Stem Word List #9
Stem
Meaning
Example Words
9-1 polis
(city)
metropolis, megalopolis, police, policy, necropolis
9-2 ego
(I)
egomaniac, egocentric, egotistical, egoism, alter ego
9-3 dia
(across)
diagonal, diameter, dialogue, dialect, diatribe,
dialectic
9-4 per
(through)
perception, perforation, percolate, perambulate, pertain
9-5 pac
(peace)
pacify, pacific, pacifist, pacifier, pacifism, pacification
9-6 brev
(short)
brevity, abbreviation, breviary, brief
9-7 il
(not)
illegal, illiterate, illicit, ill-mannered, illogical, illegible
9-8 leg
(read)
legible, legend, legendary, legibility, alleged, illegible
9-9 sanct
(holy)
sanctity, sanctuary, sanctify, unsanctioned, sanctimonious
9-10 meta
(change or beyond)
metamorphosis, metaphor, metaphysics, metastasize
9-11 curs
(run)
cursive, incursion, cursory, cursor, precursor
9-12 cad
(fall)
cascade, cadaver, cadence, decadent, cadaverous
9-13 capit
(head)
decapitate, capital, captain, caption, capitulation
9-14 ness
(quality)
softness, redness, politeness, kindness, darkness
9-15 ate
(cause to be)
graduate, coagulate, domesticate, implicate, insinuate
Directions:
Step One: Create a study note card for each stem
Step Two: Spend time each night reviewing your cards. (This can be done on the bus ride home, in the
car, or during study time in Inquiry class, etc.)
Step Three: Remember that the Word Within a Word is cumulative. That means once you have list # 2
you can’t just toss out list # 1. You’ll need to keep reviewing those words too! You’ll see them on Stem
Test # 2 and so on.