By comparingSU(3)‐breaking scales of linear mass formulae, it is shown that the lowest vector, axial‐vector, and scalar mesons all have aq¯qconfiguration, while the ground‐state octet and decuplet baryons areqqq. Also, the quark‐level linear &sgr; model is employed to predict similarq¯qandqqqstates. Finally, the approximate mass degeneracy of the scalara0(980) andf0(980) mesons is demonstrated to be accidental. © 2003 American Institute of Physics