Assimilated Prefixes Games ~ Roll & Add

Enjoy these FREE Assimilated Prefixes Games with your learners!

Find more multisyllable word printables HERE.

Prefixes are words parts that can be added before words or other word parts. For example, when pre- is placed in front of teen, it changes the word to preteen.

And while pre– itself isn’t a complete word, it carries the meaning “before.” Therefore, preteen literally means “before teen.” We know this to be a child who is 11 or 12 years old, sometimes referred to as a “tween.”

Prefixes are called morphemes because they are a unit of meaning. Other morphemes include suffixes {word parts added to the end of words}, Greek roots, and Latin stems. You can read more about morphemes and morphology here.

What are Assimilated Prefixes?

Have you ever noticed that some prefixes have several different spellings? For example, one meaning for the prefix in- is “not” as in the word inactive, which means “not active.”

But if we want to say something is not logical, we don’t say, “That’s inlogical.” Instead, we exclaim, “That’s illogical!” Il- isn’t the only different version of in-. If we were to say someone wasn’t mature, we’d say, “They’re immature.” And if we wanted to say something wasn’t rational, we’d say, “That’s irrational.”

In these words, we have four different spellings of this prefix: in-, il-, im-, and ir–. Again, all these prefixes mean “not,”

Why is this? Is the purpose just to confuse us and the kids we teach?

This is where assimilated prefixes come into play. {Another name is absorbed prefixes.} Assimilated prefixes are prefixes in which the spelling has been changed to make it easier to pronounce the word. Because logical begins with an l, it’s easier to change the prefix to il- and say illogical.

Pronounce these words out loud and see which one is easier to say:

• inlogical / illogical
• inrational / irrational
• comlection / collection
• subfix / suffix

In each of the pairs, the second word includes an assimilated prefix. By changing the ending of the prefix to more closely match the pronunciation of the first part of the word, it makes it easier to pronounce the word.

How do Assimilated Prefixes Affect Spelling?

A little background first: when prefixes are added to words, you typically spell the entire prefix AND the entire base/root word. If the prefix happens to end with the same letter that the base or root word begins with, the letter is doubled. For example, when mis– is added to spell, we get misspell, where the s is doubled.

This is particularly relevant to assimilated prefixes. If learners don’t have an understanding of assimilated prefixes, chances are, they won’t double the consonant between the prefix and the suffix. So, instead of illogical or irrelevant, spellers will spell these words ilogical and irelevant.

Assimilated Prefixes Games ~ Roll & Add

To help learners practice words with these types of prefixes, I’ve created SIX FREE roll & add games. The games can be played with 2-4 players.

Learners roll a die. When they land on a space, they read the base word or root/stem and tell which prefix should be added to the beginning. If you want an accountability piece to check for understanding, learners can record the word on the recording sheet. The first player to reach the “End” is the winner. Learners can then play again or pick another game board to try.

Just in case you or your learners aren’t sure of the prefixes, answer keys are also provided in the download.

Download these free games below:

Enjoy teaching!
~Becky