The 20 Most Common Prefixes

This is a research-based list for those who wish to see the data. These 20 prefixes
account for 97 percent of prefix occurrences in printed English.

Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

Prefix
un
re
in, im, ir, ill
dis
en, em
non
in, im
over
mis
sub
pre
inter
fore
de
trans
super
semi
anti
mid
under

Meaning
not, opposite of
again, back
not, opposite of
not, opposite of
cause to
not, opposite of
in or into
too much, above
wrongly
under, lower
before
between, among
before
opposite of, down
across
above, beyond
half
against
middle
too little, below

%
26
14
11
7
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
1
1
1
1
1

Example
unhappy
return
indirect
discover
enjoy
nonfiction
inside
overgrown
mistake
submarine
prepared
international
foresee
descent
transport
supermarket
semicircle
antiwar
midsemester
underfed

All other prefixes combined account for only 3% of words with prefixes.
Source: White, T.G., Sowell, V., and Yanagihara, A. (1999). Teaching elementary
students to use word-part clues. The Reading Teacher, 42, 302-308.

The 20 Most Common Suffixes

This is a research-based list for those who wish to see the data. These 20 suffixes
account for 93 percent of suffix occurrences in printed English.

Rank
1
2
3

Suffix
s, es
ed
ing

4
5
6
7
8

ly
er, or
ion, tion,
ation, ition
ible, able
al, ial

9
10
11
12
13

y
ness
ity, ty
ment
ic

14

ous, eous,
ious,
en
er
ive, ative,
itive
ful
less
est

15
16
17
18
19
20

Meaning
plurals
past-tense verbs
verb form/ present
participle
characteristic of
person connected with
act, process

%
31
20
14

Example
boys
wanted
playing

7
4
4

friendly
teacher
action

can be done
having characteristics
of
characterized by
state of, condition of
state of
action or process
having characteristics
of
possessing the qualities
of
made of
comparative
adjective form of a
noun
full of
without
comparative

2
1

likeable
final

1
1
1
1
1

funny
happiness
activity
enjoyment
comic

serious

1
1
1

enliven
bigger
attentive

1
1
1

sorrowful
hopeless
biggest

All other suffixes combined account for only 7% of words with prefixes.
Source: White, T.G., Sowell, V., and Yanagihara, A. (1999). Teaching elementary
students to use word-part clues. The Reading Teacher, 42, 302-308.