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5th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 11 of 11

Spelling Smarts

Suffixes and words to know

What your child practices

Children practice US spelling of words with suffixes (-ful, -ly, -ous, -ment, -able, -ible), doubling rules, i before e and commonly misspelled words.

Alaska content standards learning standard: L.5.2 · spelling words correctly using suffix rules and spelling patterns

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Usually just add the suffix: comfort + able = comfortable, govern + ment = government.
  2. Drop a silent e before a vowel suffix (fame → famous), but some words change anyway (argue → argument).
  3. Use “i before e except after c” as a guide, then check the word.

Example: Add -ment to “argue.” Which spelling is correct? “Argue” ends in e. This word drops the e even before -ment. Answer: argument

Spelling Smarts in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 11 of 11 in 5th grade English Language Arts, after Research Ready.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Add -ly to “happy.” Which spelling is correct?

    • happyly
    • hapily
    • happily
    • happilly

  2. Question 2

    Add -ness to “kind.” Which spelling is correct?

    • kindniss
    • kineness
    • kindness
    • kindnes

  3. Question 3

    What is the plural of “potato”?

    • potatoez
    • potatoe
    • potatoes
    • potatos

  4. Question 4

    Add -ing to “begin.” Which spelling is correct?

    • beginnig
    • begining
    • beggining
    • beginning

  5. Question 5

    Add -able to “comfort.” Which spelling is correct?

    • comfortabel
    • comfortibel
    • comfortible
    • comfortable

  6. Question 6

    Which word is spelled correctly?

    • necesary
    • necessary
    • nessesary
    • neccessary

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