7th Grade spelling
7th Grade Words Ending in Ist
Words ending in ist: artist, scientist, tourist, dentist, chemist, journalist. Play hangman with the list or print a spelling worksheet with answers.
Read the spelling list
The pattern: The suffix ist names a person who does or studies something: art becomes artist, science becomes scientist.
The suffix ist names a person who does something, practices something or studies something. Art becomes artist, tour becomes tourist, journal becomes journalist, chemistry becomes chemist. It is a close relative of the ism suffix, so many pairs line up: activism and activist, tourism and tourist, journalism and journalist. Its pronunciation is /ist/, with no stress.
The list has thirty words, including artist, journalist, specialist, tourist, activist, therapist, economist, dentist, psychologist, guitarist, novelist, cyclist, chemist, physicist, geologist, pharmacist and strategist. Many name jobs, which is why seventh grade is a good home for them, as students think about careers and read biographies. Some are formed from ology words, so psychologist and geologist link back to the sixth grade list.
30 entries. Our solver needed 1.3 wrong guesses on average: 17 easy, 13 medium and 0 hard. The toughest is cyclist (3 misses), the quickest specialist (0).
- artist Easy · 1
- journalist Easy · 1
- specialist Easy · 0
- tourist Medium · 2
- activist Medium · 2
- therapist Easy · 1
- economist Easy · 0
- dentist Easy · 0
- psychologist Medium · 2
- psychiatrist Easy · 1
- guitarist Medium · 2
- novelist Medium · 2
- columnist Easy · 1
- cyclist Medium · 3
- chemist Medium · 2
- finalist Medium · 2
- physicist Medium · 2
- stylist Medium · 2
- vocalist Medium · 2
- pharmacist Medium · 2
- minimalist Easy · 1
- receptionist Easy · 0
- strategist Easy · 1
- medalist Easy · 1
- geologist Easy · 1
- bassist Medium · 2
- centrist Easy · 0
- anthropologist Easy · 0
- theorist Easy · 1
- naturalist Easy · 1
Words worth a closer look
- artistArt plus ist. Short and regular, so a good model.
- therapistTherapy loses its y before ist. The th at the start and the pist at the end are what students often garble.
- pharmacistPharmacy loses its y before ist. The ph spells f.
- physicistPhysics plus ist. Two syllables of consonant clusters: phys-i-cist.
- guitaristGuitar plus ist. Students sometimes drop the u, writing gitarist.
Teaching it
Ask students to find the base and watch what happens at the join. Some bases lose a letter (cycle becomes cyclist), some keep every letter (tour plus ist), and some change more: chemistry becomes chemist. A common error is writing ist as est (activest, artest), since the ending is weakly pronounced. Another is confusing ist with ish.
Hangman works well with this list because i, s and t are free, so players focus on the base. Print the worksheet and ask students to pair each ist word with its ology or ism relative where one exists, then write a sentence about the job.
Print a 7th Grade Words Ending in Ist 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
- 7th Grade Words Ending in Ship and HoodWords ending in ship and hood: friendship, leadership, partnership, childhood, parenthood. Play hangman or print a spelling worksheet.
- 7th Grade Words With the Prefix ExWords with the prefix ex, meaning out or away: export, expand, explain, extend, exposure. Play hangman or print a spelling worksheet.
- 7th Grade Words Ending in IfyWords ending in ify: identify, justify, simplify, classify, modify, clarify. Play hangman with the list or print a spelling worksheet with answers.
- 7th Grade Words Ending in IzeWords ending in ize: realize, recognize, organize, apologize, summarize, memorize. Play hangman with the list or print a spelling worksheet.
- 7th Grade Words Ending in CianWords ending in cian: musician, magician, electrician, technician, mathematician, physician. Play hangman or print a spelling worksheet.
- 7th Grade Words Ending in Cial and TialSort words ending in cial and tial: special, social, official, potential, essential. Play hangman with the list or print a worksheet.