Words Ending in '-ible' & '-ibly'
English: Year 5 & 6 National Curriculum, topic 1.3.9
Words Ending in '-ible' and '-ibly'
There are only a few words that end with the suffixes '-ible' and '-ibly'.
'-ible' or '-ibly'
- We often use '-ible' or '-ibly' as the ending if we cannot hear the full root word at the start of the word.
Exception
- Two exceptions to this rule are 'sensible' and 'sensibly'.
- 'Sensible' and 'sensibly' are exceptions because you can hear the full root word 'sense'.
- But, even if we hear 'sense', we use the suffixes '-ible' and '-ibly'.
Examples
- 'Poss' is not a full root word, so we use '-ible' or '-ibly'.
- 'possible'
- 'possibly'
- 'Horr' is not a full root word, so we use '-ible' or '-ibly'.
- 'horrible'
- 'horribly'
More examples
- 'Terr' is not a full root word, so we use '-ible' or '-ibly'.
- 'terrible'
- 'terribly'
- 'Incred' is not a full root word, so we use '-ible' or '-ibly'.
- 'incredible'
- 'incredibly'
Test yourself on Words Ending in '-ible' & '-ibly'
Which is the correct spelling?