Prefix Suffix Root Word Worksheets

About this resource

How do you work out a long word like "transportation" or "interruption"? You split it. This is a complete kit for one skill: the parts of a long word. Children read how a word is built from a prefix, a root and a suffix, break eight long words apart, build words from their parts, find the root three words share, fill in sentences with the one word that fits, and cut and paste to match roots to meanings and sort parts. It comes with answer keys, a tracker, a class grid and a family page, so nothing has to be written from scratch.

EVERYTHING INSIDE (25 pages)

• 10 student pages in 9 page types: Meet the Word Parts, Prefix Power, Build a Word, Add the Ending, Break It Apart, Find the Root, Fill It In, Cut and Paste (two pages) and Word Detective
• 8 Greek and Latin roots (port, rupt, struct, dict, script, aud, vis, therm), 8 prefixes and 5 endings, each with a plain-word meaning on a chart
• 46 different words to build, split, match or use in a sentence
• 72 scored items on 8 pages (8 prefix meanings, 8 build, 8 add-an-ending, 8 break-apart, 12 find-the-root, 8 fill-in, 20 cut-and-paste)
• 20 cut-and-paste pieces on 2 mats
• 2 answer keys
• 1 tracker (page, page type, items right, date) and 1 whole-class progress grid
• 1 team note (a hand-off page between team meetings) and 1 home page
• 1 filled example (an invented student), 1 phrase bank (16 observable-language starters), 1 binder cover and 6 divider tabs with a spine label to cut out
• Start Here and a how-to-read-a-page page

The Page Types, Easiest First

1. Meet the Word Parts (1 dot): one word shown as pre + dict + able, then a chart of 8 prefixes, 8 roots and 5 endings with their meanings, and three lines to write.

2. Prefix Power (1 dot): eight short sentences such as "To retell a story is to tell it ___." Write the meaning from a box of ten words; two of them fit no sentence.

3. Build a Word (1 dot): eight sums such as "re + vis + ion =". Write the word.

4. Add the Ending (2 dots): eight sums such as "help + ful =" with a chart of what each ending means.

5. Break It Apart (2 dots): eight long words (transportation, interruption, construction and more). Write the prefix, root and suffix from a parts box of 20 parts, two of which fit no word.

6. Find the Root (3 dots): six groups of three words, like transport, export and import. Write the root they share and what it means, from a box of eight roots and a box of eight meanings.

7. Fill It In (2 dots): eight sentences, one right word each, from a box of eleven words. Three words fit no sentence.

8. Cut and Paste, 2 pages (1 and 2 dots): Paste 1 puts eight meanings beside eight roots. Paste 2 sorts twelve parts into Prefix, Root and Suffix boxes. Each page has a block of pieces that touch edge to edge, so cutting is a few straight lines.

9. Word Detective (3 dots): pick a word, write its prefix and root, draw it and write about it.

One Right Answer On Every Blank

On Break It Apart, only one split of each word uses parts from the box. On Find the Root, exactly one of the eight roots is spelled inside each word. On Fill It In, each word is the only one that makes its sentence true, and the spare words are nouns that fit no sentence. Every answer is worked out from the word parts by the same code that builds the page, never typed by hand, and the position of the right answer is checked so it does not sit in the same spot three times in a row.

Built For The Child Holding The Page

A big "My name" line, one short instruction, large rounded type, big answer boxes, and dots (not words or colors) to show which level a page is. Nothing on a student page is written for an adult. Every picture in the file is drawn for it, and every page reads clearly in black and white.

Type In, Or Print

The name line and every answer box are type-in fields in any PDF reader: click one, type, then save. The same goes for the tracker, the class grid, the team note and the home page. This is a fillable PDF; it is not a Google Slides or PowerPoint file.

Who This Is For

Upper elementary classrooms, self-contained and resource rooms, and any teacher teaching word study, vocabulary or Greek and Latin roots in a center, a small group or a morning work folder. The directions are short, and the teacher can read each page aloud.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

A prefix, suffix and root word worksheet set with the record-keeping around it. It is not a timed test, a screener, a clinical tool, or a claim about any student's age or rate of progress. There is no IEP goal language or eligibility wording anywhere in the file.