Suffix -ly Word Search

How did she run? QUICKLY. How did he whisper? SOFTLY. How should you carry the scissors? CAREFULLY. The -ly suffix answers the question how — and a child who starts answering it in their writing immediately sounds a year older on the page.

This word search contains fifteen -ly adverbs for Year 2 and Year 3 pupils, and for second and third grade readers in the US. Nearly all are built by adding -ly straight onto the adjective with no spelling change. Larger grid, words left-to-right and top-to-bottom only.

QUICKLY · SLOWLY · SOFTLY · LOUDLY · KINDLY · BADLY · SADLY · GLADLY · NEATLY · PROUDLY · BRAVELY · SAFELY · WISELY · LONELY · LOVELY

How -ly changes the job of a word

QUICK describes a thing: a quick fox. QUICKLY describes an action: the fox ran quickly. That is the whole transformation — adjective in, adverb out — and it is the single cheapest upgrade available to young writers. “The fox ran” is a report; “the fox ran QUICKLY… then SLOWLY… then SADLY” is a story with a plot.

Two quiet details reward attention. First: BRAVELY, SAFELY and WISELY keep their silent E, because -ly begins with a consonant and the drop-the-E rule only fires for vowel suffixes — the system children built earlier holds perfectly here. Second: this grid contains two impostors. LONELY and LOVELY end in -ly but are adjectives — a lonely house, a lovely day — not answers to how. Spotting them is the puzzle’s hidden boss level, handled below.

Five words to use in sentences

1. QUICKLY and SLOWLY are a matched pair. Find both, then clap once quickly and once slowly. The pair defines each other — and every adverb is easier to grasp standing next to its opposite.
2. PROUDLY needs a pose. Ask your child to stand proudly. They will know exactly how. Adverbs describe what bodies already understand; the spelling is just the label.
3. SADLY can change a whole sentence. Say “we are having peas for dinner” twice — once plainly, once sadly. Same words, different story. One adverb, performed, teaches what a paragraph of explanation cannot.
4. BRAVELY kept its E. Ask your child why BRAVELY isn’t BRAVLY — and accept the real answer: -ly starts with a consonant, so the E stays. A rule from three puzzles ago, still on duty.
5. LONELY is wearing a disguise. Try it in the how-test: “she ran lonely”? It fails. LONELY describes things, not actions — an adjective in adverb’s clothing. Finding the second impostor (LOVELY) is the follow-up challenge.

Three ways to direct the action

As adverb theatre. One verb on the board — WALK — and the class performs it to your direction: walk QUICKLY… PROUDLY… SADLY… BRAVELY. Then swap the verb to TALK and repeat. The adverbs stay constant while the verbs change, which is precisely the grammar: -ly words are portable instructions that attach to any action.

As how-did-I-say-it pairs. One child reads the sentence “I am going to school” in a chosen manner; their partner finds the matching grid word — LOUDLY, SOFTLY, GLADLY, SADLY. Swap after each round. Listening for manner and matching it to spelling is comprehension and vocabulary moving in the same step.

One-to-one at home. For parents teaching at home: tonight, take one plain line from the bedtime book — “the bear walked through the woods” — and let your child upgrade it with a grid word, then read the new version aloud in the matching voice. One word, one rereading, and they have edited a published author. Few writing lessons feel that powerful at six.

What comes next

• Prefix un- word search — the first prefix: meaning bolted to the front
• Suffixes -ness and -ment 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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