The Suffix Clue Hunt

This worksheet is designed to support students in Grades 4, 5, and 6 as they develop higher-level reading comprehension and vocabulary analysis skills using academic-style sentences. Students use context clues alongside structural analysis to determine the meaning of derivational suffixes and explain how those suffixes influence the meaning of the entire word, strengthening inference, decoding, and academic language understanding.

Skills Reinforced

• Contextual Vocabulary Interpretation (Grades 4-6) – Use surrounding sentence clues to infer the meaning of suffixes.
• Derivational Suffix Meaning – Analyze how suffixes change word meaning and function.
• Academic Vocabulary Analysis – Interpret complex words commonly found in content-area texts.
• Reading Comprehension & Inference – Combine context and word-part knowledge to construct meaning.

Instructional Support

• Teacher-Created Resource – Developed by educators to support explicit instruction in morphology and comprehension.
• Integrated Skill Practice – Blends vocabulary, context clues, and structural analysis in one task.
• Flexible Use – Ideal for literacy centers, small groups, independent practice, homework, or intervention.
• Supports Critical Thinking – Requires explanation and reasoning, not just identification.
• No-Prep Format – Print-and-go worksheet for classroom and homeschool settings.

This printable worksheet helps students become strategic readers who can analyze academic vocabulary using both context and word structure. By explaining how suffixes contribute to meaning, learners build confidence decoding complex terms and understanding challenging texts. Whether used in a classroom or homeschool environment, this resource strengthens comprehension, inference skills, and mastery of derivational suffixes across subjects.

This worksheet is part of our Suffixes Worksheets collection.