Roots, Prefixes and Suffixes: Worksheets to Boost Vocabulary

These root, prefix and suffix worksheets can help you learn and practice the most common and useful word parts that build English vocabulary.

This is one of the fastest ways to increase your English vocabulary. They will help you recognize the meanings of so many related words!

You’ve probably noticed how many pages on EnglishHints teach these roots and affixes (prefixes and suffixes). They are important to study because they can make such a difference to your vocabulary!

Now I’ve taken some of the most useful lessons & prefix and suffix worksheets and combined them into self-study packets.

That way, you can download them to practice and refer to whenever you need them. (It's so much easier than trying to find a page you want to check or review later!)

First there’s a completely new set of root, prefix and suffix worksheets: an Introduction to Roots and Affixes. It gives a simple, step-by-step approach to understanding suffixes, common prefixes, and several important word roots.

These are the root, prefix and suffix worksheets I would recommend. They'd be useful for anyone trying to learn the basics of English word construction. 

Below that, I’ve included prefix and root worksheets separately, in case you want to concentrate on them one at a time. (I no longer offer suffix worksheets as a separate option, but they are also included in the combined study guide at the bottom of this page,)

They are based on pdfs I had made for classrooms, but I’ve redesigned them for individual study now.

For the most complete practice with roots and affixes, get the combined study guide with all of  these packets for $12.00 (a 20%+ discount). See the bottom of the page. 

Introduction to Roots & Affixes: $6.00

These five simple, step-by-step lessons will help you understand and practice the basics of English word construction: prefixes, suffixes, and roots.

Increase your vocabulary quickly by learning how to recognize new words based on the word parts you already know.

You’ll study different word forms made by adding suffixes. Then you can practice choosing the correct forms of these words. Fit them into different positions in a sentence. (“The results showed conclusively…” v.s. “The major conclusion of the report…”)

Recognizing the suffixes that mark different parts of speech will improve your grammar. They can help you gain confidence in expressing yourself in English.

You will learn how prefixes add to or change the meaning of roots. Then you'll practice recognizing those changes in meaning.

You will study and work with several common roots until they are quite familiar. You may also be surprised how many roots you already recognize because you know several words made from them! 

Some of the lessons will seem quite simple, especially if you have been reading in English for a while (or if you speak French, Spanish, Italian, or Portuguese, which use many of the same roots and prefixes.)

However, the lessons build on each other, and I wanted to make it easy even if you do not have much experience with English prefixes or suffixes.

Each lesson should take you from 15 minutes to half an hour. (You might need extra time for the bonus in lesson 5, but probably not much.)

So you can easily finish all the lessons in a week or so. Then you'll have a big head start on recognizing new words in English, since so many are built with roots and affixes. 

Short, varied exercises (and a quiz at the end of each lesson) let you practice each new point.

You’ll get extensive practice with multiple important suffixes, 14 prefixes, and 14 roots. There are also hints and thought exercises with 25 more roots.

Each lesson builds on the material from earlier lessons, from an easy start to broader application of what you’ve learned by the end of the lessons.

P.S.: I've redone this pdf to make longer pages that are easier to print.

Contents

Lesson 1: Word Families & the 'Act' Family: pgs. 3-7

• Word Families & ‘Act’  (with examples in use, from action and actively to activate+)
• Practice Suffixes (& parts of speech) for ‘act’ +-- & Answers 
• Quick review quiz & answers 

Lesson 2. Prefixes with Act (& Renew): pgs. 8-14

• Negative Prefixes
• Think of other examples: (& Possible Answers) 
• The Prefix Re- with Renew
• Think of Others: Answers
• Practice Forms of Renew (& Answers)
• The Prefixes Re- & Inter- with Act-23; 
• Practice Forms of React & Interact; Answers 
• Quick review quiz 2 & answers

Lesson 3. Words Made from the Roots Clude & Dict: pgs.15-20

• Forms of conclude, exclude, include (& preclude) 
• Practice & Answers 
• Dict; practice forms of predict & answers 
• Review Matching practice & answers  
• Quick review quiz 3 & answers 

Lesson 4. Predicting Unknown Roots: pgs. 21-26

• Why & How to Use a Known Root to Predict Unknown Word Meanings (with ‘progress’ as an example) 
• Practice & Answer
• The Verb Mov/mot (Practice & Answers)
• The Verb Cedere; Practice & Answers 
• Quick review quiz 4 & answers 

Lesson 5. Recognizing more Roots: pgs. 27-33 

• The Root Videre; Practice: Evidence- & Answers
• Choose the Best Prefix Practice & Answers 
• How Many Words from these Roots Do You Know? 
• Answers
• Bonus (More Roots) & Answers
• Quick review quiz & answers 
• More English Study if You’re Interested

I would recommend this introduction as the best way to master English word parts (roots and affixes). 

