Learn and Remember
Essential Vocabulary
with Games and Puzzles
Written by
Rob Whyte B.A. M.Sc.
www.eslwriting.org
What is essential vocabulary?
They are words which all ESL students need to know. They are the basic words you need to
speak, read, hear and write at a high level.
The activities in this e-book teach about 450 essential words. That’s a good start for high
beginner and intermediate level students, but it’s not enough for people who want to be
fluent in English. Some people say ESL students need to learn and remember about 8000
words in order to communicate well in English.
The purpose of this e-book is not to teach you all the essential words. My goal is to help
you learn and remember common words so that you can become a better writer. Many
students memorize words, and that’s good. But, they can’t remember the words easily, and
that’s bad.
Here’s my idea about learning and remembering. The brain’s memory is like a muscle. The
more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes. So, it’s good to learn new words and practice remembering the old ones.
Why games and puzzles?
They are good learning tools. Games and puzzles help students learn new words and recall
old words. Sometimes, they are fun, too.
This e-book has ten exercises. To find the answers you’ll need to think creatively.
Here’s a suggestion for you. Try one game or puzzle per day. Don’t give up too easily and
look at the answer sheet. That won’t really help you learn.
If you can’t find the answers, look in a dictionary or other reference books.
Enjoy.
Copyright notice.
Written and published by Rob Whyte. Copyright Rob Whyte © 2010. All rights reserved.
This material may be distributed for personal use only. No part of this e-book may be reproduced in print or
digital format, in whole or in part, for commercial purposes without written permission from the author.
Copyright © Rob Whyte 2010
2
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Build Compound
Words
A compound word is two words put together to make a new word.
For example:
hand, pipes, air
bag
handbag, bagpipes, airbag
Which word can be added to make three compound words in each question?
The word can be placed in the front or back.
Activity 2
Activity 1
1. end, guide, scrap 1. guest, hold, wife
2. light, keeper, boat 2. stairs, town, sun
3. battle, friend, wreck
3. print, ball, wear
4. pan, cup, fruit
4. man, place, fly
5. cloth, coffee, spoon
5. mate, side, come
6. brush, paste, ache 6. shoe, radish, power
7. switch, snow, white 7. wild, guard, boat
8. shell, shore, food
8. house, side, doors 9. club, mare, time
9. phone, ache, ring 10. burn, flower, glasses 10. market, man, highway Copyright © Rob Whyte 2010
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Solve Homophone
Puzzles
Homophones are words that have the same sound but different spellings and
meanings. Homo means same and phone means sound.
Can you find one homophone for each word?
Activity 3
Activity 4
1. nose 1. pair
2. its 2. plain
3. mail 3. new
4. buy 4. pour
5. hi 5. night
6. meat 6. oar
7. dear 7. peace 8. four 8. in
9. red 9. hire
10. aunt
10. heal
Copyright © Rob Whyte 2010
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Create a Word
Activity 5
List
1. The box has 8 letters. How many words
can you make with the letter A?
3. 2. 4. 5. c
a
e
t
h
e
r
s
6. 7. 8. 9. There are 3 rules.
10. 1. Use the letter A in each word; at
the start, in the middle or at the
end.
2. Use each letter only one time per
word.
3. Do not use any other letters.
11. 12. 13. 14. Scoring:
10 or fewer words = poor.
11-19 words = good.
20 or more words = excellent.
15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. Copyright © Rob Whyte 2010
5
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Another Word
List
Activity 6
1. 2. 3. The box has 9 letters. How many
words can you make with the letter T?
4. 5. e
t
a
g
s
t
i
h
p
6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. There are 3 rules.
12. 1. Use the letter T in each word; at
the start, in the middle or at the
end.
2. Use each letter only one time
per word.
3. Do not use any other letters.
13. 14. 15. 16. 17. Scoring:
10 or fewer words = poor.
11-19 words = good.
20 or more words = excellent.
18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. Copyright © Rob Whyte 2010
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Listen to Word
Sounds
The letters /ph/ often make an /f/ sound.
How many words can you write with a /ph/ spelling and an /f/ sound?
For example: phone.
Scoring: 10 or fewer words = poor. 11-19 = good. 20 or more = excellent.
Activity 7
1.
14. 2.
15. 3.
16. 4.
