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These fun words bring your content to life!
Author
Christina Levandowski
Published
February 20, 2024
These fun words bring your content to life!
Author
Christina Levandowski
Published
Feb 20, 2024
These fun words bring your content to life!
Author
Christina Levandowski
Published
Feb 20, 2024
Key takeaways
Table of contents
Compound words bring your work to life — whether you’re working on an essay or you’re writing an email to a friend. They’re such a common part of our daily communication patterns, that you likely use them daily without even thinking about it!
The best part? Compound words are incredibly easy to learn. Below, we’re defining what compound words are, the three types of compound words, and offering examples of each — helping you to familiarise yourself with them ahead of your next task or homework assignment.
The definition of a compound word is a word that’s made of two or more root words put together in their whole, individual forms. This is different from a blended word, which incorporates parts of two words into a new, unique word.
Compound words are simple to assemble. So simple, in fact, that there are thousands that are commonly used in the English language! To use and create compound words, people take the whole form of individual words and put them together to give them new meanings.
One of the main differences between a compound word and regular words is that compound words convey a joined idea using just its compound partners. They’re usually used if it would be more effective to convey the idea using them, as opposed to using full sentences.
Understanding the three different types of compound words (and how separate words join together to make a new word) will add clarity to your communications, both written or verbal. Because of this, it’s an important skill to consider as you prepare for the next grades — whether it’s primary or secondary school.
If you’re looking for new compound words to try after you master open compound words, consider closed compound words. These are words that incorporate two separate words without a space between them. Examples of closed compound words include “blackberry” and “homeschool.”
A general rule of thumb: These words are typically multi-syllable words due to their length. So, keep an eye out for spacing differences and syllable counts as you go work to identify which compound noun or word that you’re working with.
We’ve included a list of compound words (closed style) below for you to practice with:
An open compound word is a compound word or noun that has a space between two words. Think of the gap as being “wide open,” or in open form, reminding you about what the definition of an open compound word is.
Here are a few examples of open compound words and nouns:
A hyphenated compound word is exactly as it sounds — a compound word that is formed with hyphens between the words. A common example of this would be “merry-go-round,” or similar.
Just like other compound words, these tend to be longer words that feature multiple syllables.
Here are a few examples of compound words that use hyphens — known as hyphenated compound words.
A compound word is a word that is created by two separate words. These types of words can be divided by written presentation, and have three main groups: closed, open, and hyphenated compound words.
Compound words impact the correctness of your grammar and content overall. After reading this guide, we encourage you to experiment with the different types of words in your personal and academic writing; gaining confidence and using them throughout your flow and process.
DoodleEnglish is an app that’s filled with thousands of fun, interactive exercises covering grammar, punctuation, spelling and more!
Designed by teachers, it creates each child a unique work programme tailored to their needs, boosting their confidence and skills in English. Try it for free today!
Compound words are formed when two or more single words fuse together into a separate word that has a separate meaning from the words of origin. Verbs can be used in compound form as well (known as compound verbs). Examples of this include verbs like “set aside,” “double-click,” and others.
An open compound word is a compound word that has spaces between both words of origin. An example of this would be “ice cream.” A closed compound word doesn’t have these spaces, and is instead both words of origin put together in a single word. An example of this would be “blackberry..”
Three compound words are commonly known as triple compounds. They can be commonly found in the English language. Examples of three-compound words include “over-the-counter,” “left-to-right,” and “one-year-old;” and so on.
Generally speaking, hyphens are used if two or more words are working together as an adjective to describe a noun. If the sentence in question starts with a noun, you typically won’t find a hyphenated modifier following it. Hyphens cannot be used as dashes, as each form of punctuation has a different purpose.
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