Improve your Vocabulary: Learn hundreds of words with the suffixes -ful, -fully, -fulness, -less, -lessly, -lessness

Want to expand your English vocabulary? Here’s a vocabulary trick to take one word, and turn it into many more.

The six suffixes (word endings) shown in the charts below are powerful shortcuts that can multiply your vocabulary easily and quickly. Using such vocabulary in everyday conversations, business email, or exams like the IELTS or TOEFL will definitely take your English to a higher level.

STRUCTURE
BASE WORD	ADJECTIVE	ADVERB	NOUN
power	powerful	powerfully	powerfulness
	powerless	powerlessly	powerlessness

ADJECTIVE SUFFIX
-ful	to be full of a certain quality	He’s a careful driver.
-less	to be without a certain quality	He’s a careless driver.

ADVERB SUFFIX
-fully	to do something with a certain quality	He drives carefully.
-lessly	to do something without a certain quality	He drives carelessly.

NOUN SUFFIX
-fullness	to have the presence of a quality	His driving is characterized by carefulness.
-lessness	to have the absence of a quality	His driving is characterized by carelessness.

Some base words take all six suffixes:

BASE WORD	ADJECTIVE	ADVERB	NOUN
care	careful	carefully	carefulness
	careless	carelessly	carelessness
faith	faithful	faithfully	faithfulness
	faithless	faithlessly	faithlessness
fear	fearful	fearfully	fearfulness
	fearless	fearlessly	fearlessness
grace	graceful	gracefully	gracefulness
	graceless	gracelessly	gracelessness
harm	harmful	harmfully	harmfulness
	harmless	harmlessly	harmlessness
help	helpful	helpfully	helpfulness
	helpless	helplessly	helplessness
hope	hopeful	hopefully	hopefulness
	hopeless	hopelessly	hopelessness
joy	joyful	joyfully	joyfulness
	joyless	joylessly	joylessness
meaning	meaningful	meaningfully	meaningfulness
	meaningless	meaninglessly	meaninglessness
mercy	merciful	mercifully	mercifulness
	merciless	mercilessly	mercilessness
pain	painful	painfully	painfulness
	painless	painlessly	painlessness
power	powerful	powerfully	powerfulness
	powerless	powerlessly	powerlessness
rest	restful	restfully	restfulness
	restless	restlessly	restlessness
shame	shameful	shamefully	shamefulness
	shameless	shamelessly	shamelessness
tact	tactful	tactfully	tactfulness
	tactless	tactlessly	tactlessness
taste	tasteful	tastefully	tastefulness
	tasteless	tastelessly	tastelessness
thank	thankful	thankfully	thankfulness
	thankless	thanklessly	thanklessness
thought	thoughtful	thoughtfully	thoughtfulness
	thoughtless	thoughtlessly	thoughtlessness
use	useful	usefully	usefulness
	useless	uselessly	uselessness

Some base words take only the -ful and -fully suffixes:

BASE WORD	ADJECTIVE	ADVERB
beauty	beautiful	beautifully
bliss	blissful	blissfully
cheer	cheerful	cheerfully
delight	delightful	delightfully
disgrace	disgraceful	disgracefully
dread	dreadful	dreadfully
duty	dutiful	dutifully
fate	fateful	fatefully
force	forceful	forcefully
hate	hateful	hatefully
peace	peaceful	peacefully
play	playful	playfully
respect	respectful	respectfully
right	rightful	rightfully
sin	sinful	sinfully
skill	skillful	skillfully
success	successful	successfully
truth	truthful	truthfully
wonder	wonderful	wonderfully
youth	youthful	youthfully

Some base words take only the -less, -lessly, or -lessness suffixes:

BASE WORD	ADJECTIVE	ADVERB	NOUN
aim	aimless	aimlessly	aimlessness
breath	breathless	breathlessly	breathlessness
effort	effortless	effortlessly	effortlessness
heart	heartless	heartlessly	heartlessness
life	lifeless	lifelessly	lifelessness
motion	motionless	motionlessly	motionlessness
sense	senseless	senselessly	senselessness
sleep	sleepless	sleeplessly	sleeplessness
weight	weightless	weightlessly	weightlessness
worth	worthless	worthlessly	worthlessness

Some base words take only the -less suffix:

BASE WORD	ADJECTIVE
age	ageless
back	backless
bone	boneless
bottom	bottomless
child	childless
collar	collarless
cord	cordless
direction	directionless
face	faceless
father	fatherless
flaw	flawless
home	homeless
job	jobless
limit	limitless
mother	motherless
name	nameless
regard	regardless
self	selfless
sense	senseless
sleeve	sleeveless
speech	speechless
stain	stainless
word	wordless

The more often you use such vocabulary, the more easily it will become part of your regular vocabulary. Correct repetition is the key to mastering any language, including English.