The odd one out of the family: château is not of the family of chat

Each line holds four words. Three are of the same family, the fourth looks like them without being one: laitue among lait, laitier, laitage, solitude among soleil and ensoleillé. The child circles the odd one out. It is the exercise of the French national tests at the start of year 5, which checks that a pupil does not rely on letters alone. Each odd one out in Lexikit was checked in an etymological dictionary. The word families exist in French, German and Spanish.

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Worksheet with three lines of four words, an odd one out to circle on each — First page, made in Lexikit with the words chat, dent, jardin and lait.

In 3 steps

Add your families: type one word of each family, chat, dent, lait, soleil…
Give the family or not: “The family of the word chat” above the line, or nothing for older pupils.
Print: six or nine lines per page, the answer key at the end.

What you can set

Family given above each line, or not
Six or nine lines per page, depending on the size
Writing in capitals, print or cursive
Answer key page
On screen: the family's word, the odd one out to touch among four

Ways to use it

Prepare the French national tests of year 5
Show that two words that look alike are not always of the same family
In small groups, come back to the meaning of words rather than their letters

Frequently asked questions

How are the odd ones out chosen?

They start like the words of the family but do not share their root: château comes from the Latin castellum, not from chat. Each one was checked, and some false friends were left out: dentelle really is of the family of dent.

Do all families have an odd one out?

Almost all of them. A family without one gives no line. When none has one, Lexikit suggests families to add, one click each.