17. 5.
18. 6.
19. 7.
20. 8.
21. 9.
22. 10. 23. 11. 24. 12. 25. 13. 26. Copyright © Rob Whyte 2010
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Add Vowel
Combinations
There are five vowels: a, e, i, o, u.
Here are twenty words. The vowels have been taken out. Add vowels to make
words. For example, c _ ff _ _ could be coffee.
Activity 8
1. d ___ n g ___ r ___ ___ s
11. d ___ l ___ t ___
2. ___ n l ___ c k y
12. s ___ x ___ p h ___ n ___
3. s ___ g ___ r
13. ___ s t r ___ n ___ m y
4. h ___ ___ s ___
14. ___ ___ s t r ___ l ___ ___
5. l ___ t t ___ c ___
15. p ___ ___ r
6. s w ___ ___ t p ___ t ___ t ___
16. f ___ r n ___ t ___ r ___
7. s p ___ n ___ c h
17. c h ___ c ___ l ___ t ___
8. ___ ___ n t
18. c ___ ___ k ___ ___
9. n ___ ___ c ___
19. ___ s ___ ___ l l y
10. ___ s ___ f ___ l
20. s ___ f ___
Copyright © Rob Whyte 2010
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Twist The
Anagrams
An anagram is a word puzzle.
Look at a word. Move the letters around. Make another word. Do not add
other letters. For example: part - trap. More than one answer is possible for
some words.
Activity 9
1. meat
11.credit 2. news
12.south
3. note
13.able
4. page
14.cheap
5. steel
15.cruel
6. gates
16.false
7. name
17.past
8. taste
18.tired
9. keen
19.late
20.brake
10.garden Copyright © Rob Whyte 2010
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Find The
Adjectives
An adjective is a word that talks about a noun.
In 3 minutes, read the list. Circle the adjectives. There are 20 adjectives.
Activity 10
1. abnormal
16.finely
31.questions
2. accept
17.frequent
32.rational
3. because
18.furthermore
33.really
4. biography
19.gab
34.rough
5. breath
20.handsome
35.serial
6. cartel
21.healthy
36.serious
7. confidant
8. creature
22.human
37.shareware
23.illusion
38.shear
9. dabble
24.Intense
39.slowly
10.daze
25.lessen
40.stiff
11.defective
26.narrow
41.sudden
12.difficult
27.open
42.teak
13.duel
28.plain
43.vain
14.early
29.poetry
44.which
15.eventually
30.quake
45.white
Copyright © Rob Whyte 2010
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Check The
Answers
Activity 1: Build Compound Words
1.
2.
3.
4.
book
house
ship
cake
5.
6.
7.
8.
table
tooth
board
sea
9. ear
10.sun
Activity 2: Build Compound Words
1.
2.
3.
4.
house
up
foot
fire
5.
6.
7.
8.
in
horse
life
out
9. night
10.super
Activity 3: Solve Homophone Puzzles
1.
2.
3.
4.
knows
it’s
male
by/bye
5.
6.
7.
8.
high
meet
deer
for/fore
9. read
10.ant
pear/pare
plane
knew
pore
5.
6.
7.
8.
knight
or
peace
inn
9. higher
10.heel
The 8-letter word in the puzzle is “teachers.”
16.arts
17.as
18.ash
19.at
20.ate
21.car
22.care
23.cares
24.cars
25.cart
26.carts
27.case
28.cash
29.cast
30.caste
Copyright © Rob Whyte 2010
104. sat
105. scar
106. scare
107. sea
108. sear
109. search
110. seat
111. share
112. shear
113. star
114. starch
115. stare
116. tach
117. tar
118. tars
119. tea
120. teach
121. teacher
122. teachers
123. teaches
124. tear
125. tears
126. teas
127. tease
128. teaser
129. trace
130. traces
131. trash
132. tsar
The 9-letter word in the puzzle is “spaghetti.”
Activity 5: Create a Word List with A
1. ace
2. aces
3. ache
4. aches
5. acre
6. acres
7. act
8. acts
9. arc
10.arch
11.arches
12.arcs
13.are
14.arse
15.art
75.hate
76.hater
77.haters
78.hates
79.hats
80.hear
81.hears
82.hearse
83.heart
84.hearts
85.heat
86.heater
87.heaters
88.heats
89.hectare
90.hectares
91.race
92.races
93.rash
94.rat
95.rate
96. reach
97. reaches
98. react
99. reacts
100. recast
101. reheat
102. reheats
103. reteach
Activity 6: Another Word List with T
Activity 4: Solve Homophone Puzzles
1.
