One idea sits under these words: two things measured against each other. When you ask what something is worth, you are comparing it to a price; when you call two people equal, you are saying they match. The same root gives the everyday verb "to be worth / to be equal", the noun for value, and the abstract noun for equality. Note the shape: the third root letter ה is weak (a ל"ה / hollow-final root), so it softens or drops in the verb forms. Every word here is verified against pealim, niqqud included.
The same root runs through the verb system. Each binyan is a voice: it bends the one idea into active, passive, causative or reciprocal. Tap to hear.
The pa'al lishvot does the heavy lifting: "it is worth" and "they are equal" are the same verb. The pi'el leshavot is causative-flavoured here, "to lend an appearance" to something. The other binyanim (nif'al, hif'il, hitpa'el, the passives) are not lexicalized for this root in everyday Hebrew.
Same root letters, different noun moulds (mishkalim). The mould tells you the function: who does it, the act of doing it, or the thing produced.
Strip the prefixes, suffixes and vowels. Three consonants remain, and the meaning lives there.