Noun Suffixes Definition, Examples, Exercise & Worksheet

Hello learners, Today, we’re going to learn an important part of English grammar: noun suffixes. If you understand noun suffixes properly, it can help you to expand your vocabulary and improve your language skills. Here you will learn about the noun suffix meaning with examples, how to see the spelling, and how to use these in sentences. But before we get into the list, let’s first understand what noun suffixes are.

What is a Noun Suffix?

A suffix is a letter or group of letters added at the end of a word to form a new word or to change its grammatical function. A noun suffix is a suffix with a group of letters added to a base word that turns it into a noun. These suffixes are useful for transforming verbs, adjectives, and even other nouns into new nouns, which is a common way to create more complex sentences.

Common Noun Suffixes List with their Meaning & Examples

Here are some noun suffixes list, their meanings, and examples.

1. -ment (The action or result of something)

Examples:

• Enjoy → Enjoyment (the result of enjoying something)
• Achieve → Achievement (the result of achieving something)

2. -ness (The state or quality of something)

Examples:

• Happy → Happiness (the state of being happy)
• Dark → Darkness (the state of being dark)

3. -ion or -tion (The process or act of something)

Examples:

• Create → Creation (the act of creating)
• Decide → Decision (the process of deciding)

4. -ity (The quality or condition of something)

Examples:

• Possible → Possibility (the quality of being possible)
• Real → Reality (the condition of being real)

5. -ance or -ence (The state or quality of something)

Examples:

• Perform → Performance (the act or quality of performing)
• Exist → Existence (the state of existing)

6. -er or -or (A person who performs a particular action or task)

Examples:

• Teach → Teacher (a person who teaches)
• Act → Actor (a person who acts)

7. -ist (A person who is skilled or involved in a particular activity or field)

Examples:

• Piano → Pianist (a person who plays the piano)
• Art → Artist (a person who creates art)

8. -ship (The condition or skill of something)

Examples:

• Leader → Leadership (the skill or condition of leading)
• Friend → Friendship (the condition of being friends)

9. -hood (The state, condition, or quality of something)

Examples:

• Child → Childhood (the state of being a child)
• Brother → Brotherhood (the condition of being brothers)

10. -ism (A belief, practice, or ideology)

Examples:

• Real → Realism (a belief in reality or truth)
• Buddha → Buddhism (the practice or belief in the teachings of Buddha)

11. -cy The state or quality of something)

Examples:

• Private → Privacy (the state of being private)
• Accurate → Accuracy (the quality of being accurate)

12. -dom (A place or state of being)

Examples:

• King → Kingdom (the domain or place ruled by a king)
• Free → Freedom (the state of being free)

13. -ure (The process or act of something)

Examples:

• Close → Closure (the act of closing something)
• Depart → Departure (the process of departing)

14. -al (The action or result of something)

Examples:

• Propose → Proposal (the act of proposing)
• Refuse → Refusal (the action of refusing)

15. -ance or -ency (A state or quality)

Examples:

• Attend → Attendance (the state of being present)
• Fluent → Fluency (the quality of speaking smoothly)

Noun Suffixes: Spelling Rules and Tips

Suffixes are letters added to the end of a word to change its meaning or function. Suffixes are common and useful, although they change the original word’s spelling. As you can see in the above examples, when the -ion suffix is added to create and decide, the -e ending disappears. Some more examples of spelling changes are:

1. Doubling the Final Consonant

When a one-syllable word ends with a single consonant and the vowel before the consonant is single, double the final consonant before adding a suffix that starts with a vowel.

Examples:

• Run → Running
• Stop → Stopped
• Plan → Planning

Don’t double the consonant if the word ends with two vowels before the final consonant.

• Example: Rain → Raining

2. Removing the Final ‘e’

If a word ends in a silent “e,” remove the “e” before adding a suffix that starts with a vowel (like -ing, -ed, or -able).

Examples:

• Make → Making
• Love → Lovable
• Dance → Danced

Keep the “e” if the suffix starts with a consonant or if the word ends in “ee.”

Examples:

• Care → Careful
• Agree → Agreeable

3. Changing ‘y’ to ‘i’

When a word ends in “y,” preceded by a consonant, change the “y” to “i” before adding a suffix. (Except when adding -ing; e.g., Cry → Crying).

Examples:

• Happy → Happiness
• Cry → Cried
• Easy → Easily

If the word ends in a vowel followed by “y” or if you are adding -ing, don’t change the “y.”

