Prefixes: Solving the re- mystery

A. Here are some words that begin with the prefix
re-. We can use a - to separate the prefix from the root.

rewash ____ re-wash___
redo ______________
reshuffle ______________
rewrite ______________

Questions about re-:

1. What meaning does it add?

2. How is it pronounced? (Check one.)
___ long e (rhymes with tree)
___ upside-down e ("schwa") (like the a in around)

B. Here are some more words that begin with re- .
Some have the prefix. Some don't.
Can you tell which are which?
Think about
(1) the word's meaning and
(2) how the "re-" sounds.

repaint respond reverse relock

C. These words are tricky. See if you can see why.

repair record

D. By now, you have probably realized that re-
goes on roots that are verbs. But it can't go on just any verb.
Look at these. (* means that the word sounds weird.)

redye *redie

This is a tricky pair. The words sound the same
(they're homonyms), but only one can have the prefix
re-. Can you figure out why?

E. Here's another tricky one.
(* means that the sentence sounds weird.)
Why is the second sentence better than the first?

*Max reran.
Max reran the race.

F. Now, look at the words on the list below that start with re-.
Can you sort them into two lists?

Circle the words that have re- (the prefix)
Cross out words that don't start with the prefix re-,
just the letters re.

© janet randall (randall@neu.edu)

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___ rebuild ___ recess ___ refuse ___ rejoice
___ receive ___ recite ___ remain ___ remind
___ record ___ refuse ___ remove ___ repair
___ repeat ___ repel ___ report ___ respect
___ return ___ review ___ reward ___ recall
___ refill ___ reform ___ refresh ___ refuel
___ regain ___ regard ___ reject ___ resist

("Common Prefixes" from Megawords 2: multisyllabic words for reading, spelling and vocabulary by Kristin Johnson and Polly Bayrd, 1997.(reprinted January 2004 | Educators Publishing Service |ISBN-10: 0838818277 | ISBN-13: 9780838818275 |)
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Notes to the teacher:
You can adapt this handout for different ages.
Younger children can probably go through A-F but not D,E, which are meant for older children.

Notes about the different parts:
1. re- means something like to do the "verb"ing again
2. True "re-" is pronounced like "tree" It doesn't reduce to schwa. But be careful. Other words without the prefix can be pronounced BOTH ways. So it's important to test a potential prefix re- to see if it reduces to schwa. If it can, then it isn't the prefix.
B. repaint and relock contain the prefix. respond and reverse don't.
C. These two words are homonyms. One version has the prefix.
repair has the prefix when it means to pair up again (as in socks) but not when it means fix. record has the prefix when it means to cord again as in what you do with a lamp. (Most small children won't know this word.) But record does not have the prefix when it means to make a recording. Notice that the re- prefixed versions cannot be pronounced with a schwa, but the second ones can.
D. Older children will be able to see that re- only goes on verbs that have certain semantic characteristics. You can't redie, unless you can come back to life and do it again. But you can redye a shirt if you didn't like the first color you dyed it. re- can be added to things you can accomplish, that have an endpoint that you can reach.
E. This makes the same point as D, but using one verb, run. You can rerun a race, if the judges let you do it over. But you can't just rerun, because there's no inherent endpoint in running; running can go on until you feel like stopping. You can rewash a car, because when you're done the car is washed, but you can't repush a cart, because pushing a cart can go on and on; there's no endpoint you're looking toward that ends the event so that you can do it over. (The technical names for verb phrases with and without endpoints is "telic" and "atelic".)

Time: 30 minutes will probably suffice for the short version (minus D,E). A full hour will be needed for the longer version.

Add-ons: High school students can use the same strategy to investigate other prefixes (pre-, ex-, dis-) as well as suffixes (-able) and to distinguish ambiguous suffixes (homonyms) (the noun suffix -er from the adjective suffix -er).