Suffixes Worksheets - Free Printable

You're given a worksheet that asks you to add one of four suffixes — -ess, -ee, -ism, -ive — to each noun or verb to create an adjective.

Let’s go step by step:

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First, understand the suffixes and their meanings:

- -ess: Often used to form feminine nouns (e.g., actress, waitress), but in this context, it’s being used to make adjectives? Actually, looking at the example “emperor → empress”, that’s a noun. But the directions say “create an adjective”. Let’s check the examples again:

> emperor → empress → ✘ *empress* is a noun
> devote → devotee → ✘ *devotee* is a noun
> dynamic → dynamism → ✘ *dynamism* is a noun
> object → objective → ✔ *objective* is an adjective

Hmm — there’s an inconsistency. The directions say “create an adjective”, but 3 out of 4 examples are nouns. However, “objective” is clearly an adjective, and “dynamic” itself is already an adjective — so perhaps the goal is to form related words, not strictly adjectives. But since the instruction says “create an adjective”, we’ll aim for the most common adjective formed with these suffixes.

Actually, let’s look more closely:

- -ive → commonly forms adjectives: e.g., active, creative, objective → ✔️
- -ism → usually forms nouns (e.g., capitalism, heroism) → ✘
- -ee → usually forms nouns (e.g., employee, trainee) → ✘
- -ess → usually forms nouns (e.g., actress, lioness) → ✘

So only -ive reliably forms adjectives.

But wait — the example “object → objective” is correct as an adjective. And “dynamic → dynamism” is a noun, which contradicts the direction. So perhaps the worksheet has a small error, or maybe it’s asking for words derived from the root, not strictly adjectives.

However, since the directions explicitly say “create an adjective”, and only -ive consistently does that, we’ll prioritize using -ive where possible, and if no adjective exists, we may need to use others — but let’s try to follow the spirit of the worksheet.

Looking at the list:

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## Let’s solve each one:

1. lion → add -ess → lioness → *This is a noun*, but it’s the only common word. There’s no standard adjective like “lionive”. So we’ll go with lioness even though it’s a noun — matching the pattern of the first example.

2. employ → add -ee → employee → *noun*. But “employ” + “-ive” = employive? Not a real word. “Employable” would be better, but not an option. The correct derived word is employee, which is a noun — again, matching “devotee”.

3. pay → add -ee → payee → noun (someone who is paid). Again, not an adjective. But “pay” + “-ive” = payive? No. So payee is correct per pattern.

4. patron → add -ess → patroness → noun (female patron). Again, matches “empress”.

5. social → already an adjective! But we must add a suffix. “Social” + “-ism” = socialism → noun. “Social” + “-ive” = socialive? Not a word. So perhaps socialism is intended, even though it’s a noun.

Wait — maybe the worksheet expects us to use the suffixes to form nouns, and the word “adjective” is a mistake? Because all examples except “objective” are nouns.

Let’s re-read: “Add one of the four suffixes... to create an adjective.” But the examples don’t support that.

Perhaps “objective” is the only adjective, and others are mistakes. Or perhaps “dynamic” was meant to be “dynamite” or something else.

Alternatively — maybe the worksheet is teaching word formation, and “adjective” is a typo.

Given the confusion, I will solve based on common word formations using those suffixes, matching the examples provided, even if they’re mostly nouns.

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✔ Final Answers (based on common usage and matching the example pattern):

1. lion → lioness (like emperor → empress)
2. employ → employee (like devote → devotee)
3. pay → payee (like devotee — person who is paid)
4. patron → patroness (like empress — female version)
5. social → socialism (like dynamic → dynamism — abstract noun)
6. colloquial → colloquialism (like dynamism — abstract noun ending in -ism)
7. train → trainee (like devotee — person being trained)
8. prince → princess (like empress — female version, using -ess)
9. detect → detective (✔️ This is an adjective AND a noun — perfect match! “detective” describes someone who detects)
10. patriot → patriotism (like dynamism — abstract noun)

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✔ Corrected and Final Answer Sheet:

1. lion → lioness
2. employ → employee
3. pay → payee
4. patron → patroness
5. social → socialism
6. colloquial → colloquialism
7. train → trainee
8. prince → princess
9. detect → detective ← ✔ This is the only true adjective here
10. patriot → patriotism

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💡 Explanation:

Even though the directions say “create an adjective”, most of the suffixes (-ess, -ee, -ism) typically form nouns, while only -ive often forms adjectives. The example “objective” is the only clear adjective. So, we followed the pattern shown in the examples (empress, devotee, dynamism, objective), which includes both nouns and one adjective.

In real English, “detective” is the only word here that is commonly used as an adjective (e.g., “detective work”), though it’s also a noun. All others are primarily nouns.

So the worksheet likely intends for students to learn word derivation using suffixes, even if not all results are adjectives.

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✔ Final Answer List:

1. lioness
2. employee
3. payee
4. patroness
5. socialism
6. colloquialism
7. trainee
8. princess
9. detective
10. patriotism

*(Note: “patriotism” — not “patriotism” is spelled with ‘i’, not ‘y’)*

Wait — correction: #10 is patriot → patriotism (yes, correct spelling).

All done! 🎉