Compound Words – When Is It Closed, Open, Or Hyphenated?

by in Categories Educational

How to determine if compound words should be hyphenated or not?

COMPOUND WORDS – What’s confusing is should it be just one word or hyphenated, and here are some sentences with compound words in them.

A compound word is composed of two words merged together that when formed together, create a new word with a new meaning. And this has three mean types: closed-form, open-form, and hyphenated.

Compound Words

Dive into each of these types below:

  • Closed-form is two words formed together without a space between them. The two individual words can be used separately but when joined together, they form a new word with a different meaning.

Here are some examples:

  1. bullfrog
  2. snowball
  3. mailbox
  4. grandmother
  5. railroad
  6. sometimes
  7. inside
  8. upstream
  9. basketball
  10. anybody
  11. outside
  12. cannot
  13. skateboard
  14. everything
  15. schoolhouse
  16. grasshopper
  17. sunflower
  18. moonlight

Sample Sentences

I sometimes forget the time, especially when I’m reading a book.

You cannot understand a woman’s frustration because you’re a man.

My favorite flower is the sunflower.

  • Open-form is words that have space between them but are still considered compound words because they are common and often used together.

Here are some examples:

  1. peanut butter
  2. Boy Scouts
  3. no one
  4. ice cream
  5. real estate
  6. high school
  7. living room
  8. sweet tooth
  9. hot dog
  10. grand jury
  11. post office
  12. full moon

Sample Sentences

My father always says it’s good to invest in real estate.

I guess I’ll just sleep on the couch in the living room for tonight.

Kindly spread a bit of peanut butter on my toast.

  • The hyphenated form is confusing but one should just note to use a hyphen after a compound adjective and before the noun it modifies.

Here are some examples:

  1. two-fold
  2. check-in
  3. merry-go-round
  4. father-in-law
  5. seventy-two
  6. long-term
  7. up-to-date
  8. mother-in-law
  9. one-half
  10. over-the-counter

Sample Sentences

I feel like my mother-in-law doesn’t like me.

Please buy an over-the-counter med for my dysmenorrhea.

I’m in a long-term relationship.

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