How to Understand the Spelling of Toward

ByLaure Schaerr Morphology, Spelling

When students mispronounce or misspell “toward,” you can help them by looking at the structure. Only then does the word’s spelling makes sense. If you only think about the pronunciation, it doesn’t. Your students can understand the spelling of “toward” by connecting the meaning to the structure.

Dyslexic students benefit from seeing and understanding the why of spelling. Spelling and meaning connections change their mindset about spelling. Be sure to grab the free pdf download below to use with your students.

Here’s the structure: to + ward

<-Ward> is a suffix that gives the sense of “direction”. (The angle brackets tell you we’re talking about the letters in the word. Think: w-a-r-d. The hyphen before the spelling indicates it’s being added to a base. In this case, it’s a suffix.)

How does the spelling of <toward> compare to these words?

  • forward
  • backward
  • upward
  • downward
  • northward
  • southward
  • eastward
  • westward

They each have the <-ward> suffix. As you’re talking with your student(s), ask them, “In what direction does each word point you?”

image of a compass on an old map to show the understanding of the spelling of toward has to do with direction

Move Toward the Meaning to Understand the Spelling

It’s fun to have a student stand up and play Simon Says with these words. Label the four walls of your room with north, south, east, west prior to this activity.

  • You: “Simon says go upward.” Students stretch up.
  • You: “Simon says go westward.” Students walk to the west.

They’ve just experienced the directional meaning of this suffix.

Now, look at where this suffix came from. <-Ward> has its own entry on Etymonline. Use a hyphen before a suffix in the search bar. Notice the Old English spelling and the meaning it held in those days.

What about “awkward”?

Is that a <-ward> suffix in this word? Is “awk” a word? What would that mean?  Look it up in Etymonline.

You, like me, may find this one interesting. Your student may use this word. It was a trendy term for a while. “Awkward, that’s so awkward.” I’m not sure if it still is now.

The progression of the meaning and use described in the entry shows that it has kept a similar meaning throughout the centuries.

The words that evolved from “awk” that are no longer in use will surely be funny to your students. Try using them in a sentence.  “That was super awky.”

Okay, so you’ve covered the structure, the meaning, the origin of the word, and now the pronunciation.

Pronunciation of Toward

/twɔrd/ (rhyming with “board”) is how we say it. Spelling the pronunciation can result in *<tword>. You’ve probably seen this too. But what does “toward” mean? It means “moving to”. That meaning translates into this spelling: to + ward –> toward

Word sums like this are a great way for students to see the structure and the meaning in the separate morphemes. Morphemes are simply the meaningful word parts. <To> is a morpheme as is <-ward>.

image of yellow sunflowers in a field turned toward the sun as students need to turn toward the meaning to understand the spelling of toward

With reading and spelling, help your students turn toward meaning. Just like sunflowers turn toward the sun, you’ll see these connections make a difference. It impacts how they feel about their ability to understand it. Often it’s how students are able to make a spelling stick.

I’m sharing a graphic and a spelling activity I use for more spelling practice with this suffix.

Happy Spelling!