Do you know your –ibles from your

-ables?

Suffixes (word endings) and prefixes (word beginnings) can sound the same in English,

causing no end of puzzlement when it comes to spelling.

For instance, does independent end with -ent or –ant?

• But don’t despair! Help is at hand:

• We’re going to look at the suffixes –able and -ible and offer some spelling tips to help you make the right choice.

–able and –ible. They sound very similar and they share a main

meaning: ‘able to be’:

readable able to be read; easy to read

eatable able to be eaten; fit to be consumed as food

audible able to be heard

collapsible able to be folded into a small space

–able and –ible. They sound very similar when you say them and they share a main meaning, which is ‘able to be’:

Here are some tips for remembering which suffix to use. –able words

• Tip 1:

• This tip is based on sheer weight of numbers, there are hundreds of words spelled with the suffix -able

• Therefore if you choose -able, you’re more likely to be correct!

-able words

• Tip 2:

• If the root word is a complete word in itself, then the ending is nearly always -able.

• A simple test is to take away the suffix – does the word still exist as an English word?

For example:-able  or –ible adjective Word remaining when

ending is removed?

readable  ✓ readacceptable  ✓ accepttreatable  ✓ treatChangeable  ✓ changedependable  ✓ dependaudible  ✗ audedible  ✗ edhorrible  ✗ horrtangible  ✗ tangfeasible  ✗ feas

-ible words

• Tip 1:

accessible eligible invincible responsible

audible expressible legible reversible

collapsible feasible negligible risible

contemptible flexible ostensible suggestible

convertible gullible perceptible susceptible

digestible horrible permissible tangible

divisible incredible plausible terrible

you only need to know a limited set of -ible words (yay!). Here are some of the most common ones:

-ible words

• Tip 2:

• This is related to Tip two for –able. As you can see from the table, when a word ends in -ible, the main part is much less likely to be a recognizable word in English

• for example ‘terr’ is not a word.

Remember, it’s frustrating but-

• As always with grammar, there are exceptions to these tips (I know, I know):

• accessible, suggestible, collapsible, flexible, and digestible.

• Use these tips as a guide and hopefully this will help answer the

• question; is the correct suffix –able or –ible?