Grade 3 Vocabulary, Morphology & Word Study: Suffix -al
144 printable 3rd Grade vocabulary & word study worksheets on Suffix -al. 4 activity types: Match Up, Read and Draw, Sentence Scramble, Word Search. The first three are free to download; All Access opens all 144.
Practice pages support a program; they are not the lesson. These sheets reinforce Phonics, Decoding, and Early Fluency — Grade 3, the complete K–5 reading curriculum from Faith Readers. See every program →
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Includes 4 activity types: Match Up, Read and Draw, Sentence Scramble, Word Search.
Teaching Suffix -al
What it is
The ending -al turns a naming word into a describing word meaning 'having to do with': nation becomes national, music becomes musical, coast becomes coastal, person becomes personal.
When a child is ready
Teach it once the child reads two- and three-syllable words and knows what a describing word does in a sentence.
If they struggle
Read the base word and the new word one after the other and say what changed: music is a thing, musical describes something. Most bases take -al with no change, so keep the few that alter the base, such as nature and natural, on a separate short list rather than teaching them as the rule.
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