Words of Champions 2021-22 Part 2

-ise vs -ize

Let’s take a look at all the ‘-ise’ and ‘-ize’ words in the Words of Champions list. As a general rule, “-ize” is two times more common than the “-ize” ending where the syllable is pronounced as “eyes”. So if in doubt, guess “-ize”.

However, there are a bunch of interesting pronunciations of this suffix; let’s take a closer look at them:

1. The French “-oise” ending – this suffix is pronounced like “was”. Note the pronunciation of Nicoise (audio) and ardoise (audio).
2. The French “ise” ending is pronounced “eeze”. Note the pronunciations of chemise (audio) and betise (audio).
3. The French “aise” ending is pronounced “ayze”. Note the words malaise (audio), liaise (audio) and praise (audio).
4. Another set of exceptions is: tortoise (audio) and treatise (audio).
5. And last set of exceptions is: maize (audio) and seize (audio).

This leaves us with 6 “-ise” words:

1. merchandise (audio)
2. enfranchise (audio)
3. contrariwise (audio)
4. chastise (audio)
5. exercise (audio)
6. thwartwise (audio)

And 10 “-ize” words:

1. prize (audio)
2. lionize (audio)
3. monopolize (audio)
4. formalize (audio)
5. philosophize (audio)
6. vandalize (audio)
7. galvanize (audio)
8. metastasize (audio)
9. cauterize (audio)
10. cicatrize (audio)

-ify vs -efy

Both suffixes are pronounced “uh-fy”. The good news is that “-ify” is way more common than “-efy”, so if in doubt, guess “-ify”.

In the Words of Champions 2021-22, there is only one word that ends with “-efy”: stupefy (audio).

-ible vs -able

Both suffixes are pronounced “uh-ble”. The words are usually adjectives, but we’ll look at a few notable words that are not adjectives. “-able” is far more common adjective ending and you should guess “-able” if in doubt. Here are the 12 “-ible” words in the Words of Champions. If you memorize these, then you can safely guess “-able” for any adjective ending with this syllable not in this list.

The interesting non-adjective words are (they are all nouns):

1. foible (audio)
2. dirigible (audio)
3. parable (audio)

The remaining 10 “-ible” words are:

1. tangible (audio)
2. miscible (audio)
3. combustible (audio)
4. perceptible (audio)
5. persuasible (audio)
6. fungible (audio)
7. vincible (audio)
8. submersible (audio)
9. immiscible (audio)
10. rescissible (audio)

One helpful trick is that if the root word has a derived word ending with -ion, it will likely go -ible. Thus, because there is a word called combustion, the adjective word would go combustible (not combustable). Similarly,

1. perception -> perceptible
2. persuasion -> persuasible
3. submersion -> submersible
4. rescission -> rescissible

Doesn’t work all the time, but it can offer a clue.