Improve Your Decoding Skills
Completion requirements
Unit 1
What is
Courage?
Activity
Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes
Improve Your Decoding Skills
Words are composed of several parts:
- the root (basic part or stem)
- a prefix (specific group of letters or syllable before the root)
- a suffix (specific group of letters or syllable after the root)
A prefix is attached to the beginning of a word to change its meaning.
| Word | Prefix | Root |
| dismount |
dis
(negation, removal) |
mount
(to climb on) |
| bicycle |
bi
(two) |
cycle
(repeating a series of events or actions) |
| unkind |
un
(not, reversal, cancellation) |
kind (being helpful, considerate, caring) |
| reread |
re
(again) |
read
(to understand meaning from letters, words, and symbols in a passage) |
| nonfiction |
non
(absence, negation) |
fiction
(a made up or untrue story) |
A suffix is added to the end of a word to change its meaning.
| Word | Root | Suffix |
| touchable |
touch
(to put a hand on something) |
able
(capable of being done) |
| painted |
paint
(to cover something with paint) |
ed
(past tense) |
| likely |
like
(to feel affection for) |
ly
(like or characteristic of) |
| hopeful |
hope
(to want something to happen) |
ful
(full of) |