Study CommonsRead · reason · practise

Home / English / Word Study / Prefixes dis- and mis-: Not, Opposite and Wrongly

Word Study · Prefixes

Prefixes dis- and mis-: Not, Opposite and Wrongly

Build words like disagree, disappear, misspell and misunderstand. Learn what dis- and mis- mean, keep the double s, and spot fake prefixes.

Grades 3–5 · 18 practice questions · Original material
Learning objectiveAdd the prefixes dis- (not, the opposite of) and mis- (wrongly, badly) to base words, explain the meaning of the new word from its parts, spell words like misspell and dissatisfied with both s's, tell dis- and mis- apart from un- and re-, and recognise words such as dish and mist where the letters are not a prefix.

The idea

In the first Word Study lesson you met un-, re- and pre-, three prefixes that change a word's meaning from the front. Today you add two more: dis- and mis-.

dis- usually means not or the opposite of. Disagree means to not agree. Disappear is the opposite of appear. Disconnect is the opposite of connect, which is why the short story about Nadia's neighbour talks about disconnecting the hose before winter.

mis- means wrongly or badly. Misspell means to spell wrongly. Misplace means to put something in the wrong place. Misunderstand means to understand wrongly. A mistake is something done wrongly.

Spelling is easy if you remember one rule: just add the prefix, and never change the base word. If the base word starts with s, you will get two s's: mis + spell = misspell, dis + satisfied = dissatisfied. If it does not, there is only one: dis + appear = disappear, mis + take = mistake.

Not every word that starts with dis or mis has a prefix. Dish, disk and distance do not split into dis + a word. Mist and mister are not mis + something. Ask: if I take off the letters, is a real base word left, and does the meaning still make sense?

A few dis- words have drifted from their parts. Discover once meant to uncover; today it means to find out something new. Use the parts as a clue, then check that the meaning fits the sentence.

Word bank

disagree

verb · dis-uh-GREE

dis- + agree; to not agree

Example: I disagree with you about the best pizza.

dislike

verb · dis-LYKE

dis- + like; to not like

Example: My cat dislikes baths.

disappear

verb · dis-uh-PEER

dis- + appear; to go out of sight

Example: The sun disappeared behind a cloud.

disconnect

verb · dis-kuh-NEKT

dis- + connect; to undo a connection

Example: Disconnect the hose before winter.

dishonest

adjective · dis-ON-ist

dis- + honest; not honest

Example: Copying a friend's answers is dishonest.

disobey

verb · dis-oh-BAY

dis- + obey; to not do what you are told

Example: The puppy disobeyed and ran into the street.

disloyal

adjective · dis-LOY-ul

dis- + loyal; not loyal to a friend, team or group

Example: A disloyal teammate tells the other team our plan.

disinfect

verb · dis-in-FEKT

dis- + infect; to clean so germs are removed

Example: The nurse disinfected the scrape.

discover

verb · dis-KUV-er

dis- + cover; to find out or uncover something new

Example: Scientists discover new species every year.

misspell

verb · mis-SPEL

mis- + spell; to spell wrongly

Example: It is easy to misspell necessary.

misplace

verb · mis-PLAYS

mis- + place; to put something somewhere and forget where

Example: I misplaced my library card.

misunderstand

verb · mis-un-der-STAND

mis- + understand; to understand wrongly

Example: I misunderstood the instructions and did the wrong page.

mislead

verb · mis-LEED

mis- + lead; to make someone believe something that is not true

Example: The sign was old and misled the tourists.

misbehave

verb · mis-bee-HAYV

mis- + behave; to behave badly

Example: The class did not misbehave during the assembly.

mistake

noun · mis-TAYK

mis- + take; something done wrongly

Example: Everyone makes a mistake sometimes.

misread

verb · mis-REED

mis- + read; to read wrongly

Example: She misread 8 as 3.

misprint

noun · MIS-print

mis- + print; a mistake in printed words

Example: The ticket had a misprint in the date.

dissatisfied

adjective · dis-SAT-is-fyd

dis- + satisfied; not pleased with something

Example: The customer was dissatisfied with the cold soup.

Worked examples

Example 1 · Just add dis-

Make a word that means the opposite of obey.

  1. The base word is obey.
  2. dis- means not or the opposite.
  3. dis + obey = disobey; obey does not change.

disobey

Example 2 · Just add mis-

Make a word that means to read wrongly.

  1. The base word is read.
  2. mis- means wrongly.
  3. mis + read = misread.

misread

Example 3 · Keep the double s

Add mis- to spell.

  1. mis ends in s; spell starts with s.
  2. Do not drop either one.
  3. mis + spell = misspell.

misspell (two s's)

Example 4 · One s only

Spell dis + appear.

  1. appear starts with a, not s.
  2. So there is only the s from dis-.
  3. dis + appear = disappear.

disappear (one s)

Example 5 · Real prefix or not?

Is dis a prefix in distance?

  1. Take off dis: tance.
  2. Tance is not a word you know.
  3. So dis is not a prefix here.

No. Distance is a whole word, not dis + tance.

Common mistakes

Dropping an s: "mispell", "disatisfied".

Why this fails: Add the prefix without changing the base word: mis + spell = misspell; dis + satisfied = dissatisfied.

Adding an extra s: "dissappear", "dissappointed".

Why this fails: Appear and appointed start with a, so there is only one s.

Mixing up dis- and mis-.

