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Year 5 English — Suffixes and word building

Build a new word by adding a suffix, and get the spelling right when the base word changes.

Name: ________________________

  1. 1.Sort each word by what its ending tells you.

    Groups: Full of it · Without it

    • painful
    • hopeless
    • harmless
    • hopeful
    • harmful
    • painless

  2. 2.Add the ending -er to "write" and write the word for the person who does it.

  3. 3.Match each base word to the word built from it.

    • teach
    • kind
    • enjoy
    • care
    • use
    • quick
    • kindness
    • useless
    • enjoyment
    • teacher
    • quickly
    • careful

  4. 4.Add -ed to "stop". Which spelling is right?

    • a) stoped
    • b) stopeed
    • c) stoppd
    • d) stopped

  5. 5.Add the ending -ness to "happy" and write the new word.

  6. 6.Put these steps in order to add -ed to the word "carry".

    • Look at the last letter of "carry": it is y.
    • So change the y into i, which leaves "carri".
    • Now add -ed on the end to make "carried".
    • Check the letter just before that y: it is r, a consonant.

  7. 7.Which ending turns "dark" into a word meaning the state of being dark?

    • a) -less
    • b) -ful
    • c) -ly
    • d) -ness

  8. 8.Which beginning turns "happy" into its opposite?

    • a) un-
    • b) mis-
    • c) re-
    • d) pre-

Answer key — Year 5 English — Suffixes and word building

  1. 1. hopeful → Full of it; hopeless → Without it; painful → Full of it; painless → Without it; harmful → Full of it; harmless → Without it
  2. 2. writer
  3. 3. teach → teacher; kind → kindness; enjoy → enjoyment; care → careful; use → useless; quick → quickly
  4. 4. d) stopped
  5. 5. happiness
  6. 6. 1. Look at the last letter of "carry": it is y. 2. Check the letter just before that y: it is r, a consonant. 3. So change the y into i, which leaves "carri". 4. Now add -ed on the end to make "carried".
  7. 7. d) -ness
  8. 8. a) un-