Which term refers to a group of words that share a common pattern of letters, sounds, or have a similar meaning or root word?

• A. Word Families
• B. Root Words
• C. Collocations
• D. Phrases

Answer: (A)

Word families describe groups of words that share a common root or base form, and often a related meaning. Because the question points to words that fit together through a shared root or pattern, this term fits best. When you know the root, you can recognize related words even when they look different: for example, move, moving, movement, movable—all come from the same root and show how adding prefixes or suffixes builds related words. Similarly, happy, happiness, unhappy revolve around the same root idea.

Root words by themselves are just the base form, not a whole group of related words. Collocations are about how words commonly pair together, not about shared roots. Phrases are any multiword units, not necessarily linked by a common root or pattern.