diff --git a/common.mak b/common.mak
index e2eaa399da..19be4a6949 100644
--- a/common.mak
+++ b/common.mak
@@ -11,21 +11,21 @@ OBJS      += $(OBJS-yes)
 FFLIBS    := $(FFLIBS-yes) $(FFLIBS)
 TESTPROGS += $(TESTPROGS-yes)
 
-FFEXTRALIBS := $(addprefix -l,$(addsuffix $(BUILDSUF),$(FFLIBS))) $(EXTRALIBS)
-FFLDFLAGS   := $(addprefix -Llib,$(ALLFFLIBS)) $(LDFLAGS)
+FFEXTRALIBS := $(FFLIBS:%=-l%$(BUILDSUF)) $(EXTRALIBS)
+FFLDFLAGS   := $(ALLFFLIBS:%=-Llib%) $(LDFLAGS)
 
-EXAMPLES  := $(addprefix $(SUBDIR),$(addsuffix -example$(EXESUF),$(EXAMPLES)))
-OBJS      := $(addprefix $(SUBDIR),$(sort $(OBJS)))
-TESTOBJS  := $(addprefix $(SUBDIR),$(TESTOBJS) $(TESTPROGS:%=%-test.o))
-TESTPROGS := $(addprefix $(SUBDIR),$(addsuffix -test$(EXESUF),$(TESTPROGS)))
-HOSTOBJS  := $(addprefix $(SUBDIR),$(addsuffix .o,$(HOSTPROGS)))
-HOSTPROGS := $(addprefix $(SUBDIR),$(addsuffix $(HOSTEXESUF),$(HOSTPROGS)))
+EXAMPLES  := $(EXAMPLES:%=$(SUBDIR)%-example$(EXESUF))
+OBJS      := $(sort $(OBJS:%=$(SUBDIR)%))
+TESTOBJS  := $(TESTOBJS:%=$(SUBDIR)%) $(TESTPROGS:%=$(SUBDIR)%-test.o)
+TESTPROGS := $(TESTPROGS:%=$(SUBDIR)%-test$(EXESUF))
+HOSTOBJS  := $(HOSTPROGS:%=$(SUBDIR)%.o)
+HOSTPROGS := $(HOSTPROGS:%=$(SUBDIR)%$(HOSTEXESUF))
 
 DEP_LIBS := $(foreach NAME,$(FFLIBS),lib$(NAME)/$($(CONFIG_SHARED:yes=S)LIBNAME))
 
 ALLHEADERS := $(subst $(SRC_DIR)/,$(SUBDIR),$(wildcard $(SRC_DIR)/*.h $(SRC_DIR)/$(ARCH)/*.h))
-SKIPHEADERS += $(addprefix $(ARCH)/,$(ARCH_HEADERS))
-SKIPHEADERS := $(addprefix $(SUBDIR),$(SKIPHEADERS-) $(SKIPHEADERS))
+SKIPHEADERS += $(ARCH_HEADERS:%=$(ARCH)/%) $(SKIPHEADERS-)
+SKIPHEADERS := $(SKIPHEADERS:%=$(SUBDIR)%)
 checkheaders: $(filter-out $(SKIPHEADERS:.h=.ho),$(ALLHEADERS:.h=.ho))
 
 $(HOSTOBJS): %.o: %.c
diff --git a/tests/Makefile b/tests/Makefile
index fb9b56e6b3..87ec0256de 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile
+++ b/tests/Makefile
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ clean:: testclean
 
 testclean:
 	$(RM) -r tests/vsynth1 tests/vsynth2 tests/data
-	$(RM) $(addprefix tests/,$(CLEANSUFFIXES))
+	$(RM) $(CLEANSUFFIXES:%=tests/%)
 	$(RM) tests/seek_test$(EXESUF) tests/seek_test.o
 	$(RM) $(TESTTOOLS:%=tests/%$(HOSTEXESUF))