ENGLISH WORD FAMILIES
Words often come in
families. You can expand your vocabulary by becoming familiar with these word
families and this can also enable you to become a more fluent speaker and
writer of English. If you know all the possible words within a word family, you
can express yourself in a wider range of ways. For example, if you know the
verb and the noun forms related to the adjective boring, you can say:
• That class was really boring.
• I was really bored in
that class.
• That class was a real bore.
Another reason for paying
attention to word families is that for some exams you have
to know them.
In the list below, the
words printed in bold are words that are very common and important to
learn. The other words in the same row are words in the same family, often
formed with prefixes and suffixes. Sometimes they are just a different part of
speech, for example anger, which is a noun and a verb). All the words in
this list have entries in the dictionary except for some beginning with un-,
im-, in- or ir-, or ending with -ly or -ily,
where the meaning is always regular. Sometimes words in a word family can have
meanings that are very different from others in the group, so you should always
check in the dictionary if you are not sure of the meaning.
Cambridge Advanced Learner's
Dictionary
ability,
disability, inability enable, disable able, unable, disabled ably
acceptance accept
acceptable, unacceptable, accepted acceptably, unacceptably
accident
accidental accidentally
accuracy, inaccuracy accurate,
inaccurate accurately, inaccurately
accusation, the accused,
accuser accuse accusing accusingly
achievement,
achiever achieve achievable
act,
action, inaction, interaction, act, action acting
reaction, transaction
activity,
inactivity activate active, inactive, interactive, proactive actively
addition add additional
additionally
admiration, admirer admire
admirable admirably
advantage,
disadvantage advantageous, disadvantaged, advantageously
advantaged
advertisement, advertiser,
advertise
advertising
advice,
adviser advise advisable, inadvisable, advisory advisedly
agreement,
disagreement agree, disagree agreeable agreeably
aim
aim aimless aimlessly
amazement amaze amazed, amazing
amazingly
anger
anger angry angrily
announcement, announcer announce
unannounced unannounced
appearance,
disappearance, appear, disappear
reappearance reappear
applicant, application apply,
reapply applicable, applied
appreciation appreciate
appreciable, appreciative appreciatively, appreciably
approval, disapproval approve,
disapprove approving, disapproving approvingly
approximation approximate
approximate approximately
argument
argue arguable, argumentative arguably
arrangement, rearrangement
arrange, rearrange
art,
artist, artistry artistic, arty artistically
shame shame ashamed,
unashamed, shameful, shamefully, shamelessly
shameless
attachment attach,
detach attached, unattached, detachable,
detached
attack,
counter-attack, attacker attack, counter-attack
attention,
inattention attend attentive, inattentive attentively
attraction, attractiveness
attract attractive, unattractive attractiveNouns
Verbs Adjectives Adverbs
authority,
authorization authorize authoritarian, authoritative, authoritatively
authorized, unauthorized
availability available,
unavailable
avoidance avoid avoidable,
unavoidable unavoidably
awareness aware,
unaware unawares
base, the basics, basis base
baseless, basic basically
bearer bear bearable,
unbearable
beat, beating beat unbeatable,
unbeaten
beauty,
beautician beautify beautiful beautifully
beginner,
beginning begin
behaviour/US
behavior, behave, misbehave behavioural/US behavioral
misbehaviour/US misbehavior
belief,
disbelief believe, disbelieve believable, disbelieving, unbelievable
unbelievably
block,
blockage block, unblock blocked, unblocked
blood, bleeding bleed
bloodless, bloody
the boil, boiler boil boiling
bore, boredom bore bored,
boring boringly
break,
breakage, outbreak break broken, unbreakable, unbroken
breath, breather,
breathing breathe breathless, breathy breathlessly
brother,
brotherhood brotherly
build, builder, building
build, rebuild
burn, burner burn burning,
burnt
burial bury buried
calculation,
calculator calculate incalculable, calculated, calculating
calm, calmness calm calm
calmly
capability capable,
incapable capably
care,
carer care careful, careless, caring, uncaring carefully, carelessly
celebration, celebrity celebrate
celebrated, celebratory
centre/US
center, centralization, centre/US center, central,
centralized centrally
decentralization
decentralize, centralize
certainty, uncertainty ascertain
certain, uncertain certainly, uncertainly
challenge,
challenger challenge challenging
change,
change changeable, interchangeable,
unchanged,
changing
characterization
chemical, chemist,
chemistry chemical chemically
circle,
semicircle, circulation circle, circulate circular
cleaner, cleaning,
cleanliness clean clean, unclean cleanly
clarity, clearance,
clearing clear clear, unclear clear, clearly
close, closure close closed,
closing
closeness close close,
closely
clothes,
clothing clothe clothed, unclothed
collection,
collector collect collected, collective collectively
