Prefixes are groups of letters added before the root of a word to change its meaning. They are used before many words. For example, in the word prefix, pre – itself is a prefix (meaning before). Prefixes can be used for a number of purposes, for instance they can telling us quantities (bimonthly means twice a month), or making the word mean the opposite of the original (such as happy and unhappy). The following two exercises will help test some of your knowledge of prefixes:

Prefixes Exercise

To test the prefix knowledge you already have, use the examples below each prefix to match the prefix to its meaning.

Tele- (telescope) (a) twice or by twos
Pre- (preview) (b) one, same, whole
Mis- (misunderstanding) (c) again, back
De- (delete) (d) under or low
Re- (revisit) (e) not
Un- (unimpressed) (f) remove or reduce
Bi- (biweekly) (g) wrong, bad
Uni- (unisex) (h) many, (usually more than two)
Multi- (multiply) (i) far, distant
Sub- (subway) (j) before

Answers to Exercise 1:

1. i 2. j 3. g 4. f 5. c 6. e 7. a 8. b 9. h 10. d

Can you think of three more words in English for each of the prefixes above?

Do you know the meaning of all these possible answers:

Television, telephone, telefocal
Previous, predict, predetermine
Misadventure, misappropriate, misunderstood
Debug, deforest, decentralise
Return, review, recover
Unhappy, unwell, unmasked
Bicycle, biannual, bimonthly
Unicycle, universe, unidirectional
Multiple, multinational, multi-millionaire
Substandard, subtract, submarine.

Prefixes for opposites

There is a variety of prefixes that can be used to make opposites (usually to create negative versions of the root word). There are no real rules about which one is most appropriate – try to learn the correct prefix for the most common words.

The following groups of words each use the same prefix to create an opposite meaning. Match them to the prefix.