The pdfs of root, prefix, and suffix worksheets below have more exercises, but I’ve included the most important worksheets from each in this introduction. There's also a clearer sequence for learning them.

As a bonus, I've added our popular List of (Common) Prefixes. 

Buy this Introduction to Roots and Affixes for $6.00 USD.

Individual Worksheets on Prefixes and Roots

For most people, the Introduction above will be all you need. Choose one or more of these packets if you need extra practice with prefixes or roots (with key information about prefixes as well.) 

English Prefix Study Worksheets: $5.00

These worksheets let you practice the prefixes most important for academic vocabulary.

Their brainstorming and practice exercises take a couple of hours total.

I’d recommend having a  basic understanding of suffixes beforehand.

(If you feel unsure you could study the Suffix List page to get the main ideas.)

Contents:

• 2-page Common Prefixes table: each prefix, its meaning, a couple of examples, space for you to add an extra example or two, and a space to link to other prefixes that have the same meaning 
• Explanation of prefix types and several worksheets with exercises on Prefixes of Quantity, Time, Location, Relationships, & Re-, followed by their Answers. 
• Negative Prefixes: examples, a worksheet, & answers. (Most of these are explained and practiced in the Introduction to Roots & Affixes above.)
• Can You Choose the Best Prefix? (A worksheet practicing prefixes and roots. It’s also in the Introduction above, in a slightly different form, and in the Roots packet below.)

Download Common Prefixes for $5.00 here by clicking 'Purchase.'.

If you don't need any of the worksheets, you can download the table from the List of Prefixes (with a shorter explanation) for free here.

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Using Word Roots to Learn Vocabulary: $5.50

Recognizing common word roots can help you guess and learn unknown words more easily.

This worksheet packet lets you practice more than 30 useful Latin and Greek roots.

Contents:

• Memory Game explanation & cards*
• A list of Common Prefixes and Suffixes for Roots 
• Introduction to Roots with root-prefix combinations that are easy to guess (Choose the Best Prefix…”) & Answers 
• Individual worksheets on words from cedere (concede, excessive, precedent, etc.), quaerere (inquire, request, require), ponere (compose, disposition, oppose, proponent) & Answers 
• Roots related to Our Senses, & Answers 
• Greek Roots & Answers 
• English-Spanish cognate roots and a practice worksheet or quiz with Answers 

* There are 12 memory cards each (8 per sheet) for words from  cedere, quaerere, ponere, and mixed root (from the Intro/Prefix review) practice.  You can print them to use for a game of solitaire or for practice with friends. The memory game cards can also be used as flashcards if meanings are glued onto the backs.

Other worksheet activities include gap-fill exercises, multiple choice, and matching exercises. They start with words that are easy to figure out using the root and prefix meanings. Then you will study a few academic words that are not so simple to understand from the roots.

Buy these worksheets on roots for $5.50 by following this link and clicking the Purchase button there.

Best Value: Complete Root & Affix Guide: $12.00

To unlock the full vocabulary-building benefits that you can get by recognizing prefixes, suffixes, and roots, check out this Complete Root & Affix Bundle. 

You can study and practice all the common prefixes and suffixes as well as several more roots.

It includes the complete Introduction to Roots & Affixes (printable version) and almost everything from Word-Building Suffixes, Practice Common Prefixes, and Using Word Roots to Learn Vocabulary.

The only parts left out of those individual packets are ones already incorporated into the Introduction. (That's mainly the Word Family & Parts of Speech from the Suffix packet and Can You Choose the Best Prefix? -- so important it's in both the individual  Common Prefixes & Word Roots packets.)

So you can get a complete list of contents by reading the four Contents lists above and subtracting the overlap.

The Complete Study Guide is 85 pages, packed with useful explanations and practice exercises.

Since there is some overlap of contents, the bundle should be worth $15-16, but with a 20% multiple- product discount it’s just $12.00. Press the 'Purchase' button on this page to buy it.

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