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Contributor: Melissa LaRusso. Lesson ID: 12205
Are you jumpING up and down, thinkING about suffixES? They follow a doubling rule. That doesn't mean doING everything twice; it's just a way to remember how to correctly add letters to ends of words!
Which word is the correct spelling for what the little girl is doing in the picture above: "hoping" or "hopping"? How do you know which to choose?
When you are adding a suffix to a word, sometimes you will need to double the last letter.
To help you in this lesson, you will need to know the meanings of the following words:
| Term | Definition | Example(s) |
| consonant | A consonant is a letter in the alphabet that is not a vowel. | b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z |
| vowel | A vowel is a letter in the alphabet that can make more than one sound. | a, e, i, o, u |
| base word | A base word is a word that can stand alone. | big |
| suffix | A suffix is a letter or group of letters added to the end of a word to change the meaning of the word. | -ing |
| vowel suffix | A vowel suffix is a suffix that begins with a vowel. | -ed |
| consonant suffix | A consonant suffix is a suffix that begins with a consonant. | -ful |
| syllable | A syllable is a word part that contains one vowel sound and is said with one push of breath. | best |
Return to this chart throughout the lesson if you forget the meaning of one of the words. Now, watch this video, Doubling Rule with Suffixes, from Talking Fingers, to learn the doubling rule:
Tell your parent or teacher what you learned about the doubling rule in the video.
The doubling rule helps you know when to double a consonant. When you have a base word that has one short vowel followed by one consonant, you will double the final consonant before adding the vowel suffix.
Think of a word that follows this rule and tell it to your parent or teacher.
Move on to the Got It? section to practice identifying the words that follow the doubling rule.
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