3rd Grade spelling
3rd Grade Words Ending in Ness
Spelling words ending in ness, like kindness, sadness, darkness and happiness. Play hangman with the list or print a worksheet with an answer key.
Read the spelling list
The pattern: The suffix ness turns a describing word into a noun: kind becomes kindness.
The suffix ness turns a describing word into a noun that names a quality or state. Kind becomes kindness, sad becomes sadness and dark becomes darkness. The base word stays the same, which makes ness one of the easier suffixes to spell. Its one hazard is the double s at the end, which students often leave single.
The list holds thirty words, all of them a real base word plus ness. Short ones include illness, fitness, madness, sadness and fairness. Longer ones include happiness, loneliness, brightness, sweetness and tenderness. When the base word ends in y, as in happy, lonely and ready, the y changes to i, giving happiness, loneliness and readiness. Third graders usually know most of the base words already, so the list is a way to see how many new words one suffix can build.
30 entries. Our solver needed 0.5 wrong guesses on average: 27 easy, 3 medium and 0 hard. The toughest is goodness (2 misses), the quickest awareness (0).
- awareness Easy · 0
- happiness Easy · 0
- illness Easy · 1
- fitness Easy · 1
- darkness Easy · 0
- weakness Easy · 1
- goodness Medium · 2
- kindness Easy · 1
- madness Medium · 2
- sadness Easy · 0
- sickness Easy · 1
- fairness Easy · 0
- thickness Easy · 0
- greatness Easy · 0
- loneliness Easy · 0
- readiness Easy · 0
- brightness Easy · 0
- sweetness Easy · 0
- holiness Easy · 1
- bitterness Easy · 0
- blindness Easy · 0
- openness Medium · 2
- likeness Easy · 0
- usefulness Easy · 0
- toughness Easy · 1
- emptiness Easy · 0
- richness Easy · 1
- tenderness Easy · 0
- uniqueness Easy · 1
- stiffness Easy · 0
Words worth a closer look
- happinessHappy changes to happi, then ness. Contains double p and double s, so a correct guess fills several spaces.
- lonelinessLonely changes to lonel, then ness. Three l's in the word, and students often write only two.
- illnessIll plus ness gives a double l and a double s. Many students write ilness.
- uniquenessUnique plus ness keeps the final e. The long u opening is a trap for guessers.
- thicknessThick plus ness, with ck from the base. Students sometimes drop the c.
Teaching it
The most frequent mistake is a single s: kindnes, sadnes. Teach the word as two parts, kind and ness, and say both aloud. The y to i change is the next hurdle, and a quick drill with happy, lonely, ready and empty gives students the habit. Remind them that ness itself never changes.
A good activity is to give students a list of ten describing words and have them build the noun and put it in a sentence. In hangman, the double s at the end is a reliable clue. Ask players to guess s early, and then to say how many s's they expect.
Print a 3rd Grade Words Ending in Ness worksheet
Eight puzzles on one US Letter page, with a clue, letter blanks, an empty frame to draw in, an alphabet strip to cross off and circles to count misses. Page two is the answer key.
Need another sheet?
Draw eight different words from this list, right here. Same layout, new answer key.
Keep going
- 3rd Grade Words With the Prefix UnSpelling words that start with the prefix un, meaning not, like unhappy, unfair, unsafe and unlucky. Play hangman or print a worksheet with an answer key.
- 3rd Grade Words With the Prefix ReSpelling words that start with the prefix re, usually meaning again, like rebuild, restart, replace and remove. Play hangman or print a worksheet.
- 3rd Grade Words With the Prefix DisSpelling words starting with the prefix dis, meaning not or the opposite of, like disagree, dislike, disappear and discount. Play hangman or print a list.
- 3rd Grade Words Ending in Ful and LessSpelling words ending in ful and less, like helpful, hopeful, careless and homeless. Play hangman with the list or print a worksheet with an answer key.
- 3rd Grade Words Ending in LySpelling words ending in ly, like quickly, slowly, finally and friendly. Play hangman with the list or print a worksheet with an answer key.
- 3rd Grade Double Consonant WordsSpelling words with a doubled consonant in the middle, like rabbit, happy, little and funny. Play hangman with the list or print a worksheet.