Do you need some practice on grade 5 elementary roots or base words? Base words can have prefixes and suffixes added to them to make new words. In this article, you will find examples of base words, prefixes, and suffixes. For more practice, we also provide a 5th-grade prefix worksheet and a 5th-grade suffix worksheet.
Roots, Base Words, Prefixes & Suffixes
Before we continue, let's start by looking at the definitions of some key terms.
- A root can be any part of a word that gives it its meaning. It's the first building block of the word.
- A base word is a word that can have prefixes or suffixes added to it.
- A prefix is a letter or set of letters added to the beginning of a word.
- A suffix is a letter or set of letters added to the end of a word.
Let's look at some examples of base words with prefixes and suffixes attached. Note that not all the possible word combinations are listed.
- Agree - agreement, disagree, agreeable
- Believe - believable, believer, unbelievable
- Care - careful, uncaring, careless
- Decide - decision, indecision, decisive
- Excite - excitement, excitable, unexcited, exciting
- Friend - friendless, friendly, unfriendly, befriend
- Happy - happiness, unhappy, unhappiness, happier, happiest
- Love - lovely, lovelier, loveliest, unloved, lover, lovely
- Use - usable, user, useless, misuse, used
- View - review, preview, viewer, viewing, overview
Base Word Worksheets for 5th Grade
Here are worksheets for grade 5 elementary base words and how they work with prefixes and suffixes.
Prefix Worksheet
Directions: Write the base word on the blank provided.
- Antithesis __________
- Disappear __________
- Enslave _________
- Impossible __________
- Misspell _________
- Nonfiction _________
- Outweigh __________
- Submarine _________
- Surtax _________
- Unfair _________
Answers:
- Thesis
- Appear
- Slave
- Possible
- Spell
- Fiction
- Weigh
- Marine
- Tax
- Fair
Suffix Worksheet
Directions: Write the base word on the blank provided.
- Description _________
- Education _________
- Excitable _________
- Explosion _________
- Imaginary _________
- Kindness _________
- Relaxation _________
- Replacement _________
- Thankful _________
- Written _________
Answers:
- Describe
- Educate
- Excite
- Explode
- Imagine
- Kind
- Relax
- Replace
- Thank
- Write
Beginning, Middle and End
Understanding the relationship between roots, prefixes, base words and suffixes is an important skill. It gives you the fundamental concept on which lots of English words are built. If you need more help, don't worry. Take a look at our article on affixes (affixes are just prefixes and suffixes) and our base word practice page for more opportunities to learn.
We even have a slideshow to see if grownups can beat 5th graders in a battle of vocabulary. Have fun!