Unit 27 - Spelling the word endings -able and-ible

A suffix is a letter or group of letters that are added to the end of a ROOT word to change its meaning.

Click here to hear the suffix -able or -ible.


comfortable	horrible

Because the vowel sound in these suffixes contains the schwa sound (Unit 24), both end up sounding the same. This can make it difficult when it comes to spelling. Not only do they sound the same, but the suffix often means the same (‘can be’), so we cannot even look to the meaning for clues.

As -able is a more common ending than -ible, it could be useful to:

Learn the -ible words you think you are going to use most often
Use -able for the others
See whether the words fit the broad rules above
When learning the spellings, say the words aloud and exaggerate the initial vowel sound of the suffix (horrIble; comfortAble)
Use Spellzone to learn as many of each as you can!