Printable Common Suffixes Worksheets
Printable common suffixes worksheets for 2nd through 5th grade, with an answer key on every sheet. The sets below cover 3 different skills, so you can start where your child actually is. Available as fill in the blank.
Targeted Practice by Skill
About Common Suffixes
What this skill is
Suffixes are letter groups added to the end of a base word that alter its meaning and often change its grammatical part of speech (e.g., -ful means full of: care -> careful [adjective]; -less means without: care -> careless; -ly turns adjectives to adverbs: quick -> quickly). Learning suffixes builds spelling precision, vocabulary depth, and grammatical syntax awareness across elementary grades, writing workshops, sentence drafting, and reading materials.
When children learn it
Basic suffixes (-ful, -less, -er, -est) begin in 2nd grade. In 3rd through 5th grade, lessons expand to -ly, -ness, -able, -ment, -tion, and -ous across spelling, grammar, and writing curricula, reading groups, sentence drafting, grammar drills, and vocabulary workshops.
Common Mistakes
- Confusing -ful and -less, mistaking 'careful' for 'careless' in context sentence fill-ins during practice exercises.
- Misspelling suffix additions by failing to drop silent-e or double final consonants before adding vowel suffixes.
- Misinterpreting part-of-speech changes, using an adverb suffix (-ly) where an adjective is required in a sentence.