4th Grade spelling
4th Grade Words Ending in Able and Ible
Words ending in able and ible: comfortable, reliable, possible, visible. Play hangman with the list or print a worksheet with answers.
Read the spelling list
The pattern: Both endings mean can be or able to be. Able usually follows a whole word (readable); ible often follows a word part (visible).
Able and ible are two spellings of the same suffix, which means can be or able to be. They sound identical, which is the whole difficulty. A useful rule of thumb is that able is far more common and usually attaches to a whole word that you can say on its own: comfort, rely, accept, value. Ible tends to follow a root that does not stand alone: vis in visible, poss in possible, terr in terrible.
The list is split into two groups so students can see both. The able group includes available, capable, reasonable, reliable, remarkable and sustainable, while the ible group has possible, responsible, incredible, visible, eligible and sensible. Fourth grade is the start of this lesson because students have enough vocabulary to feel the difference between a word and a word part, but they will meet exceptions for years afterward.
30 entries. Our solver needed 0.6 wrong guesses on average: 26 easy, 4 medium and 0 hard. The toughest is affordable (2 misses), the quickest available (0).
-able
- available Easy · 0
- comfortable Easy · 1
- capable Easy · 0
- reasonable Easy · 0
- valuable Easy · 1
- suitable Easy · 0
- reliable Easy · 0
- remarkable Easy · 0
- acceptable Easy · 0
- affordable Medium · 2
- vulnerable Easy · 1
- sustainable Easy · 0
- applicable Easy · 0
- variable Easy · 1
- comparable Easy · 1
-ible
- possible Easy · 0
- responsible Easy · 0
- impossible Easy · 1
- terrible Easy · 1
- incredible Easy · 0
- horrible Easy · 1
- visible Easy · 1
- eligible Medium · 2
- accessible Easy · 0
- flexible Medium · 2
- invisible Easy · 1
- sensible Medium · 2
- compatible Easy · 0
- credible Easy · 0
- feasible Easy · 0
Words worth a closer look
- availableAvail plus able is not a regular sum, which makes it a good test of the rule: avail is a word on its own, so able is correct.
- possibleThe classic ible word. Poss has no meaning alone.
- responsibleTwo syllables of root plus ible. Students often write responsable.
- reliableRelies, relied, reliable: the y of rely becomes i before the ending.
Teaching it
Teach one tool: if you can take the ending off and still have a word, choose able. Reliable gives rely, acceptable gives accept, valuable gives value. If what is left is not a word, the answer is probably ible: you cannot say vis or poss. Mistakes cut both ways, but the commonest is writing able everywhere because it is more frequent.
For hangman, play both groups in one round and ask the guesser to name the ending before the whole word is solved. A tidy printable activity is a two-column sort: students place each word under able or ible, then circle the base word where one exists.
Print a 4th Grade Words Ending in Able and Ible 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
- 4th Grade Words Ending in TionSpell the /shun/ ending with tion: information, education, position and more. Play hangman with the list or print a worksheet with answers.
- 4th Grade Words Ending in SionWords ending in sion: decision, television, vision, session and mansion-type sounds. Play hangman with the list or print a worksheet with answers.
- 4th Grade Words With the Prefix PreWords with the prefix pre: preview, prehistoric, prefix, precaution and more. Play hangman with the list or print a spelling worksheet with answers.
- 4th Grade Words With the Prefix MisWords with the prefix mis: mistake, misplaced, misuse, mistrust, misread. Play hangman with the list or print a worksheet with answers.
- 4th Grade Words Ending in MentWords ending in ment: government, development, agreement, equipment and more. Play hangman with the list or print a worksheet with answers.
- 4th Grade Words Ending in OusWords ending in ous: dangerous, famous, nervous, delicious, generous. Play hangman with the list or print a spelling worksheet with answers.