Suffixes & Word Endings

In this lesson, you will learn about suffixes — groups of letters added to the end of a word. While prefixes change a word's meaning, suffixes often change the type of word (for example, turning a verb into a noun or an adjective into an adverb). Understanding suffixes will help you with vocabulary, spelling, and grammar questions in the 11+ exam.

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What Is a Suffix?

A suffix is a group of letters added to the end of a word to create a new word. Adding a suffix can change:

• The meaning of a word
• The word class (part of speech)
• The tense of a verb

Examples:

• care → careful (adjective: full of care)
• care → careless (adjective: without care)
• care → carefully (adverb: in a careful way)

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Common Suffixes and Their Meanings

Suffixes That Make Nouns

Suffix	Meaning	Example words
-tion / -sion	The act or state of	education, celebration, decision, confusion, explosion
-ment	The result or act of	enjoyment, agreement, movement, achievement, punishment
-ness	The state or quality of	kindness, happiness, darkness, sadness, illness
-ity / -ty	The quality of	curiosity, electricity, generosity, honesty, cruelty
-ence / -ance	The state or quality of	independence, confidence, importance, appearance, tolerance
-er / -or	A person who does something	teacher, builder, actor, inventor, explorer
-ist	A person who practises or believes in something	scientist, artist, cyclist, pianist, tourist
-dom	The state or realm of	freedom, kingdom, boredom, wisdom, stardom
-ship	The state or skill of	friendship, leadership, membership, championship, citizenship

Suffixes That Make Adjectives

Suffix	Meaning	Example words
-ful	Full of	beautiful, hopeful, grateful, powerful, thoughtful
-less	Without	careless, homeless, fearless, helpless, restless
-able / -ible	Capable of; can be	enjoyable, comfortable, visible, terrible, sensible
-ous / -ious	Full of; having the quality of	dangerous, famous, curious, ambitious, mysterious
-ive	Having the nature of	creative, active, expensive, attractive, sensitive
-al	Relating to	musical, national, personal, original, accidental
-y	Having the quality of	rainy, windy, cloudy, lucky, messy

Suffixes That Make Verbs

Suffix	Meaning	Example words
-ate	To make or become	create, educate, decorate, celebrate, evaluate
-ify / -fy	To make or become	simplify, identify, clarify, magnify, terrify
-ise / -ize	To make or become	realise, organise, memorise, recognise, apologise
-en	To make or become	strengthen, brighten, darken, widen, soften

Suffixes That Make Adverbs

Suffix	Meaning	Example words
-ly	In the manner of	quickly, carefully, silently, happily, gently

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Spelling Rules for Adding Suffixes

This is where many students lose marks in the exam. Adding a suffix is not always as simple as sticking the letters on the end — sometimes you need to change the spelling of the root word first.

Rule 1: Words ending in silent "e"

Drop the "e" if the suffix begins with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u):

• hope + -ing = hoping (not "hopeing")
• make + -er = maker (not "makeer")
• create + -ive = creative

Keep the "e" if the suffix begins with a consonant:

• hope + -ful = hopeful
• care + -less = careless
• state + -ment = statement