Quiz-Tree

Suffixes

What if a single word ending could unlock the meaning of a word you have never seen before? These SAT Vocabulary quizzes on suffixes teach you to decode unfamiliar words by their endings.

Decoding Words Through Their Suffixes

Across eight quizzes you will learn nineteen common suffixes and what each one does, from -tion, which builds abstract nouns, to -ize, which builds verbs of change, to -ous, which builds adjectives. You will meet endings that name people, like -ist and -er, and ones that signal a quality, like -able (capable of). The later quizzes stop naming the suffix, so you identify the word part yourself and reason toward the meaning.

Suffixes are a shortcut for the whole reading section, since they appear in word after word. Once you can spot them, an intimidating term often breaks down into parts you already understand.

SAT Vocabulary with Audio Pronunciation

The words come with audio, so you hear each one pronounced as you study how its suffix shapes the meaning. That helps you connect the ending you see on the page to the sound you will recognize in passages.

Did You Know?

A suffix can reveal a word's part of speech before you even know its meaning. The ending -tion almost always marks a noun, -ize a verb, and -ous an adjective, so spotting it instantly narrows down what an unfamiliar word is doing in a sentence. That single clue can be enough to answer a question.

How the Quizzes Work

The eight quizzes mix topic sets with review rounds that step up in difficulty, ending with words rarely seen outside formal reading. Each takes only a few minutes, so you can build up steadily. Repeating them helps the suffixes settle until you spot them on sight.

Want to crack open any unfamiliar word? Get started with these free interactive SAT vocabulary quizzes and master suffixes today.

1. Abstract Noun Suffixes

This quiz covers five suffixes that convert verbs and adjectives into abstract nouns: -tion/-sion, -ity/-ty, -ness, -ment, and -ance/-ence. These endings appear constantly in SAT reading and writing passages. After completing this quiz, you will be able to spot these suffixes in unfamiliar words and use them to infer meaning.

score: 68% (everyone)

2. Agent and Belief Suffixes

Five suffixes here do two distinct jobs. -er/-or, -ism, and -ist build nouns that name people and the beliefs they hold, while -ize/-ise and -ify build verbs expressing change. After this quiz, you will be able to identify agents and practitioners in unfamiliar vocabulary, and recognize when a verb suffix signals a process of making or becoming.

score: 64% (everyone)

3. Verb and Adjective Suffixes

Adjectives do the heavy descriptive work in SAT passages, and three of the suffixes here (-ous/-ious, -al/-ial, and -ic/-ical ) specialize in building them. The verb-forming suffixes -ate and -en round out the set. After this quiz, you will be able to decode unfamiliar adjectives and identify the quality or relationship they express.

score: 73% (everyone)

4. Tendency and Manner Suffixes

Four suffixes remain after three full topic quizzes, each doing a specific job: -ive/-ative signals tendency, -able/-ible signals capability, -ent/-ant marks a quality or person, and -ly turns adjectives into adverbs. Because only four suffixes are covered, this quiz has 8 questions rather than 10. After completing it, you will have encountered all 19 suffixes in this set.

score: 88% (everyone)

5. Suffix Review 1

This review draws one or two word parts from each topic quiz and tests them in fresh words. It is designed to surface which suffixes have settled and which still need more practice. Difficulty is comparable to the topic quizzes.

score: 80% (everyone)

6. Suffix Review 2

This review tests a fresh set of five word parts from across all four topic quizzes and steps up the difficulty. Bridge questions use less familiar vocabulary, and the challenge phase requires working through longer, more complex roots. After completing it, you will have reviewed ten of the nineteen suffixes in the set.

score: 100% (everyone)

7. Suffix Review 3

This third review introduces the highest difficulty level in the series so far. Bridge questions use vocabulary rarely encountered outside formal reading, and challenge questions require sustained attention to Latin roots. Five more suffixes from the full set of nineteen appear here for the first time in a review quiz.

score: 75% (everyone)

8. Suffix Review 4

None of the questions name a suffix. You must identify the word part yourself, combine it with the root clue given, and reason toward the meaning. All ten words appear at or above the SAT difficulty threshold.

score: 90% (everyone)