CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.3.3b
The Standard
Decode words with common Latin suffixes.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students split longer words into a familiar base and an ending, then blend the parts to read the whole word. They recognize endings such as -tion, -sion, -ment, -able, and -ity as chunks.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students accurately read unfamiliar words such as enjoyment, invention, flexible, and activity. They identify the base and ending, then blend both parts without guessing.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may sound out every letter separately instead of reading the ending as one chunk. They may confuse -tion and -sion, omit the suffix, or mispronounce the base when adding an ending.
How to Assess It
- Give students the words movement, washable, invention, permission, and activity. Ask them to mark the base and suffix, then read each word aloud.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs base-word cards and suffix cards, then have students build and read words such as enjoyment, washable, and invention.
Ask students to explain in writing how splitting permission or activity into chunks helps them read the whole word.
Play suffix bingo using words ending in -tion, -sion, -ment, -able, and -ity, with students reading each called word aloud.
Have students find suffixed words on school signs, menus, or flyers, then mark the base and ending before reading each word.
Free download
Printable RF.3.3b Worksheet

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.3.3b, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.
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Where This Standard Sits
Before This Standard
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Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.8.4b
Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., precede, recede, secede).
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.2.3d
Decode words with common prefixes and suffixes.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.4b
Use common, grade-appropriate Greek and Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., telegraph, photograph, autograph).
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.4b
Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., audience, auditory, audible).
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