colour/US
color, colour/US color coloured/US colored,
colourfully/US colorfully
colouring/US coloring
discoloured/US discolored,
colourful/US colorful,
colourless/US colorless
combination,
combine combine combined
comfort, discomfort
comfort comfortable, comfortably uncomfortable, comforting
commitment
commit noncommittal, committed
communication,
communicator communicate communicative, uncommunicative
comparison
compare comparable, incomparable, comparatively
comparative
competition,
competitor compete competitive, uncompetitive competitively
completion, incompleteness
complete complete, incomplete completely, incompletely
complication complicate complicated,
uncomplicated
computer,
computing, computerize
computerization
concentration concentrate
concentrated
concern concern
concerned, unconcerned
conclusion
conclude concluding, conclusive, inconclusive conclusively
condition,
precondition, condition conditional, unconditional conditionally,
conditioner, conditioning
unconditionally
confidence
confide confident, confidential confidently, confidentially
confirmation confirm confirmed,
unconfirmed
confusion
confuse confused, confusing confusingly
connection
connect, disconnect connected, disconnected, unconnected Nouns
Verbs Adjectives Adverbs
Adjectives
subconscious, unconscious, conscious, subconscious,
consciously, unconsciously
consciousness,
unconsciousness unconscious
consequence
consequent, inconsequential consequently
consideration consider,
reconsider considerable, considerate, considerably, inconsiderate, considered
considerately
continent
continental, intercontinental
continuation, continuity continue,
discontinue continual, continued, continuous continually, continuously
contribution,
contributor contribute contributory
control,
controller control controlling, uncontrollable uncontrollably
convenience, inconvenience
inconvenience convenient, inconvenient conveniently
convince
convinced, convincing, unconvincing convincingly
cook, cooker, cookery, cooking
cook cooked, uncooked
cool, coolness cool cool
coolly
correction,
correctness correct correct, incorrect, corrective correctly,
incorrectly
count, recount count,
recount countable, uncountable, countless
cover,
coverage, covering cover, uncover undercover, uncovered undercover
creation, creativity,
creator create, recreate creative, uncreative creatively
crime,
criminal, criminologist incriminate criminal, incriminating criminally
critic, criticism
criticize critical, uncritical critically
crowd,
overcrowding crowd crowded, overcrowded
cruelty cruel cruelly
cry,
outcry cry crying
culture,
subculture cultural, cultured culturally
cure cure cured,
incurable
custom,
customer, customs accustom customary customarily
cut, cutting cut,
undercut cutting
damage,
damages damage damaging, undamaged
danger
endanger endangered, dangerous dangerously
dare, daring dare daring
daringly
dark,
darkness darken dark, darkened, darkening darkly
date
date, predate dated, outdated
day,
midday daily daily
dead, death deaden dead,
deadly, deathly deadly, deathly
deal, dealer, dealings deal
deceit, deceiver,
deception deceive deceitful, deceptive deceptively
decision,
indecision decide decided, undecided, decisive, decidedly, decisively,
indecisive indecisively
decoration, decorator decorate
decorative decoratively
deep, depth deepen deep,
deepening deeply
defeat,
defeatism, defeatist defeat undefeated, defeatist
defence/US
defense, defend defenceless/US defenseless,
defensively
defendant, defender
indefensible, defensive
definition define definite,
indefinite definitely, indefinitely
demand,
demands demand demanding, undemanding
democracy,
democrat democratic, undemocratic democratically
demonstration,
demonstrator demonstrate demonstrable, demonstrative demonstrably
denial deny undeniable
undeniably
dependant, dependence, depend
dependable, dependent, dependably,
independence, dependency
independent independently
description
describe describable, indescribable, descriptively
descriptive, nondescript
desire desire desirable, undesirable, desired,
undesired
destroyer, destruction destroy
indestructible, destructive destructively
determination, determiner
determine determined, predetermined, determinedly
indeterminate
developer, development,
develop, redevelop developed, undeveloped, developing
redevelopment
difference,
indifference, differ, differentiate different, indifferent differently
differentiation
directness, direction,
direct, redirect direct, indirect directly, indirectly
directions, director
disagreement disagree disagreeable
disagreeably
disappointment disappoint disappointed,
disappointing disappointingly
disaster
disastrous disastrously
disciplinarian, discipline
discipline disciplinary, disciplined, undisciplined
discoverer, discovery
discover
distance
distance distant distantly
disturbance disturb disturbed,
undisturbed, disturbing disturbingly
divide, division,
subdivision divide, subdivide divided, undivided, divisible, divisive
divorce, divorcee divorce
divorced Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 3rd edition
Source:
© Cambridge University
Press 2008
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