How to use 650+ Multisyllabic Words List
Learning how to approach and being comfortable with Multisyllabic Words is extremely important, and it’s something that will be required from your students from the time they learn how to read to the rest of their educational journey.
In a previous post – Multisyllabic Words Mastery – I covered the overall process of teaching multisyllabic word mastery and offered activities to supplement your teaching, but today we are digging deeper into what makes these words a constant character in a reader’s story.
First, I will equip you with a list of 650+ Multisyllabic Words that you can use as support to apply the practices and exercises in this article.
Second, I will present you an easy practice so that you can make good use of that list.
Lastly, I will give the opportunity to make your lessons even more fun and prep-free with our unique and thoughtful resources.
Stick around! Learn, and get exclusive free resources to supplement your teaching!
What are Multisyllabic Words?
Multisyllabic (or polysyllabic) are words that have more than one, and usually more than three, syllables.
These words tend to be the main villain behind students’ difficulties with reading. They also demand a great deal of patience and inventiveness from teachers.
However, by following the easy step by step below you can save the headache!
Step 1: Break That Multisyllabic Word Down!
When approaching these difficult multi syllable words, decoding strategies such as syllable division are extremely important. tIA fun way to think about it to teach your students to see the different syllables as Lego pieces: smaller parts that can be more easily read and that will allow them to decode the meaning of the word.
Exercise #1: introducing multisyllabic words
Present the student with a short list of multisyllabic words, have them say the word out loud and try to differentiate the syllables by clapping their hands.
For example, the word misleading will be mis / clap / lead / clap / ing / clap.
This practice makes students better at recognizing the different Lego pieces that make up the word.
Step 2: Understand the multisyllabic Word Pieces
The pieces are all on the floor! Everything is a mess! It’s time to start teaching your students what each piece means.
Affixes
Affixes are syllables that are added to the beginning (prefixes) or end (suffixes) of a root word to modify its meaning.
Here is a list of the most common prefixes and suffixes.
Download list of Prefixes
Download list of suffixes
Root and Base Words: the core of Multisyllabic Words
These two pieces might cause some confusion because they look very similar.
Root and Base words are the core of a multisyllabic word. They are the base of a word without any prefixes or suffixes added to it.
The difference is that a Root Word comes in an awkward shape, and cannot stand alone. Some examples of Root Words are:
Ambi – meaning both
Auto – meaning self
Astro – meaning stars
Rupt – meaning to break
However, when first teaching students to analyze multisyllabic words, you should focus on the Base Words. These are uniform “Lego pieces” that can stand alone and are much easier to play with.
Some examples are:
Use – misuse, useless
Clear – unclear, clearly
Happy – Unhappy, happily
Order – Disorder, orderly
Mature – Immature, matured
Act – Enact, acted
Lead – Mislead, leading
Exercise #2: familiarizing with multisyllabic word pieces
Remember those words your students learned to break down into the different syllables? Have them circle the prefixes and suffixes and highlight the base word.
start Putting the pieces together!
Now that your students are familiar with the process of breaking a word down and identifying the different pieces, the fun can really begin!
Play around with the different pieces! Form the words Mislead, Lead and Leading.
Exercise #3: playing with multisyllabic word
Now, play around with the word. Ask questions like: “what word do we get when we remove the prefix?”, “How about the suffix?”, “Can we remove the base word and keep just the prefix and suffix?”.
Practice, Practice, Practice!
The process might sound simple and easy, but it can take a while for your students to get the hang of it.
Therefore, it’s important to nurture a healthy relationship with reading by always keeping them engaged with new activities. Just like building Legos, building multisyllabic words can be fun!
There are +30 Multisyllabic Activities in our store, with everything from worksheets, to Video Games, to 360° Digital Escape Rooms. The fun is guaranteed!
If you’re still not sure where to begin, download our Multisyllabic Word Google Slide Activity and Printables for FREE! This product focuses on reviewing and practicing prefixes and suffixes. It also includes printable worksheets with 4 different activities (Match it, Sort it, Build it and Define it).
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Summary: multisyllabic words are fun!
Teaching multisyllabic words is always a challenge, but with the right practice and the best resources, it can be made fun and easy!
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Thank you for your time and happy Multisyllabic Words teaching! 
