Prefix vs Suffix: What’s the Difference?

Prefix vs Suffix

A prefix comes before the root of the word. For example, “unhappy” uses “un-” to mean not happy.

Suffixes go at the end and can change a word’s job in a sentence. Like “playful,” where “-ful” shows a quality of being full of play.

So, prefixes change what a word means, and suffixes change what a word does.

Common Prefixes

Prefixes are small but mighty parts of language that we attach to the beginning of words. These prefixes can turn a word into its opposite, show a direction, or indicate a number.

Here are some of the most common prefixes in the English language.

This table lists common prefixes, meanings, and examples.

Prefix	Meaning	Examples
Anti-	against	antidote
Di-	opposite	defrost
Dis-	not/opposite of	disapprove
En-/Em-	cause to	encode/embrace
For-	before	forecast
In-/Im-	not	incomplete/imperfect
Il-/Ir-	not	illegal, irresponsible
Inter	between/among	interaction
Mid-	middle	midday
Mid-	wrongly	misunderstanding
Non-	not	nonsense
Over-	over	overreaction
Pre-	before	predetermined
Re-	again	rearrange
Semi-	half	semicircle
Sub-	under	submarine
Super	above	superiority
Trans-	across	transform
Un-	not	unkind
Under-	under	underdeveloped

Common Suffixes

Common suffixes are the finishing touches that change how a word works in a sentence. They transform verbs into nouns, adjectives into adverbs, or give new qualities to words.

Here’s a table with the suffix, meaning, and example:

Suffix	Meaning	Examples
-able/-ible	able to be	suitable/visible
-al/ial	having characteristics of	personal/influential
-ed	past tense verb	skipped
-en	made of	wooden
-er (comparative)	comparative	older
-er (one who)	one who	carpenter
-est	comparative	biggest
-ful	full of	beautiful
-ic	having characteristics of	iconic
-ing	present participle verb	shopping
ion/-tion	act/process	occasion/attraction
-ation/-ition	act/process	starvation/contrition
-ity/-ty	state of	scarcity/cruelty
-ive/-active/-itive	adjective from a noun	destructive/initiative/fugitive
-less	without	careless
-ly	characteristic of	quickly
-ment	action or process	achievement
-ness	state of/condition of	forgiveness
-ous/eous/ious	possessing the qualities of	famous/courteous/suspicious
-s/-es	more than one	shoes/dresses
-y	characterized by	dirty

Suffixes come at the end of words. These little endings can help us express actions, qualities, states of being, and much more.

The Fun Side of Prefixes and Suffixes

Playing with prefixes and suffixes isn’t just educational. It can also be a lot of fun. One way is that you can mix and match them to create new words.

Here are some examples of invented words.

Invented words can be whimsical, insightful, or just plain fun. Try them out for yourself.

Prefixes vs Suffixes

Prefixes and suffixes help us change words to make new meanings. They can also make language fun and interesting, showing us how flexible and creative it can be.

We’d love to hear what you think. Drop a comment below with any cool prefixes and suffixes you’ve come up with. Let’s get creative together for our word inventions.