6th Grade spelling
6th Grade Words Ending in Ology
Words ending in ology, meaning the study of: biology, technology, psychology, geology, ecology. Play hangman or print a spelling worksheet.
Read the spelling list
The pattern: Ology means the study of: biology is the study of life, geology the study of the earth.
The ending ology comes from the Greek logos and means the study of. Biology is the study of life, geology of the earth, zoology of animals, and psychology of the mind. The o that appears before logy is a connecting vowel that joins two Greek roots, which is why it shows up in almost every word of this type.
The list has thirty words, including technology, psychology, ideology, methodology, sociology, geology, ecology, terminology, mythology, physiology, archaeology, meteorology and radiology. Sixth graders meet these as the names of school subjects and fields of science, and they offer a natural way into morphology: by separating the first root from ology, a student can often work out the meaning of an unfamiliar word.
30 entries. Our solver needed 1.7 wrong guesses on average: 12 easy, 18 medium and 0 hard. The toughest is ecology (3 misses), the quickest ideology (0).
- technology Medium · 2
- psychology Medium · 2
- ideology Easy · 0
- theology Medium · 2
- methodology Easy · 1
- sociology Medium · 2
- geology Medium · 2
- ecology Medium · 3
- terminology Easy · 0
- anthropology Medium · 2
- mythology Medium · 3
- physiology Medium · 2
- archaeology Easy · 1
- pathology Medium · 2
- biotechnology Easy · 0
- morphology Medium · 2
- astrology Medium · 3
- oncology Medium · 3
- microbiology Easy · 0
- neurology Medium · 2
- chronology Medium · 3
- meteorology Easy · 1
- topology Medium · 3
- radiology Easy · 1
- zoology Medium · 3
- pharmacology Medium · 2
- toxicology Easy · 1
- immunology Easy · 1
- cardiology Easy · 1
- nanotechnology Easy · 1
Words worth a closer look
- ecologyEco comes from a Greek word for house or home: the study of how living things relate to their home. Students often write ecolagy.
- geologyGeo means earth. Students sometimes write jeology.
- psychologySilent p at the start, from the Greek psyche meaning mind. A classic silent-letter word.
- technologyTechno means skill or art, so the study of skill. The ch says k.
- archaeologyThe ae is a Greek spelling; archeology is also accepted but archaeology is standard.
Teaching it
Ask students to circle the first root in each word and guess its meaning: bio is life, geo is earth, eco is home, myth is story. The spelling mistakes are almost all in the first part, such as psycology for psychology, or archeology for archaeology, where both spellings are used and the longer one is standard. Also watch for ology written as ologie or olgy.
In hangman, the long common ending is free, so make the first half the challenge. Words like meteorology, with a pattern of vowels, are good ones to save for a later round. Print the worksheet and ask students to match each word to a one-line description of what it studies.
Print a 6th Grade Words Ending in Ology 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 IsmWords ending in ism: tourism, optimism, criticism, organism, magnetism. Play hangman with the list or print a spelling worksheet with answers.