2.
3.
4.
46.cheater
47.cheaters
48.cheats
49.crash
50.crate
51.crates
52.crease
53.create
54.creates
55.each
56.ear
57.ears
58.earth
59.ease
60.east
61.Easter
62.eat
63.eater
64.eaters
65.eats
66.era
67.erase
68.ha
69.hare
70.hares
71.harts
72.has
73.haste
74.hat
31.caster
32.cat
33.cater
34.caters
35.cats
36.cease
37.char
38.chart
39.charts
40.chase
41.chaser
42.chaste
43.chat
44.chats
45.cheat
1. at
2. apt
3. ate
4. atheist
5. east
6. eat
7. eats
8. eight
9. gait
10.gate
11.gates
12.get
13.gets
14.haste
15.hat
16.hate
17.hates
18.hats
19.heat
20.heats
21.heist
22.hit
23.hits
24.it
25.its
26.past
27.paste
11
28.pat
29.pate
30.pates
31.path
32.paths
33.pats
34.patties
35.peat
36.pest
37.pet
38.pets
39.pit
40.pita
41.pitas
42.pits
43.sat
44.seat
45.set
46.sight
47.sit
48.site
49.spat
50.spit
51.spite
52.stag
53.stage
54.state
55.step
56.tag
57.tags
58.tap
59.tape
60.tapes
61.taps
62.taste
63.tat
64.tats
65.tea
66.teas
67.teat
68.teats
69.test
70.that
71.the
72.this
73.tie
74.ties
75.tight
76.tights
77.tip
78.tips
79.tit
80.tithe
81.tithes
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Activity 10: Find the Adjectives
Activity 7: Listen to Word Sounds
1. alphabet
2. apostrophe
3. asphalt
4. autograph
5. biography
6. elephant
7. emphasize
8. geography
9. graph
10.hyphen
11.metaphor
12.microphone
13.nephew
14.pamphlet
15.paragraph
16.pharmacist
17.pharmacy
18.phase
19.pheasant
20.phone
21.phonics
22.photo
23.photograph
24.photography
25.phrase
26.physical
27.saxophone
28.symphony
29.telephone
30.trophy
Activity 8: Add Vowel Combinations
1. dangerous
2. unlucky
3. sugar
4. house
5. lettuce
6. sweet potato
7. spinach
8. aunt
9. niece
10.useful
11.delete
12.saxophone
13.astronomy
14.Australia
15.pear/pour
16.furniture
17.chocolate
18.cookie
19.usually
20.sofa
Activity 9: Twist the Anagrams
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
meat
news
note
page
steel
gates
name
taste
keen
garden
credit south
able
cheap
cruel
false
past
tired
late
brake
mate, tame
sewn
tone
gape
sleet
stage
mane, mean, amen
state
knee
danger
direct
shout
bale
peach
ulcer
fleas
spat, taps, pats
tried
tale, teal
break, baker Copyright © Rob Whyte 2010
1. abnormal
2. accept
3. because
4. biography
5. breath
6. cartel
7. confidant
8. creature
9. dabble
10. daze
11. defective
12. difficult
13. duel
14. early
15. eventually
16. finely
17. frequent
18. furthermore
19. gab
20. handsome
21. healthy
22. human
23. illusion
24. intense
25. lessen
26. narrow
27. open
28. plain
29. poetry
30. quake
31. questions
32. rational
33. really
34. rough
35. serial
36. serious
37. shareware
38. shear
39. slowly
40. stiff
41. sudden
42. teak
43. vain
44. which
45. white
12
adjective
verb
conjunction
noun
noun
noun
noun
noun
verb
verb
adjective
adjective
noun
adverb
adverb
adverb
adjective
adverb
verb
adjective
adjective
adjective
noun
adjective
verb
adjective
adjective
adjective
noun
noun/verb
noun
adjective
adjective
adjective
adjective
adjective
noun
verb
adverb
adjective
adjective
noun
adjective
adjective
adjective
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