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5th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 11 of 17

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.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 5L2 · 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 New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 11 of 17 in 5th grade English Language Arts, after Research Ready and before Write for Your Reader.

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: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

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
    • happilly
    • hapily
    • happily

  2. Question 2

    Which word is spelled correctly?

    • probabley
    • probaly
    • probly
    • probably

  3. Question 3

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

    • carefully
    • carefuly
    • carefullly
    • carfully

  4. Question 4

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

    • kindnes
    • kindniss
    • kindness
    • kineness

  5. Question 5

    Add -ful to “beauty.” Which spelling is correct?

    • beautyful
    • beautifull
    • beautiefull
    • beautiful

  6. Question 6

    Which word is spelled correctly?

    • neccessary
    • necesary
    • necessary
    • nessesary

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