Use the most frequently occurring inflections and affixes (e.g., -ed, -s, re-, un-, pre-, -ful, -less) as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word.

Kindergartners may need some guidance in this department, but affixes can lend a helping hand when trying to identify unknown words. For example, if students are given the word jumped, help them find the base word jump. With practice, they can figure out that the -ed suffix means the action was done in the past.