An exercise which involves making short words out of a longer word.


  • Divide the class into groups of four or five, preferably around a table or desk. 
  • Ask each group to appoint a secretary. This person will be responsible for writing the words that come up in the activity on a sheet of paper. 
  • Then write a word of nine or ten letters on the board, for example 'deliberate'. 
  • Each group then has to make as many words of four letters or more using the letters in the word on the board. Letters may only be used once in each word, unless they appear more than once in the word on the board, for example ‘e’ in this case may be used up to three times in one word. 
  • You can either set a time limit and the team with the most correct words in a given time is the winner, or you can set a target, with the first team to write ten correct words being the winner. 
  • A variation is to have a points system, with one point for a word with four letters, two points for a word with five letters and so on. For example, ‘liberated’ would score six points.

Tip: Words can be checked by exchanging papers between groups or by each sheet being stuck to the board. The exercise can be useful for recycling vocabulary. New words may also come up.