Know Your Suffixes: -able

A suffix is a letter or group of letters added to the end of a word. Knowing what a suffix means can help us understand new words.

For example, the suffix -able means 'able to' or 'capable of'. Once it has been added to a root word, it makes an adjective (describing word).

Clothes that are able to be washed are washable.

A mattress that can be inflated is inflatable.

If the word ends in -e then we drop the -e before we add the suffix.

value / valuable

use / usable

If the word ends in -y then we usually change it to 'i' before we add the suffix.

deny / deniable

magnify / magnifiable

Let's have a go at some questions now to practise using this suffix.