Prefix re- Word Search

Do it again. That is the entire meaning of re-, and it makes this the most predictable prefix in English. MAKE becomes REMAKE. READ becomes REREAD. A child who can read the base word can read the re- word, define it without help, and even invent new ones — which is precisely what the activities below let them do.

This word search contains fifteen re- words for Year 2 and Year 3 pupils, and for second and third grade readers in the US. Like un-, the prefix attaches with no spelling change to the base. Larger grid, words left-to-right and top-to-bottom only.

REDO · REMAKE · RETELL · REREAD · REPLAY · REWIND · REFILL · REHEAT · REPAINT · REBUILD · RECOUNT · REPLACE · RETURN · RECYCLE · REFRESH

The prefix that means again

REDO is do again. REFILL is fill again. REHEAT is heat again. The pattern is so consistent that children quickly stop decoding these words and start computing them — base plus again, done. A small handful lean toward back rather than again: RETURN is turn back, REPLACE is put back. Both flavours share the same underlying idea of going over old ground, and children enjoy hunting for the back-words hidden among the again-words.

Re- also rewards a warning label: not every word starting with re- contains the prefix. REMOTE is not re plus mote; REST is not re plus st. The test is the same surgery used on un-: remove the prefix and check a real word survives. REREAD passes (READ stands alone); REMOTE fails (MOTE means nothing to a seven-year-old). Handing children the test, rather than a word list, is what lets them police the language themselves.

Five words to build with

1. REREAD is an instruction worth following. Tonight, your child rereads a favourite page — and notices it feels different the second time. Rereading is one of the best-kept secrets of strong readers; this word is permission to do it.
2. REWIND is a history lesson. Ask your child what they think rewinding looked like before phones. Tapes, spools, pencils in cassettes — the word remembers a world they never met, and someone in the family will enjoy explaining it.
3. RECYCLE answers the bin question. When they find it, ask: what did our family recycle this week, and why is it RE-cycle? (The material goes round again.) A prefix that explains the bins is a prefix doing civic work.
4. REFILL belongs to the water bottle. The deal: find the word, then refill the bottle and announce it — “REFILLED.” Vocabulary, hydration and a suffixless past tense, all in one trip to the tap.
5. RECOUNT means two things. Count again — and tell a story. Ask your child to recount their day in three sentences, then point out they could also recount their pocket money. Same word, two jobs; context decides.

Three ways to run the again-machine

As the again-test chant. For each grid word, the class translates aloud: REDO — “do again!”, REHEAT — “heat again!”, RETURN — “turn… back!” The two back-words (RETURN, REPLACE) break the chant’s rhythm on purpose, and the class gets to catch them. A prefix tested fifteen times in two minutes is a prefix automated.

As invent-a-word pairs. Pairs build re- words that don’t exist — RESNEEZE, REJUMP, REBREAKFAST — and write a deadpan dictionary definition for each (“RESNEEZE: to sneeze again, usually immediately”). Inventing with a prefix proves mastery of it more thoroughly than any spelling test, and the definitions are reliably the funniest writing of the week.

One-to-one at home. For home educators: run the surgery test on the house. Hunt for re- words on packaging and screens — REFILL pack, RECYCLE logo, REFRESH button, REMOTE control — and operate on each one: remove the re-, check what survives. REMOTE fails the test and that is the best find of the hunt: your child has caught a word impersonating a prefix, which is a more sophisticated piece of language detection than most adults ever perform.

What comes next

• Compound words word search — two whole words pushed into one
• Prefix un- word search — the previous puzzle in this series
• All spelling word searches — the full series from foundation phonics to Year 6

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