Pre-service special educators' Malay word structure knowledge was assessed through their analysis of words. A total of 69 participants analysed a vocabulary list based on a set of criteria formulated from the Malay language word structure. Results indicated that they were able to count syllables and phonemes, and identify types of affixations; however, they were unable to identify syllabic structures and word categories accurately. The morphemic and phonetic structure of words also had a moderating effect on their analysis of syllabic structures. The results implied that pre-service teachers of a transparent language still needed explicit instruction in grapheme-phoneme skills, phonic skills, morphological structure and word categories, but less instruction on phonological structure.