4th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 7 of 13
Word Builders
Prefixes, suffixes and roots
What your child practices
Using word parts to work out meanings: prefixes like re- and mis-, suffixes like -able and -ment, finding the base word, and (at the stretch level) roots such as port and tele.
Arizona Academic Standards learning standard: 4.RF.3; 4.L.4 · prefixes, suffixes and roots
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- Prefixes change meaning at the start: re- (again), pre- (before), mis- (wrongly), un- (not).
- Suffixes change a word at the end: -able (can be), -ment (the act of), -ness (state of).
- Roots carry meaning too: port means carry, tele means far.
Example: What does “preheat” mean? The base word is heat. Pre- means before. Answer: to heat before
Word Builders in Arizona
In the Arizona Academic Standards, this is unit 7 of 13 in 4th grade English Language Arts, after Super Sentences and before Sound-Alikes.
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.
- 4th grade guide for Arizona parents
- Printable 4th grade English Language Arts sheet
- Arizona report cards explained
Source: Arizona Department of Education
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
What does “disobey” mean?
- to obey wrongly
- to obey again
- to not obey
- to obey before
to not obey
Hint: The prefix dis- means “not”. Put it together with the base word “obey”.
Question 2
What does “preview” mean?
- to view wrongly
- to view before
- to not view
- to view again
to view before
Hint: The prefix pre- means “before”. Put it together with the base word “view”.
Question 3
What does “reheat” mean?
- to heat wrongly
- to not heat
- to heat again
- to heat before
to heat again
Hint: The prefix re- means “again”. Put it together with the base word “heat”.
Question 4
Which prefix means “wrongly”?
- un-
- mis-
- re-
- pre-
mis-
Hint: Think of “misspell”: to spell wrongly.
Question 5
Which prefix turns “view” into a word that means “to view before”?
- dis-
- pre-
- mis-
- re-
pre-
Hint: re- means again, dis- means not, mis- means wrongly and pre- means before.
Question 6
What does “payment” mean?
- without pay
- able to pay
- to pay again
- money that is paid
money that is paid
Hint: The suffix -ment turns a verb into a noun: pay → payment, the thing that is paid.