6th Grade spelling
6th Grade Words Ending in Ism
Words ending in ism: tourism, optimism, criticism, organism, magnetism. Play hangman with the list or print a spelling worksheet with answers.
Read the spelling list
The pattern: The suffix ism names a belief, practice or condition: heroism, optimism, magnetism.
The suffix ism makes nouns that name a belief, a practice or a condition. Optimism is the belief that things will turn out well, tourism is the practice of traveling for pleasure, and magnetism is the condition of being magnetic. It comes from Greek by way of Latin and French, and it attaches to roots without changing the vowel sound of the suffix, which is always /izm/.
The list contains thirty words, among them criticism, tourism, mechanism, journalism, metabolism, realism, activism, optimism, organism, patriotism, vandalism, heroism, plagiarism, pessimism and magnetism. Sixth graders encounter them in social studies, science and language arts, where an ism often names an idea or a movement. It is also a good place to talk about word families: criticize, critic and criticism share a base but not a spelling, and the c changes sound.
30 entries. Our solver needed 1.4 wrong guesses on average: 15 easy, 15 medium and 0 hard. The toughest is symbolism (3 misses), the quickest mechanism (0).
- criticism Easy · 1
- tourism Medium · 2
- mechanism Easy · 0
- journalism Medium · 2
- metabolism Easy · 1
- realism Medium · 2
- activism Medium · 2
- optimism Medium · 2
- organism Easy · 1
- patriotism Medium · 2
- symbolism Medium · 3
- professionalism Easy · 0
- skepticism Easy · 1
- vandalism Easy · 1
- heroism Medium · 2
- plagiarism Medium · 2
- cynicism Easy · 1
- modernism Easy · 1
- idealism Easy · 1
- mysticism Medium · 2
- materialism Easy · 0
- magnetism Easy · 1
- populism Medium · 3
- humanism Easy · 1
- federalism Medium · 2
- pessimism Medium · 2
- pragmatism Medium · 2
- romanticism Easy · 0
- altruism Medium · 2
- nepotism Easy · 0
Words worth a closer look
- optimismOptimist plus ism. The pairing with pessimism is the best memory aid.
- pessimismA double s in the middle, then ism. The pair with optimism helps the meaning, not the spelling.
- plagiarismStudents often write plagerism. Say it as pla-ja-rism, then spell the ia in the middle.
- vandalismFrom Vandal plus ism. Students sometimes drop the second a.
- magnetismMagnet plus ism: the condition of attracting. An easy one for the base-first method.
Teaching it
Ask students to find the base each word grows from: hero, tour, optimist, real, active, magnet. Some drop a letter (tourist loses ist) and others keep the base whole. The common spelling errors are ism written as izm or ysm, and the doubled letter in the base, as in criticizm. Also spot the roots: pessimism and optimism are opposites, and the matching pair is a good way to lock them in.
In hangman, the ism ending shows up quickly, so spend early guesses on the base. Print the worksheet and ask students to sort the words into beliefs, practices and conditions, and to defend borderline cases.
Print a 6th Grade Words Ending in Ism 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
- 6th Grade Words With the Prefix InterWords with the prefix inter, meaning between or among: international, interview, interact, intersection. Play hangman or print a worksheet.
- 6th Grade Words With the Prefix TransWords with the prefix trans, meaning across: transfer, translate, transparent, transition. Play hangman or print a spelling worksheet with answers.
- 6th Grade Words With the Prefix SubWords with the prefix sub, meaning under: submarine, subtitle, substitute, subscribe. Play hangman or print a spelling worksheet with answers.
- 6th Grade Words With the Prefix SuperWords with the prefix super, meaning above or beyond: supervisor, supermarket, supernatural. Play hangman or print a worksheet with answers.
- 6th Grade Words With the Prefix AntiWords with the prefix anti, meaning against: antibiotic, antibody, antidote, antifreeze. Play hangman or print a spelling worksheet with answers.
- 6th Grade Words Ending in OlogyWords ending in ology, meaning the study of: biology, technology, psychology, geology, ecology. Play hangman or print a spelling worksheet.