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Myriora English › Words › Chapter 1: Building words: prefixes, suffixes and roots

-ful and -less

Ages 5–7Chapter 1 · Lesson 2

In this lesson

Your turn

Which word means full of colour?

Show the answer

Colourful means full of colour, and it ends with just one L!

The common mistake

Here's a common mistake. How do you spell careful? Some people write full at the end, with two L's. But the suffix ful always has just one L. Careful, hopeful, thankful.

Try it at home

Take turns saying a word that ends in ful or less. The other person says what it means (full of, or without) and whether the opposite ending also makes a word.

Read the whole lesson

Hello, and welcome to Myriora English! What's the difference between careful and careless? Just the ending! Let's look at two endings that change what a word means.

Letters added to the end of a word are called a suffix. The suffix ful means full of. Careful means full of care. Hopeful means full of hope.

The suffix less means without. Careless means without care. Hopeless means without hope. And a homeless person is without a home.

Lots of words can take either ending, and the two words mean opposite things. Painful, painless. Useful, useless. Colourful, colourless.

Let's try one together. Which word means without fear? Fearful, or fearless? Say it out loud!

Fearless! Less means without, so fearless means without fear. Well done if you said fearless!

Here's a common mistake. How do you spell careful? Some people write full at the end, with two L's. But the suffix ful always has just one L. Careful, hopeful, thankful.

Your turn! Which word means full of colour? Pick the right card. You've got eight seconds, or pause the video. Go!

Time's up! Colourful means full of colour, and it ends with just one L!

Quick review. A suffix goes on the end of a word. Ful means full of, and less means without. And the suffix ful has just one L. See you next time!