I have just completed benchmark assessments with many of my students. Once again I have a list of “look alike” words on the assessment protocol that the student needs to study and secure. I’m talking about words like “even and every,” “cold and could,” “said, and says,” and “for and from.” Sound familiar?

Many of these words, which I think of as structure words, are difficult for struggling readers to keep straight. Not only do they visually appear the same, they often carry little emotion or meaning to help the student connect with the word, and file it in their memory.

With struggling readers, it is necessary to explicitly teach the differences in these words. Here are some tips:

1. Start by looking at the words in isolation. Then spelling them in different ways.

2. Try and pull in all the kinesthetic tricks you know!

• Write the word in sand

• tap it down your arm

• finger-write it on the table while saying each letter as you write it

3. When you feel the word is secure, have the student spell it orally, BACKWARDS! That’s right, BACKWARDS! This is one way of knowing the student is seeing and thinking about each individual letter and its placement in the word.

4. Then, go ahead and work on the look-alike partner word.

I have put together a set of look-alike word cards for each letter of the alphabet. Each card contains 10-12 words that begin with the same letter or letters (consonant blends or digraphs) that are often confused. As I assess the students, I am recording the look-alike words they are confusing so I know which card to work on in my next one-on-one session. After explicitly teaching the differences between the two confused words, I choose the card that matches. Start by having the student read the words going across the card horizontally. Then reread the card by having the student read the rows of words in a vertical pattern. If your student enjoys the challenge of having his/her reading timed, go ahead and set a one-minute challenge to read all the words horizontally and vertically!