Examples:

• Play → Playing

• Enjoy → Enjoyable

4. Words Ending in ‘c’

When a word ends in “c,” add a “k” before adding a suffix that starts with -e, -i, or -y.

Examples:

• Panic → Panicking
• Picnic → Picnicked

5. Words Ending in ‘ie’

When a word ends in “ie,” change “ie” to “y” before adding the suffix -ing.

Examples:

• Die → Dying
• Tie → Tying

How to Practice Noun Suffixes

1. Read and Observe: You should consider the nouns in books, articles, and other materials and notice how suffixes are used.
2. Use Word Families: You can take a root word and add different noun suffixes to create new words. For example, start with “act” and form “action,” “actor,” and “activity.”
3. Practice Writing: You can try writing sentences with different noun suffixes. This will help you understand their usage in context.

Noun Suffixes Exercise

Now that you have learned some of the common rules, here are a few words that you can try adding suffixes to:

1. Admit → (past tense)
2. Hope → (present participle)
3. Busy → (noun form)
4. Run → (present participle)
5. Happy → (adjective with -ness suffix)

Answers:

1. Admit → Admitted
2. Hope → Hoping
3. Busy → Business
4. Run → Running
5. Happy → Happiness

Question: Add a suitable noun suffix to the following words to form a noun:

1. Create → __________
2. Educate → __________
3. Friend → __________
4. Govern → __________
5. Protect → __________

Answers: 

1. Create → Creation
2. Educate → Education
3. Friend → Friendship
4. Govern → Government
5. Protect → Protection

Noun Suffixes Worksheet

Question 1: Choose the correct noun form for each sentence:

1. Her __________ (happy / happiness) brought joy to everyone around her.
2. The teacher showed great __________ (patient / patience) when dealing with the students.
3. The __________ (leader / leadership) was evident in her ability to guide the team.
4. He has always shown great __________ (intelligent / intelligence) in solving complex problems.
5. We celebrated the __________ (achieve / achievement) of our goals.

Question 2: Match the base word with the correct suffix to form a noun.

Question 3: Choose the correct noun suffix to complete the word.

1. The __________ of the country is an important topic.
   1. governhood
   2. government
   3. governship
2. His __________ made the entire event a success.
   1. organizehood
   2. organization
   3. organizeness
3. Her __________ in class impressed the teachers.
   1. attentive
   2. attentiveness
   3. attentionhood
4. The __________ of the museum was well-received.
   1. directorship
   2. directiveness
   3. directivist
5. __________ can change the future.
   1. Educatehood
   2. Education
   3. Educationship

Question 4: Fill in the blanks by changing the word in brackets into a noun form with a suitable suffix:

1. Her __________ (leader) inspired the entire team.
2. The __________ (perform) was applauded by everyone in the audience.
3. His __________ (kind) made him well-liked by his peers.
4. After much __________ (discuss), they reached an agreement.
5. The __________ (invent) of the light bulb changed the world.

Question 5: Decide whether the following statements about noun suffixes are true or false.

1. The suffix -ness indicates a state or quality.
2. The suffix -ist is used to form nouns that describe a profession or a person involved in a field.
3. Adding -tion to a verb forms a noun that describes the action or state.
4. The suffix -ment can be added to verbs to form nouns.
5. The suffix -er is used to indicate the person who performs an action.

Question 6: Circle the noun suffix in the following words:

1. Happiness
2. Education
3. Manager
4. Celebration
5. Artist

Question 7: Match the base words to their appropriate noun forms.

Question 8: Rewrite the following sentences by changing the verbs to nouns using suitable suffixes.

1. The teacher explains the lesson well.
2. He runs every morning.
3. The child is learning to read.
4. The chef prepares delicious meals.
5. The artist paints beautiful pictures.

Question 9: Choose the correct suffix to complete each word:

1. Friend __________ (ly / ship)
2. Act __________ (ive / ion)
3. Create __________ (ion / ive)
4. Govern __________ (ance / ment)
5. Manage __________ (er / ment)

Question 10: Categorize the following nouns under the correct suffix category:

[Happiness, Management, Decision, Artist, Scientist, Kindness, Improvement, Celebration, Friendship, Politician]

Also Read:

• Noun Phrase Examples, Definition, Exercises, Worksheet
• Noun Clause Examples, Definition, Exercises, Worksheet