Table Of ContentInstant Word Lists
Teaching Reading
for
Writing
and
EilEEn Thompson
& gEnE panhorsT
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Instant Word Lists for Teaching Reading and Writing © e2 Publishing Services, LLC. Published by Scholastic Teaching Resources
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Editor: Mela Ottaiano
Cover design by Maria Lilja
Interior design by Kelli Thompson
ISBN-13: 978-0-439-59025-9
ISBN-10: 0-439-59025-6
Copyright © 2008 by e2 Publishing Services, LLC
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.
Printed in the U.S.A.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 40 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08
Instant Word Lists for Teaching Reading and Writing © e2 Publishing Services, LLC. Published by Scholastic Teaching Resources
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
C 1
hapter
Words That Cause Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Homophones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Homographs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Words Pronounced Differently as Different Parts of Speech . . . .28
Commonly Confused Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Irregular Verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Nouns With Irregular Plurals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Nouns That Are Always Plural . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Collective Nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Words With Silent Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Silent e Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Words Not Spelled as They Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
C 2
hapter
Vocabulary Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Prefixes (From Greek, Latin, and Old English) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Suffixes (From Greek, Latin, and Old English) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Roots (From Greek, Latin, and Old English) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Compound Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Clipped Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Common Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Acronyms and Initialisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Words From Mythology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Words Based on Names of People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Words Based on Places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Words From Wars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Portmanteau Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Words Shakespeare Added to the Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Words Coined From Literature and Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Instant Word Lists for Teaching Reading and Writing © e2 Publishing Services, LLC. Published by Scholastic Teaching Resources
Contents
C 3
hapter
Words From Other Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Words From African Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Words From Arabic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Words From Australian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Words From Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Words From Dutch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Words From French . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Words From German . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Words From Greek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Words From Hindi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Words From Italian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Words From Japanese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Words From Latin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Words From Native American Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Words From Portuguese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Words From Russian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Words From Sanskrit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Words From Scandinavian Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Words From Spanish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Words From Turkish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Words From Yiddish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
French Phrases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Latin Phrases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Spanish-English Cognates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
British-American Words and Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
C 4
hapter
Word Differences and Wordplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Shades-of-Difference Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Adjectives That Show Degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Color Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Euphemisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
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Regionalisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Onomatopoeia Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Nouns and Adjectives for Animals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Palindromes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Idioms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Words That Come in Nonreversible Pairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Two-Part Verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
C 5
hapter
Jargon and Technical Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Business Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Media Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Computer Words and Technology Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Geography Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Music Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Health Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Art Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Measurement Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Sports Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Writers on Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Instant Word Lists for Teaching Reading and Writing © e2 Publishing Services, LLC. Published by Scholastic Teaching Resources
Introduction
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where
you need extra words to enhance your day-to-day
curriculum? With so many words to choose from, where do
you start? Instant Word Lists for Teaching Reading and Writing
is the book for you . This time-saving resource contains
dozens and dozens of word lists to supplement the language
concepts you teach as part of your language arts curriculum .
You can dip into the word lists to create instant word charts
and enrich reading and writing lessons . The lists can also
help you prepare students for the vocabulary development
standards assessed on
standardized tests, such
as understanding
the origins of words,
knowing the multiple
meanings of words,
and recognizing different
shades of meaning .
Each of the word lists
includes easy, target,
and challenge versions
that allow you to address
the different ability levels
within your classroom .
Chapter 1 focuses on words that cause problems . These words
may look alike, sound alike, have irregular forms, or not sound
as they are spelled . Using context clues and choosing the
meaning that fits the context are excellent skills to reinforce
as students learn more about homophones, homographs,
and commonly confused words . You can discuss grammar,
phonics, and letter-sound correspondence as students learn
more about irregular words .
Chapter 2 focuses on developing vocabulary by building
new words, shortening words, and understanding the
history of words . The extensive lists of prefixes, suffixes,
and roots—from Greek, Latin, and Old English—will assist
you as you teach students to use word parts to understand
unfamiliar words .
Instant Word Lists for Teaching Reading and Writing © e2 Publishing Services, LLC. Published by Scholastic Teaching Resources
The lists of abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms
show how language changes over time as longer words
are shortened . In addition, the lists showing how words
are derived from literature and the names of people,
places, wars, and so on, will help you address word-origin
standards and bring home to students the rich history of
the English language .
Chapter 3 expands the understanding of the history of
English by focusing on words and phrases derived from
other languages . Twenty other languages are represented,
enriching students’ knowledge of the influence of other
languages on English and further helping you to address
word-origin standards . You will also find an extensive
collection of Spanish-English cognates .
