Suffixes are added to the ends of words in order to change their root form. Sometimes nouns will become adjectives, sometimes verbs will become nouns, etc. We also use suffixes to create the plural forms of words, and to make sure word tenses remain consistent throughout a sentence. End all of your words the right way with these guys and some more tender loving care. These activity sheets will provide short sentences and prompts in order to help your students learn how to use suffixes correctly. Answer sheets have been provided. If you work through all of the worksheets, down below, you will start to see a pattern that is true to the English language.
Printable Suffix Worksheets
Click the buttons to print each worksheet and answer key.
Who Am I?
A suffix comes at the end of a word. When the suffix "-er" is added to the end of a verb, it means one of the following.
Adding "-er"
"-er" is added to the end of a verb, it means one of the following: - Someone who does something - Something that does something - Someone who provides or is involved with something
Creating New Words with Suffixes
Add the correct word part, -ful or -less to each term below to create a word that matches the meaning given.
Skills Worksheet
You will choose from several different choices to create a new term by adding a suffix of your choice.
What Is It?
You can use suffixes to create new words. Choose one of the chunk that are provided to create a word that has the meaning provided. Write the term that you have created on the line.
Making Adjectives with Suffixes: Part I
When you add certain suffixes to nouns and verbs, you can create adjectives. You may have to change, drop, or add letters before adding the suffix to some words.
Making Adjectives with Suffixes: Part II
Add one of the four suffixes above to each word to create an adjective. Write the new term on the line.
Making New
You will be given a word and you will apply new parts to it and the end result will be a brand new term.
Noun Suffixes: Part I
You will add suffixes to a given base term to create an entire new word. In some cases you will create a synonym in other case, it could be quite the opposite.
Noun Suffixes: Part II
This is a series of additional tasks that track with the previous worksheet, but they do push it in a different direction.
New Creations
This is going to be a familiar series of tasks to help you practice this skill in a few different ways.
Creating Words
Add suffixes to each base word. Write the new term on the first line. On the second line, write the part of speech that this new term represents.
Suffixes and Parts of Speech
Locate the suffix in each word. Write the suffix on the first line. What part of speech is it? Write the part of speech on the second line.
How Many Worksheet
See how many words you can make that contain the suffixes you identified above. Write them on the lines.
The Suffix Game
Cut out the cards. Shuffle them, and place them face-down on a hard surface. On each turn, a player draws a card and says a word that contains the suffix on the card. Then the player keeps the card. Words cannot be repeated.
The Suffix Game Part 2
If the player is unable to think of a word, the card is returned face-down and put back into play.
The Suffix Game Part 3
Play continues until all cards have been drawn and a word has been said for each suffix.
Adding Ending to Words
When we add an ending (-s, -ed or -ing) to the end of a word, the spelling changes but the meaning does not. When we add a 's', we make the word a plural, meaning more than one.
-ed and -ing Words
Copy the sentences below, changing the underlined word to the correct usage by adding -ed or -ing.
What Are Suffixes?
Broadcast media has radically changed how people learn new things. Learning new languages has always been associated with different forms of media, and rightly so. We can all agree that our trusty vintage television helped us learn much more about English than Miss Nancy from first grade. People can quickly learn how to speak different languages but understanding the different complexities and rules of grammar lie in a whole other ballpark.
So today, we'll be talking about one of the foundations of the English language, suffixes.
To understand what suffixes are, we need to define an important term called the “affix.” You might recall the word from your school days, but what is it?
Affixes are words, letters, or groups of letters that can be added to a root word to form a different word or to change the root word’s meaning. There are two main kinds of affixes: prefixes and suffixes. Consider the root word form and the word conforming. Conforming is made by adding the prefix con- before the root word and the suffix -ing after it.
Most commonly they are used to broaden our use of language and spice up the things we say, read, and write. They are often used to display a part of speech of a word. They also elude to the verb tense of the words and can tell us if a word is singular or plural. A good number of suffixes have multiple meanings and we need to see where they sit within the context of the sentences to determine their meaning. These word parts also have a way of changing the spelling of words. Some words would not be words without the presence of a suffix. An academic example is the word unforgettable. We cannot unforget something, but something can be unforgettable for certain.
Therefore, we can define a suffix as a letter, or group of letters, that is added at the end of a word to form new words or change the root word’s meaning and function. They can be as small as a single letter or as big as a four-letter word. However, there’s a stark difference between words that form suffixes and prefixes.
Words that form prefixes can sometimes make sense independently, like the prefix per- in the word perform. However, words that form suffixes don’t typically mean anything on their own, like the suffix -ing in the word suffering.
Take a look at the following letters that are used to form suffixes:
| Suffix | Example |
| -s | runs, girls, picks |
| -ly | bravely, gravely, markedly |
| -ment | enjoyment, movement, achievement |
Importance and Function
Suffixes take a base or root word and change its meaning or grammatical function. Therefore, suffixes hold extreme significance in English as they enrich the vocabulary. Using just one root word, you can form several associated new words by adding a simple suffix at the end. An easy example is the word art; take the suffix -ist, and you get artist, a person skilled in art!
Similarly, suffixes are also used to form comparative adjectives. For instance, add the suffixes -er and -est to the adjective brave, and you get the comparative braver and the superlative bravest. Let’s explore some examples of suffixes in detail.
Examples of Suffixes
There are different suffixes, just as there are different kinds of words. Suffixes can modify nouns, verbs, and adjectives, or they can also modify them to change their forms. For example, the word read can be changed into the noun reader by adding the suffix -er. Here’s a list of some commonly used suffixes:
In Noun Form
| Suffix | Meaning | Example |
| -age | a particular condition | marriage, bondage |
| -ee | performer of an action | referee, interviewee |
In Verb Form
| Suffix | Meaning | Example |
| -ate | do something | exterminate, congratulate |
| -ize | to become | metamorphosize, humanize |
In Adjective Form
| Suffix | Meaning | Example |
| -ous | characterized by an attribute | joyous, pious, religious |
| -istic | to characterize by a trait | pessimistic, optimistic |
Conclusion
Learning about suffixes helps us expand our vocabulary. They’re easy to explain and can also aid children in faster learning. A little kid who only knows the word pay can use different suffixes to form the words payer, payment, paying, payable, and payee all in one go!
The English language isn’t that challenging to understand once you grasp the important concepts. Educationists can help young individuals advance their language prowess using easy-to-understand concepts like the use of affixes. We hope you now know what suffixes are and will use them to help others!