Most Common English Affixes

Affixes morphemes are added to a word to create a new word. Though English uses more suffixes than prefixes, both are common. The four most common prefixes in English are -dis, -in,  -re and -un. The most common suffixes are -ed, -ing, -ly and -s.

Here are words with the four most common prefixes:

• disagree, dislike, distrust
• inactive, independent, inefficient, illegal, impossible, irregular
• redo, resell, rewrite
• unbelievable, uncertain, unimportant

Here are words with the four most common suffixes:

• cooked, finished, washed
• driving, giving, sleeping
• carefully, friendly, quickly
• books, chairs, tables, boxes, bushes, speeches

The prefix -in also has the variants -il, -im and -ir. Likewise, the suffix -s also has the variant -es. Words with the suffix -ing can be nouns and verbs. In "I am sleeping", we have a verb, but in "Sleeping well is important for health", we have a noun. Many English words consist of prefixes and suffixes.