable anchor chart for students learning about Open Compound Words. An open compound word is written with spaces between the words.

Hyphenated Compound Words Chart

Print this free PDF chart for students to learn about hyphenated compound words. A hyphenated compound word is written with a hyphen between the words. This includes words like part-time, first-grade, etc…

When to Teach Compound Words

Teaching compound words is an important part of early literacy development, and it’s never too early to start introducing them to kids. As soon as kids start learning to read, they can begin learning about compound words. In fact, compound words are often introduced in the early elementary school years, around first grade. This is because kids are starting to read and write more complex words and understand that compound words are an important part of building their vocabulary. Once your students are starting to read small sentences you can begin to use our free reading comprehension worksheets for additional practice.

Comment (1)

  • Andrea Reply

    These look amazing!!

    June 22, 2024 at 4:16 pm

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