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Prefixes Worksheets, Examples & Definition

Prefixes are letters that we add at the beginning of words to make new words with new or different meanings, or definitions. Prefixes cannot stand by themselves because they are just letters, not entire words. Prefixes could be letters that create the opposite meaning of the original word

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Look at the following chart to understand how prefixes work with words. The left column contains original words. The center column contains the prefix that will be applied to the original word. The right column demonstrates the new word created after the prefix is applied to the original word.

Original Word Prefix New Word
happy un- unhappy
agree dis- disagree
understand mis- misunderstand

After looking at the chart, you can see that prefixes almost work like equations. You begin with a word, add the prefix to the beginning of the word, and this equals a new word. As you can also see, prefixes change the meaning of the original words. In some cases, the prefix causes the original word to take the opposite meaning. By adding un- to the word happy the word changes from being joyful to being displeased. The word takes the opposite meaning with the prefix.

While prefixes cannot stand by themselves, since they are letters and not words, prefixes do have their own meanings. For instance, let’s look at happy and unhappy again. The prefix un- actually means “not.” If we consider what the prefix means, then we can understand what unhappy means. If un- means “not,” then unhappy means “not happy.” Knowing the meanings of prefixes can help us to understand or guess the definitions of words.

The following chart gives some definitions of prefixes.

Look at how the meaning of the prefix helps or explains the definition and our understanding of the example word.

Prefixes Worksheets

This bundle contains 5 ready-to-use Prefixes worksheets that are perfect to test student knowledge and understanding of Prefixes which are letters that we add at the beginning of words to make new words with new or different meanings, or definitions.

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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