Root Words and Affixes
Root Words
happy
cycle
hope
beauty
Changing the Meaning of a Word
Having pizza and ice cream for dinner was unexpected.
My little brother flexed his muscles and
pretended
to have superhuman strength.
It is hopeless to study right before a test.
Changing the Use of a Word
The princess was a beauty.
The princess was beautiful.
Common Affixes and Their Meanings
Affix
Meaning
Example
-able
capable of
fixable
bene-
good
benefit
bi-
two
biannual
hyper-
hyperactive
-ous
over, qualities
above
having
of
pre-
before
prepay
re-
again
review
sub-
below
subway
un-
not
unharmed
ravenous
Guided Practice with Root Words and Affixes
Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.
Charlie promised he would buy the tickets to the new
movie about prehistoric times. However, he forgot and
the movie sold out. I knew I shouldn’t have asked Charlie.
He is often unreliable.
1. In the paragraph above, what is the meaning of prehistoric?
A. relating to a time after history
B. relating to a time before history
C. relating to a time during history
D. relating to a time outside of history
Guided Practice with Root Words and Affixes
Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.
Charlie promised he would buy the tickets to the new
movie about prehistoric times. However, he forgot and
the movie sold out. I knew I shouldn’t have asked Charlie.
He is often unreliable.
1. In the paragraph above, what is the meaning of prehistoric?
A. relating to a time after history
B. relating to a time before history
C. relating to a time during history
D. relating to a time outside of history
Guided Practice with Root Words and Affixes
Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.
Charlie promised he would buy the tickets to the new
movie about prehistoric times. However, he forgot and
the movie sold out. I knew I shouldn’t have asked Charlie.
He is often unreliable.
2. In the paragraph above, what is the meaning of unreliable?
A. overly reliable
B. normally reliable
C. not reliable
D. below reliable
Guided Practice with Root Words and Affixes
Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.
Charlie promised he would buy the tickets to the new
movie about prehistoric times. However, he forgot and
the movie sold out. I knew I shouldn’t have asked Charlie.
He is often unreliable.
2. In the paragraph above, what is the meaning of unreliable?
A. overly reliable
B. normally reliable
C. not reliable
D. below reliable
Guided Practice with Root Words and Affixes
Read the sentence below and answer the question that follows.
We saw the monorail train moving quickly towards us.
3. In this sentence, what does the word monorail mean?
A. one track
B. trolley
C. unstoppable
D. two tracks
Guided Practice with Root Words and Affixes
Read the sentence below and answer the question that follows.
We saw the monorail train moving quickly towards us.
3. In this sentence, what does the word monorail mean?
A. one track
B. trolley
C. unstoppable
D. two tracks
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