Year 5 Noun suffixes, letter strings and homophones worksheet

“Spelling words ending in -ant” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 5 English unit “Noun suffixes, letter strings and homophones”, for children aged 9 to 10, and takes about 20 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 6 to 8 of the year, 12 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Spelling words ending in -ant

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 5 · English · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can spell words ending in -ant by using the sound before the ending and related words.

A Look back3 min

1.
Circle the root word of kindness.
kindkindnessnesskin
2.
Circle the suffix in careful.
carefulcarefulcar
3.
Circle the suffix that makes quick into quickly.
lyfulnessless

B Watch me, then you4 min

Mia wants to spell hesitant. She uses a related word to check the ending.

Watch me

The root word is hesitate.

The related word hesitation has a clear ay sound where the ending goes.

So the ending is -ant: hesitant.

Now you

1.
Observation is a related word. Circle the -ant word that matches it.
observantobserventobservuntobservint

C Your turn6 min

Each sentence needs one -ant word. Use the clue in the picture, or a word you have learned.

1.
The helper was an ___. Circle the correct spelling.
assistantassistent
2.
This is a ___ day for our town. Circle the correct spelling.
significantsignificent
3.
The dancer was very ___. Circle the correct spelling.
elegantelegent
4.
The plant is ___ to the frost. Circle the correct spelling.
resistantresistent

Say it out loud: Which clue helped you most: the sound before the ending, or a related word?

D Spot the mistake3 min

Ali says: “Significent is right, because the ending sounds like ‘ent’.”

1.
Which spelling is right? Circle it.
significantsignificent

E Think deeper4 min

Sort these words by the sound before the ending. Then tell your grown-up how you knew.

1.
Sort the cards into the two columns.
significantelegantinnocentintelligentarrogantdecent
Hard c or g before the ending Soft c or g before the ending

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Spelling words ending in -ant · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. kind If your child circles kindness, they have the whole word. The root is the base word before the suffix is added: kind.

2. ful

3. ly

B

1. observant If your child circles observent, they have trusted the sound. Say observation aloud: the a is clear, so the ending is -ant.

C

1. assistant If your child circles assistent, the sound fooled them. Assistant has no related word with a clear a, so learn it with look, cover, write, check.

2. significant If your child circles significent, they have heard the ending as ent. Remind them the c says k, so the ending is -ant.

3. elegant If your child circles elegent, the g may have been missed. The g in elegant is hard, like the g in get, so the ending is -ant.

4. resistant If your child circles resistent, the sound fooled them. Resistant has no related word with a clear a, so learn it with look, cover, write, check.

D

1. significant Ali thinks the ending sounds like ent. Ask: what sound is before the ending? The c says k, so the ending is -ant.

E

1. Hard c or g before the ending: significant, elegant, arrogant · Soft c or g before the ending: innocent, intelligent, decent

Words to use

Say“Which clue did you use? Say the related word out loud.”

Instead of“Just sound it out, because it's spelled the way it sounds.”

After the sheet

Find three -ant words in a book at home. Say each one as it is spelled, then find a related word for each, like assist and assistance.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

11 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Spelling -ance and -ancy(with a plan)
Spelling words ending in -ent(with a plan)
Spelling -ence and -ency(with a plan)
Listening for 'fer'(with a plan)
Listening for the 'fer' beat(with a plan)
Tricky twin words(with a plan)
Choose the right word(with a plan)
Hunting the ee sound(with a plan)
When the rule can help(with a plan)
Many sounds, one pair(with a plan)
Other sounds for ei(with a plan)

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