Spelling words with the prefixes meaning not | English

Starter quiz

Match the words to its synonym or meaning.
- friendly
  
  ⇔
  
  kind ✓
- usual
  
  ⇔
  
  normal ✓
- appear
  
  ⇔
  
  visible ✓
Which words contain the prefix un-?
- unkind ✓
- funny
- unzip ✓
- sun
Match the words that have the same root word.
- unhealthy
  
  ⇔
  
  healthiest ✓
- untie
  
  ⇔
  
  ties ✓
- unfair
  
  ⇔
  
  fairer ✓
What do the prefixes un-, non- and dis- usually mean?
- wrongly
- before
- not ✓
- under
Match the words to their meanings.
- misbehave
  
  ⇔
  
  behave wrongly ✓
- miscalculate
  
  ⇔
  
  work out the wrong answer mathematically ✓
- dishonest
  
  ⇔
  
  not trustworthy ✓
- disgusting
  
  ⇔
  
  not tasty ✓
Select the correct spelling of the word.
- unhapee
- unhapy
- unhappy ✓

Select the prefixes which can mean 'not'.
- un- ✓
- pre-
- in- ✓
- super-
- il- ✓
Match the root word to the correct prefix.
- behave
  
  ⇔
  
  mis- ✓
- appear
  
  ⇔
  
  dis- ✓
- usual
  
  ⇔
  
  un- ✓
- sense
  
  ⇔
  
  non- ✓
Select the correct spelling of the word.
- dissappear
- dissapear
- disappear ✓
- disapear
Select the correct spelling of the word.
- ilegal
- illegal ✓
- illegle
Correct the spelling of the word in bold in the sentence: She was quite imachure.
- 'immature' ✓
Correct the spelling of the word in bold in the sentence: He was quite irisponsibel that day.
- 'irresponsible' ✓

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A prefix is a letter or group of letters at the start of a word which changes its meaning.
Adding a prefix does not alter the spelling of the root word.
There are many prefixes that can mean ‘not’, including un-, dis-, in-, il-, im- and ir-.
The prefix in- can also mean ‘in’ or ‘into’ and the prefix mis- usually means 'wrongly'.
How to spell the curriculum words: immediate, immediately and disappear.

Children may think all words with the letters strings have prefixes.

Discuss words using the letter sequence but not as a prefix, e.g. disturb, imp and uncle. Reinforce the definition of 'root word' and 'prefix'.

Prefix - a letter or group of letters added to the start of a root word to change its meaning
Root word - the base word from which other words are formed often by adding prefixes or suffixes
Antonym - a word that has the opposite meaning to another word