Number of Syllables- The Same or Different Games

Number of syllables the same or different activities

Without looking below, listen to your teacher read out two words from the same line and hold up “The same” card or the “Different” card depending on the number of syllables of those words. (Don’t worry about other similarities and differences such as the sounds).

 

Circle the word with a different number of syllables in each line below.

Schwa

• length/ lengthen/ long
• sad/ sadness/ sadder

Long and short vowel sounds

• called/ cold/ colder
• forks/ fox/ foxes
• March/ match/ matches
• sick/ sicken/ seek

Short vowels and diphthongs

• cod/ code/ coded
• date/ dated/ debt
• etch/ H/ Hs

Long vowels and diphthongs

• nought/ note/ noted
• beak/ bike/ biker

Consonant clusters

Initial consonant clusters

br

• burrow/ bureau/ bro
• bury/ brie/ berry

cl/ kl

• clot/ clots/ culottes
• laws/ claws/ clauses

cr/ kr

• curate/ crate/ crates

fr

• furry/ fury/ free

gl

• glibly/ gullibly/ gullible

pl

• pulleys/ pleas/ please

pr

• pressed/ pure/ purest
• purée/ pray/ prey

sc/ sk

• suckle/ school/ schooled

sp

• spa/ super/ supper
• sporting/ sporty/ supporting

str

• storing/ string/ stringy

tr

• Tory/ tree/ trees

Final consonant clusters

ft

• soft/ softie/ soften

cks/ ks/ x

• tax/ taxes/ taxi

ksth/ xth

• sicken/ six/ sixth

mp

• scamp/ scampi/ scam

mpt

• temp/ tempt/ tempted

Final consonants

b

• cab/ cabbie/ cabs
• tab/ taboo/ tabs

ch

• catch/ catches/ catchy
• itch/ itches/ itchy

d

• conned/ condo/ con
• food/ foodie/ foods

dj

• dodge/ dodgy/ dodges
• orange/ orangey/ oranges

f

• coffee/ cough/ coughing

g

• fog/ foggy/ fogged
• mugs/ muggy/ mugged

k

• cook/ cuckoo/ cooked
• hike/ haiku/ hikes

l

• fall/ fell/ fellow
• goal/ goalie/ goals

m

• am/ M/ MU

n

• can/ canoe/ canned
• man/ Man U/ menu

p

• hip/ hippie/ hips
• sup/ super/ supper

s

• price/ pricey/ prices
• residence/ residency/ resident
• youth/ use/ you sue

sh

• push/ pushy/ pushed
• rush/ Russia/ Russian

t

• act/ actor/ acting
• ant/ anti/ ants
• get/ got/ ghetto
• ought/ auto/ autos

th

• smooth/ smoothie/ smoother

v

• move/ movie/ moves

z

• choose/ choosy/ chooses
• ease/ easy/ eases

Two vowel sounds together

• bully/ bullied/ bullying
• worried/ worry/ worrying
• ski/ skier/ skiing
• thirteenth/ thirtieth/ thirty
• tie/ tire/ tired
• quiet/ quit/ quite

s

• colleagues/ college/ colleges
• apologise/ apologises/ apologies

s and ed

• films/ filmed/ filming
• mix/ mixed/ mixes
• need/ needed/ needs
• script/ scripted/ scripts

Adverbs

• fiscal/ fiscally/ physical

Contractions

• aren’t/ are not/ are
• he’d/ he’s/ he is
• I’d/ I’d’ve/ I’ve
• it/ it’ll/ it will
• should/ shouldn’t/ should’ve
• want/ won’t/ want to
• we have/ weave/ we’ve
• wheel/ we’ll/ we will
• your/ you are/ you’re

Others

• double/ double U/ W

Check as a class, then play the same game in groups with two words from a line above.

 Cards to hold up

The same	Different
The same	Different
The same	Different
The same	Different
The same	Different
The same	Different
The same	Different

 

Answer key

The word with a different number of syllables is underlined.

Schwa

• length/ lengthen/ long
• sad/ sadness/ sadder

Long and short vowel sounds

• called/ cold/ colder
• forks/ fox/ foxes
• March/ match/ matches
• sick/ sicken/ seek

Short vowels and diphthongs

• cod/ code/ coded
• date/ dated/ debt
• etch/ H/ Hs

Long vowels and diphthongs

• nought/ note/ noted
• beak/ bike/ biker

Consonant clusters

Initial consonant clusters

br

• burrow/ bureau/ bro
• bury/ brie/ berry

cl/ kl

• clot/ clots/ culottes
• laws/ claws/ clauses

cr/ kr

• curate/ crate/ crates

fr

• furry/ fury/ free

gl

• glibly/ gullibly/ gullible

pl

• pulleys/ pleas/ please

pr

• pressed/ pure/ purest
• purée/ pray/ prey

sc/ sk

• suckle/ school/ schooled

sp

• spa/ super/ supper
• sporting/ sporty/ supporting

str

• storing/ string/ stringy

tr

• Tory/ tree/ trees

 

Final consonant clusters

ft

• soft/ softie/ soften

cks/ ks/ x

• tax/ taxes/ taxi

ksth/ xth

• sicken/ six/ sixth

mp

• scamp/ scampi/ scam

mpt

• temp/ tempt/ tempted

Final consonants

b

• cab/ cabbie/ cabs
• tab/ taboo/ tabs

ch

• catch/ catches/ catchy
• itch/ itches/ itchy

d

• conned/ condo/ con
• food/ foodie/ foods

dj

• dodge/ dodgy/ dodges
• orange/ orangey/ oranges

f

• coffee/ cough/ coughing

g

• fog/ foggy/ fogged
• mugs/ muggy/ mugged

k

• cook/ cuckoo/ cooked
• hike/ haiku/ hikes

l

• fall/ fell/ fellow
• goal/ goalie/ goals

m

• am/ M/ MU

n

• can/ canoe/ canned
• man/ Man U/ menu

p

• hip/ hippie/ hips
• sup/ super/ supper

s

• price/ pricey/ prices
• residence/ residency/ resident
• youth/ use/ you sue

sh

• push/ pushy/ pushed
• rush/ Russia/ Russian

t

• act/ actor/ acting
• ant/ anti/ ants
• get/ got/ ghetto
• ought/ auto/ autos

th

• smooth/ smoothie/ smoother

v

• move/ movie/ moves

z

• choose/ choosy/ chooses
• ease/ easy/ eases

Two vowel sounds together

• bully/ bullied/ bullying
• worried/ worry/ worrying
• ski/ skier/ skiing
• thirteenth/ thirtieth/ thirty
• tie/ tire/ tired
• quiet/ quit/ quite

s

• colleagues/ college/ colleges
• apologise/ apologises/ apologies

s and ed

• films/ filmed/ filming
• mix/ mixed/ mixes
• need/ needed/ needs
• script/ scripted/ scripts

Adverbs

• fiscal/ fiscally/ physical

Contractions

• aren’t/ are not/ are
• he’d/ he’s/ he is
• I’d/ I’d’ve/ I’ve
• it/ it’ll/ it will
• should/ shouldn’t/ should’ve
• want/ won’t/ want to
• we have/ weave/ we’ve
• wheel/ we’ll/ we will
• your/ you are/ you’re

Others

• double/ double U/ W