Why this fails: dis- means not or the opposite; mis- means wrongly. To disunderstand is not a word; to misunderstand is.

Treating every dis or mis as a prefix.

Why this fails: In dish, disk, distance, mist and mister, the letters are part of the word. Check that a real base word is left.

Mixing up dis- and un- with re-.

Why this fails: dis- and un- can both mean not or the opposite, but re- means again: unload, reload.

Reading discover as not cover.

Why this fails: Some dis- words have changed meaning over time. Check the sentence.

Foundation

Foundation practice

Add the prefix and say what the new word means.

Build it

1. To not agree is to ___.

Build it

2. To spell a word wrongly is to ___ it.

Meaning

3. What does misplace mean?

  1. to place something neatly
  2. to not have a place
  3. to place it again
  4. to place something wrongly and forget where it is
Meaning

4. What does dishonest mean?

  1. very honest
  2. not honest
  3. honest again
  4. honest by mistake
Which prefix?

5. Which prefix makes a word meaning to read wrongly: ___read?

  1. dis
  2. mis
  3. re
  4. un

Practice

Practice practice

Choose dis- or mis- by meaning, and spell the joined word.

dis- or mis-?

6. The magician made the coin ___appear.

  1. dis
  2. mis
dis- or mis-?

7. I ___understood the question, so my answer was wrong.

  1. dis
  2. mis
Spell it

8. Which spelling is correct?

  1. misspell
  2. mispell
  3. misspel
  4. missspell
Spell it

9. Which spelling is correct?

  1. disatisfied
  2. dissatisified
  3. dissattisfied
  4. dissatisfied
Sentence

10. "Please ___ the hose from the outdoor tap before it freezes."

  1. misconnect
  2. reconnect
  3. disconnect
  4. connect
Meaning in context

11. "The old map misled the hikers." What happened?

  1. The map led them the wrong way or made them believe something untrue.
  2. The map led them the right way.
  3. The map was lost.
  4. The map was too heavy.

Think

Think practice

Check whether dis- or mis- is really a prefix, and compare with un- and re-.

Real prefix?

12. In which word is dis really a prefix meaning not or the opposite?

  1. dish
  2. disobey
  3. distance
  4. disk
Real prefix?

13. In which word is mis a prefix meaning wrongly?

  1. mist
  2. mister
  3. misbehave
  4. mischief
Compare prefixes

14. Which word means to load again, not the opposite of load?

  1. unload
  2. misload
  3. reload
  4. disload
Odd one out

15. Which word does NOT use a prefix that means wrongly?

  1. disappear
  2. mistake
  3. misread
  4. mislead

Challenge

Challenge practice

Explain and use the prefixes in your own sentences.

Explain

16. Why is discover a tricky dis- word?

Write it

17. Write one sentence that uses a dis- word and one that uses a mis- word.

Fix the sentence

18. Correct the error: "I was so dissappointed when I mispelled my name."

Answer key

  1. 1. disagree
    dis- means not or the opposite of, so dis + agree = disagree.
  2. 2. misspell
    mis- means wrongly, so mis + spell = misspell. Keep both s's: one from mis- and one from spell.
  3. 3. to place something wrongly and forget where it is
    mis- means wrongly or badly. Neatly is the opposite idea, not having a place is not the meaning, and placing again would be replace.
  4. 4. not honest
    dis- means not. Very would be a different word, again is re-, and by mistake would be mis-.
  5. 5. mis
    mis- means wrongly, so misread. Disread is not a word, reread means read again, and unread means not yet read.
  6. 6. dis
    Disappear means the opposite of appear: to go out of sight. Misappear is not a word.
  7. 7. mis
    Understanding wrongly is misunderstanding. The person did understand something, just not correctly.
  8. 8. misspell
    mis + spell: keep the s from mis- and the s from spell. Dropping one s or adding a third is a misspelling of misspell.
  9. 9. dissatisfied
    dis + satisfied: the s from dis- and the s from satisfied both stay, so there are two s's. Never add or drop letters inside the base word.
  10. 10. disconnect
    You want to undo the connection, so disconnect. Misconnect is not standard, and reconnect or connect would leave it attached.
  11. 11. The map led them the wrong way or made them believe something untrue.
    mis- + lead means to lead wrongly. The other choices do not use the meaning of the prefix.
  12. 12. disobey
    Disobey = dis + obey, and obey is a word. Dish, disk and distance do not split into dis + a base word with an opposite meaning.
  13. 13. misbehave
    Misbehave = mis + behave: to behave badly. Mist and mister have no base word after mis. Mischief does come from an old word with mis-, but today it does not split into mis + a word you know.
  14. 14. reload
    re- means again: reload. Unload is the opposite of load, and misload and disload are not standard words.
  15. 15. disappear
    Disappear uses dis-, meaning the opposite of appear. The other three use mis-, meaning wrongly.
  16. 16. Because it does not mean the opposite of cover. It comes from uncovering something, so it means to find out something new.
    The parts dis + cover are there, but the meaning has shifted. Use the parts as a clue, then check the sentence.
  17. 17. Example: I disagree that winter is boring. I misplaced my mitts again.
    Check that dis- means not or the opposite, and mis- means wrongly.
  18. 18. I was so disappointed when I misspelled my name.
    Disappointed = dis + appointed (one s). Misspelled = mis + spelled (two s's). Count the s in the base word.

Related practice

Prefixes un-, re- and pre-Suffixes -er, -or and -istSilent letters: kn, wr, mb and ighEnglish hub