Word list for years 3 and 4
|
accident(ally)
actual(ly)
address
answer
appear
arrive
believe
bicycle
breath
breathe
build
busy/business
calendar
caught
centre
century
certain
|
circle
complete
consider
continue
decide
describe
different
difficult
disappear
early
earth
eight/eighth
enough
exercise
experience
experiment
extreme
|
famous
favourite
February
forward(s)
fruit
grammar
group
guard
guide
heard
heart
height
history
imagine
increase
important
interest
|
island
knowledge
learn
length
library
material
medicine
mention
minute
natural
naughty
notice
occasion(ally)
often
opposite
ordinary
particular
|
peculiar
perhaps
popular
position
possess(ion)
possible
potatoes
pressure
probably
promise
purpose
quarter
question
recent
regular
reign
remember
|
sentence
separate
special
straight
strange
strength
suppose
surprise
therefore
though/although
thought
through
various
weight
woman/women
|
Teachers should continue to emphasise to pupils the
relationships between sounds and letters, even when the relationships are
unusual. Once root words
are learnt in this way, longer words can be spelt correctly, if the rules and
guidelines for adding prefixes and suffixes are also known.
Examples:
business: once
busy is learnt, with due attention to the unusual spelling of the /i/ sound as
‘u’, business can then be spelt as busy + ness, with
the y
of
busy
changed
to i
according
to the rule.
disappear: the
root word appear contains sounds which can be
spelt in more than one way so it needs to be learnt, but the prefix dis-
is
then simply added to
appear.
Understanding the relationships between words can also help with spelling.
Examples:
bicycle
is
cycle
(from
the Greek for wheel) with bi– (meaning two) before
it.
medicine
is
related to medical so the /s/ sound is spelt as c.
opposite
is
related to oppose, so the schwa sound in opposite
is
spelt as o.
Word list for years 5 and 6
|
accommodate
accompany
according
achieve
aggressive
amateur
ancient
apparent
appreciate
attached
available
average
awkward
bargain
bruise
category
cemetery
committee
|
communicate
community
competition
conscience*
conscious*
controversy
convenience
correspond
criticise (critic +
ise)
curiosity
definite
desperate
determined
develop
dictionary
disastrous
embarrass
|
environment
equip (–ped, –ment)
especially
exaggerate
excellent
existence
explanation
familiar
foreign
forty
frequently
government
guarantee
harass
hindrance
identity
immediate(ly)
|
individual
interfere
interrupt
language
leisure
lightning
marvellous
mischievous
muscle
necessary
neighbour
nuisance
occupy
occur
opportunity
parliament
persuade
physical
|
prejudice
privilege
profession
programme
pronunciation
queue
recognise
recommend
relevant
restaurant
rhyme
rhythm
sacrifice
secretary
shoulder
signature
sincere(ly)
soldier
|
stomach
sufficient
suggest
symbol
system
temperature
thorough
twelfth
variety
vegetable
vehicle
yacht
|
Teachers should continue to emphasis to pupils the
relationships between sounds and letters, even when the relationships are
unusual. Once root words are
learnt in this way, longer words can be spelt correctly if the rules and
guidelines for adding prefixes and suffixes are also known. Many of the words
in the list
above can be used for practice in adding suffixes.
Understanding the history of words and relationships between them can also help
with spelling. Examples:
Conscience
and
conscious
are
related to science: conscience is simply science
with
the prefix con- added. These words come from the
Latin word scio
meaning
I
know.
The word desperate, meaning ‘without hope’, is
often pronounced in English as desp’rate, but the
–sper-
part
comes from the Latin spero, meaning ‘I hope’, in
which the e was clearly sounded.
Familiar
is
related to family, so the /ə/ sound in the first
syllable of familiar is spelt as a. | 