Add Meaning with Suffixes – Grade 5 Word Building Practice

Add Meaning with Suffixes – Grade 5 Word Building Practice
Last Updated At: 31 Mar 2026
4 min read

Add Meaning with Suffixes – Grade 5 Word Building Practice | English Grammar Worksheet Guide

Learning new words can feel like unlocking secret codes in English! In this Grade 5 English grammar worksheet, students explore how adding small endings like -ful, -ness, -ly, and -ment can completely change the meaning of words. This fun and engaging worksheet helps learners understand word building in an easy and practical way.

What Is The Topic?

Suffixes are letters added at the end of a base word to change its meaning. In this Grade 5 worksheet, students learn how suffixes like -ful, -ness, -ly, and -ment help form new words.

For example, a simple word like “help” becomes “helpful,” and “happy” becomes “happiness.” These changes help students express ideas more clearly and correctly. The worksheet focuses on recognizing, forming, and using suffixed words in different contexts.

What’s In This Worksheet?

1. Matching base words with their correct suffixed forms  
2. Identifying base words and suffixes in given words  
3. Word search activity to find suffix-based words  
4. Paragraph-based identification and sentence formation  
5. Crossword puzzle using suffix-based clues  

This English grammar worksheet helps Grade 5 students practice word building step by step, making it useful for both understanding and exam preparation.

Definitions, Examples, Techniques, And Tips

Suffixes are added at the end of a word to create a new word.

Examples from the worksheet include:
- help → helpful  
- happy → happiness  
- quick → quickly  
- enjoy → enjoyment  

Students learn to:
- Identify the base word  
- Recognize the suffix  
- Understand how meaning changes  

Techniques used:
- Matching words  
- Breaking words into parts  
- Finding words in puzzles  
- Using words in sentences  

Why Is It Important To Learn This?

Learning suffixes helps students expand their vocabulary. It improves reading and writing skills and helps in understanding how words are formed. It also makes sentence construction easier and more meaningful.

Where Will This Knowledge Help You?

This knowledge is useful in:
- School exams  
- Writing tasks  
- Speaking clearly  
- Understanding new words while reading  

How To Use This Worksheet?

1. Attempt all questions independently  
2. Follow the order of questions carefully  
3. Compare your answers with the answer key  
4. Practice similar words regularly  

The solutions below follow the exact worksheet order. Compare each answer carefully.

Important Tips And Tricks

1. Always identify the base word first  
2. Look at the ending to recognize the suffix  
3. Read the sentence carefully before choosing a word  
4. Practice word formation regularly  
5. Pay attention to spelling changes  

Complete Answer Key

Exercise - 1

joy – joyful  
empty – emptiness  
mad – madly  
merry – merriment  
duty – dutiful  
lonely – loneliness  
different – differently  
achieve – achievement  
base – basement  
firm – firmly  

Exercise - 2

helpful – help – ful  
happiness – happy – ness  
quickly – quick – ly  
enjoyment – enjoy – ment  
beautiful – beauty – ful  
sadness – sad – ness  
softly – soft – ly  
movement – move – ment  
careful – care – ful  
kindness – kind – ness  

Exercise - 3

colorful  
carefully  
improvement  
quickly  
movement  
kindness  
loneliness  
basement  

Exercise - 4

Circled words:

happily  
beautiful  
kindness  
movement  

Sentences:

Meena skipped happily through the garden.  
She had a basket full of beautiful flowers.  
She smiled with kindness at every butterfly.  
The movement of the breeze made the petals dance.  

Exercise - 5

Across:

2. Child's happiness  
5. They fought bravely  
7. The dog barked loudly  
8. In the night's darkness  

Down:

1. hopeful  
3. anger  
4. thankful  
6. very  

Keep practicing suffixes and word building, and you’ll become more confident in using English every day. This Grade 5 English grammar worksheet is a great way to improve your vocabulary and writing skills step by step.

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