Year 6 · SPaG · Spring: Parenthesis, dashes and hyphens
Year 6 hyphens to avoid confusion worksheet and PowerPoint
To recognise how a hyphen can change the meaning of a phrase or avoid confusion.
Hyphens and meaning
A hyphen (-) joins words or parts of words. It can change the meaning of a phrase, so you need to read it carefully.
| man-eating shark | a shark that eats men / a man eating shark: a man is eating a shark |
|---|---|
| re-cover / recover | to cover again / to get better |
| twenty-odd / twenty odd | about twenty / twenty strange |
| a five-year-old boy | hyphens join the words before a noun |
Examples
- a little-used car (not used much) / a little used car (a small used car)
- We need to re-cover the sofa.
Key words
- hyphen
- a short line that joins words or word parts
- ambiguous
- can be understood in two ways
- compound adjective
- two or more words joined to describe a noun
- prefix
- letters added to the front of a word
What is on the worksheet
Every sheet for this lesson has a short teaching box and 12 questions that get gradually harder: 8 fluency questions, then 4 reasoning questions that ask pupils to explain or choose. A writing challenge follows. The questions use the same styles as the key stage 2 grammar and punctuation test (circle, underline, tick, fill the gap, add punctuation, rewrite, explain). They are written for this website, not copied from past papers.
All the answers are on the last page of the same editable Word file. New questions are made every time, so you can print a different sheet for every group or for homework. The same sheet code always gives the same sheet.
Writing challenge: Find three phrases where a hyphen changes the meaning (such as 'a man-eating shark'). Draw a quick picture of each meaning.
Pupil target: I can see how a hyphen changes meaning.
The PowerPoint
A 20-slide lesson deck for the same lesson: a starter that revisits earlier learning, key words, an I do and a You do question on each slide with a countdown timer, answers that appear one click at a time, and a challenge. Download the hyphens to avoid confusion PowerPoint.
Where this lesson fits
This is lesson 29 of 72 in the Year 6 SPaG scheme, in the Spring term, block “Parenthesis, dashes and hyphens”. It is taught before the SATs grammar test in May.
Other lessons in this block
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