3rd Grade Suffixes Worksheets
Third graders read suffixes as meaning clues and start weighing pairs like careful and careless, where both are real words and only the sentence tells you which fits. Spelling shifts appear too: happy drops its y in happily, mud doubles its d in muddy.
Free printable PDF, aligned to Common Core L.3.4.b. One skill per page, answer key on page two.
Every sheet is one of a kind and prints with a version code, so you can reprint the exact same one later. New version every click.
The kind of sentences you'll get
Circle the letter of the word with the correct suffix.
-
The ______ excuse fooled no one.
laughable · laughment · laughness
Answer: laughable
- The desert stretched ______ for miles. treeful · treeless · treely
- The firefighters climbed ______ up the ladder. bravely · braveness · braveful
Every print draws a fresh mix of sentences at this level, so a make-up test or a second sibling gets a different sheet.
What's on each sheet
- Choose the word. Circle the letter of the word with the correct suffix. 10 questions per page.
Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key on the last page.
How to teach this
The careful/careless items are the heart of this grade: both are real, so the sentence must be read for its story. When your child picks wrong, don't correct the word; reread the sentence and ask what it's trying to say. Note the spelling changes out loud when they appear, but keep the focus on meaning.
Watch for: -ful and -less are opposites on the same base: hopeful means full of hope, hopeless means without it. A suffix can change a word's job in the sentence: teach is an action, teacher is a person.
Common questions about suffixes
- Why are both answer choices sometimes real words?
- That's the grade-3 step: careful and careless both exist, so the sentence has to be read for meaning. A child who spilled juice was careless; one holding glass should be careful. Context does the deciding, which is precisely the skill worth practicing.
- Why does happy become happily instead of happyly?
- Words ending in a consonant plus y trade the y for an i before most suffixes: happy, happily; easy, easily (never before -ing: crying). It's one of the most dependable spelling rules in English, and meeting it inside real words beats memorizing it as a rule alone.
Related worksheets
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Aligned to Common Core L.3.4.b. Reviewed by the One More Sheet curriculum team. Content version 68, updated July 2026.