ible and able - Wordsearch vegetable, available, reasonable, tolerable, adorable, applicable, possible, horrible, terrible, visible, ible and able
Full Answer
How do you know if a base word is -ible or -able?
As with the Latin roots, there are generally no indications in the base word’s spelling to indicate when “-ible” is correct, except for one: base words ending in “-uct” will (almost) always take “-ible” rather than “-able.”
What is the difference between -able and -ible?
Sometimes an “-ible” word is related to an existing base word, but the spelling must change slightly to accommodate it. This also occurs with certain words when they attach to “-able” (e.g., when the suffix replaces “-ate” or “-y” becomes “-i-”), but “-ible” can result in much more drastic changes to the spelling of the base word.
Do silent e words take -ible or -able?
However, as you can see by the size of the list, it is much less common for a silent E word to take “-ible” rather than “-able.” If a word ends in a silent E, it will most likely take the “-able” suffix (and base words ending in “-ate” can only take “-able”).
What is the meaning of the suffix -able?
The suffix “-able” most commonly attaches to words (most often verbs) that could otherwise be complete without the suffix; in many cases, this occurs with no change to their spelling. Because “-able” is a productive suffix, there is a huge number of words it can be attached to.
What does "ible" mean when a word ends?
When a word ends in -ible, the part before the ending is not usually a recognizable English word e.g. ‘terr ible ‘ or ‘horr ible ‘ come from ‘terror’ and ‘horror’ but ‘terr-‘ and ‘horr-‘ are not recognisable English words. ‘-ible’ is only used in older (Latin) words that have survived into modern English. 2. How to remember the difference.
What does "able" mean in French?
Answer. Words which end in ‘-able’ have a recognisable ‘root’ word at the start. ‘- able’ words usually come from French and ‘-able’ is a ‘living’ suffix, meaning that it is still being used to create new words e.g. ‘That name is unpronounceable!’ (unable to be pronounced)
What is the ible ending?
The -ible ending is for words of Latin origin. There are about 180 words ending in -ible. No new words are being created with -ible endings. The -able ending is for: This rule can help you decide the correct spelling. It works most (but not all!) of the time.
What happens if you remove able from a word?
If you remove -able from a word, you are left with a complete word (renewable, renew). If you remove -ible from a word, you are not left with a complete word (sensible, sens ). But note that accessible, contemptible, digestible, flexible and suggestible are among the exceptions to this rule.