Chapter 4 focuses on the differences between words . Because
English has its roots in so many sources, it contains many
words for the same thing, such as “childish” with a Greek
suffix and “immature” with a Latin prefix . There are also
dozens of idioms, or phrases not meant literally . Overall,
the lists in this chapter help you address the importance of
avoiding tired words and choosing the best word or phrase
to make meaning clear when speaking or writing .
Chapter 5 focuses on jargon and other technical language . It
provides lists of words used in different professions . These
lists help students understand that some words have special
meanings that are different from their everyday meanings .
For example, the
noun beat is usually
understood as the
regular rhythm of
a piece of music
or of one’s heart .
However, the area
or subject that a
newspaper reporter
covers is also called
a beat .
Instant Word Lists for Teaching Reading and Writing © e2 Publishing Services, LLC. Published by Scholastic Teaching Resources
Introduction
As you use this book, here are some activities you can do to
reinforce the lists:
■ A fter using a list, have students hunt for interesting words
(and phrases) that they see in newspapers, magazines,
or online . Add words students find to running lists you
keep on the bulletin board . Suggest that students
categorize these words, using vocabulary terms such as
“jargon,” “euphemism,” “acronym,” and so on .
■ C reate word puzzles for different types of lists . For
example, you might create crossword puzzles for words
from mythology and word searches for words with silent
letters . Encourage your students to create their own
puzzles to challenge their classmates . Several puzzle-
generating programs are available on the Internet, such
as http://puzzlemaker .com .
■ S tart collecting idioms and other examples of wordplay,
such as puns and clichés . Students can illustrate these in
literal and/or figurative ways . Also challenge students
to create illustrations using homophones, homographs,
and commonly confused words .
■ B ring in examples of graphic novels . Have students discuss
the effect of onomatopoeia . Invite them to create graphics
using onomatopoeia .
Instant Word Lists for Teaching Reading and Writing © e2 Publishing Services, LLC. Published by Scholastic Teaching Resources
Chapter 1
Words That
Cause Problems
“
My students are
often confused by
homophones they
read. I need more
examples than the
ones provided in
my textbook.”
There are many types of words in English that can be
difficult to learn and remember. These tricky words may
sound alike (homophones), look alike (homographs, or even
similar words such as conscience and conscious), have irregular
forms (such as certain verbs or plural nouns), or not sound as
they are spelled (often due to silent letters).
Having a dictionary or thesaurus on hand is always helpful
when trying to determine the meaning of a word. However,
using context clues to select the meaning that best fits that
context is an excellent skill to reinforce as students learn
more about homophones, homographs, commonly confused
words, and so on. Remind students that the context of a
word includes all the other words, phrases, clauses, and
sentences around it.
You may also want to suggest that students tackle commonly
confused words by writing a single sentence that contains
any word set presenting a problem. For example, for costume/
custom: He wears a festive costume (clothing) during
celebrations because it is the custom (tradition or usual
practice) in his country. This can later act as a mnemonic
device when students encounter the words again.
Instant Word Lists for Teaching Reading and Writing © e2 Publishing Services, LLC. Published by Scholastic Teaching Resources
Chapter 1: Words That Cause Problems
Homophones
H
omopHones
Homophones are words that sound alike but are spelled
differently and have different meanings .
Easy
A bread a food made with D
flour, water, and yeast
bred past tense of breed
aid help dear someone loved
aide assistant deer an animal
C
ail be sick dew moisture
ale a drink do perform
capital seat of government
capitol building where state
ate past tense of eat legislature meets die stop living
eight one more than seven dye coloring
cell room in a prison
aye yes sell offer for sale
E
eye an organ for sight
cellar basement
ewe a female sheep
B seller a person selling you pronoun that refers
something
to the person being
bare not covered addressed (I’m
bear a large animal cent 100th of a dollar speaking to you)
scent odor
be to exist sent past tense of send F
bee an insect
cents pennies fair just, not biased
scents odors fare amount charged for
beat to hit or defeat
a trip
beet a vegetable
cheap not expensive
cheep sound made by flour a powder made from
been past participle of be
young bird grain
bin a container
flower blossom
chews grinds up food
blew past tense of blow
choose pick for a preposition
blue a color
fore the front of something
four the number after
creak squeak
brake part of a machine three
creek a stream
that slows it down
break smash
10 Instant Word Lists for Teaching Reading and Writing © e2 Publishing Services, LLC. Published by Scholastic Teaching Resources
