Vocabulary Assessment · Grades 3–5
Prefixes Assessment
A printable assessment for grades 3-5 on the word beginnings that change meaning: negation, repetition, time and order, and number. Students give meanings, build words, and use a prefix to work out a word they have not met. Twenty-four items with a complete answer key.
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What this assessment checks
Prefixes are the highest-leverage word part in upper elementary, because a handful of them unlock hundreds of words. Three levels are assessed:
- The meanings of un-, re-, pre-, dis-, mis-, sub-, over-, under-, tri-, bi-
- Building a real word by attaching a prefix to a base
- Using a known prefix to infer an unfamiliar word’s meaning
How to use it
Give it after prefixes have been taught as meaning units rather than as a spelling list. Section C is the section that matters: the point of teaching prefixes is reading a word you have never seen, and that is what it measures.
Reading the results
Sections A and B can both be passed from memory; Section C cannot. A student who scores well on the first two and poorly on the third has learned prefixes as vocabulary rather than as a strategy, and needs cover-the-prefix practice on unfamiliar words rather than more lists. Accept any reasonable wording in Section C — “not happy” and “sad” are equally good evidence that dis- was read as a negative.
| Resource type | Assessment (printable PDF) |
| Grade range | Grades 3–5 |
| Items | 24 across 3 sections |
| Answer key | Included on the final page |
| Time | About 25 minutes |
| Access | Full Member |