Root Words & Inflections · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

One Root, Many Words

English · Vocabulary · ages 6-9
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. Peel the -ness off darkness. What root word is left?

    • dark
    • darkness
    • ness

  2. Thankful means full of ___.

    • thanks
    • nothing
    • running

  3. Which word means full of help?

    • helper
    • helpness
    • helpful

  4. What does the suffix '-ful' mean in the word 'careful'?

    • full of
    • without any
    • before

  5. Which word means 'a person who teaches'?

    • teachful
    • teacher
    • teachness

  6. What does kindness mean?

    • a person who is kind
    • the feeling of being kind
    • full of kind

  7. The singer smiled and bowed. What does the word singer tell you?

    • she loves cake
    • she feels shy
    • she sings

  8. Look at this list: build, builds, building, painter. How many words share the root build?

    Answer: ______________

  9. Dad sings in the car. Which word shares the root of sings?

    • song
    • sink
    • singing

  10. Kip stayed home from school because of his sickness. What does the word sickness tell you?

    • Kip was full of sun
    • Kip was sick
    • Kip helped a friend
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Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

One Root, Many Words W1-mt_UEe3MC5RZc-s1

  1. dark · Peel off the ending -ness and dark is left. Dark can stand alone, so it is the root.
  2. thanks · Thankful is thank plus -ful. Since -ful means full of, thankful means full of thanks.
  3. helpful · Full of is the meaning of -ful, and help plus -ful makes helpful.
  4. full of · '-ful' means 'full of.' A careful person is full of care.
  5. teacher · Add '-er' to an action word to name the person who does it: teach + er = teacher.
  6. the feeling of being kind · -ness turns a describing word into a noun. Kindness is the noun that names the feeling of being kind.
  7. she sings · Singer is sing plus -er: a person who sings. The word itself tells you she sings.
  8. 3 · Build, builds, and building all peel back to build. Painter peels back to paint. So 3 words share the root build.
  9. singing · Peel -s off sings and the root sing is left. Singing is sing plus -ing, so it shares the root.
  10. Kip was sick · Sickness is sick plus -ness, the state of being sick. So the sentence tells you Kip was sick.
Worksheet · LightMySky