Prefixes (to practice, click here)

Try to guess the meaning of the prefix “in-“:

Here, the prefix “in-“ means in or into!  So, when you inspect something, you look inside.  When you inhale something, you breathe it in.  That’s easy, right?  Not so fast!  Unfortunately, “in-“ doesn’t always mean in!  Take a look at these words:

Here, the prefix “in” means “not.”  So, if you say a couple is inseparable, you mean that they are constantly together, or cannot be separated.  If you have insomnia, you cannot sleep. 

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To make things more complicated, sometimes there is more than one prefix for a given meaning.  For example, there are many prefixes meaning “not” in English.  Here are some examples:

Nonsense

Undeniable

Disregard

Irrelevant

 Non-, Un-, Dis-, and Ir- are all prefixes meaning “not.” 

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What do the following words have in common?

Illogical

Impossible

Inconvenient

Irrational

All these words have a prefix that means not.  So, it’s important to remember that a slight difference in spelling does not change the meaning of the prefix. 

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Here is another example:

Coexist

Compassion

Confederation

Correlation

Here, the prefixes co-,  com-, con-, cor- mean “with.” 

In conclusion, studying prefixes will make it easier for you to guess the meaning of a new word.  This is why it is important for you to own a dictionary that pulls apart words to give you the meaning of the root as well as the prefix and suffix.   

To see and print out the complete handouts for this workshop, click here.

Prefix Practice

1. prefixes: pre-, dis- ,pos- ,in- , and on-
2. negative prefixes
3. prefix matching
4. prefix matching 2
5. prefix and suffix explanation and practice
6. prefixes, meaning, online quizzes, and worksheets

Lists to Study

1. prefix handout created by Sarah Swanberg
2. prefix list, sorted by topic