Spelling

Year 1 Spellings

We teach spellings as part of our daily English lessons, focusing on different spelling patterns and rules. Below are some of the main spelling rules that are covered throughout the year.

The or sound spelt a before l and ll

Soft c spelt before e, i and y

Year 1 and 2 common exception words: where, there, want, could, was, would, what

Adding the suffix y (1) to words ending in a short vowel and a consonant

Adding the suffix y (2) to words ending in e

Homophones: sea/see, son/sun, blew/blue, knight/night, saw/sore, quite/quiet

Adding the suffix ly (to words to make adverbs)

The n sound spelt kn and (less often) gn at the beginning of words

Year 1 and 2 common exception words: money, people, busy, half

The igh sound spelt y at the end of words

Adding the suffix ing (1) to words ending in a short vowel and a consonant

Homophones: there/their, no/know, right/write, to/too, week/weak

Adding the suffix ing (2) to words ending in e or ie

The j sound spelt ge and dge

Year 2 Spellings

We teach spellings as part of our daily English lessons, focusing on different spelling patterns and rules. Below are some of the main spelling rules that are covered throughout the year.

The r sound spelt wr at the beginning of words

Adding the suffixes er or est (1) (words where no change is needed; words ending in e)

Year 1 and 2 common exception words: many, some, should, come, any, would

Adding the suffixes er or est (2) and swapping y for i

Adding the suffixes er or est (3); doubling consonants where the root word ends in a short vowel plus consonant

Homophones: there/their/they’re, too/two, for/four, nose/knows, ate/eight

The ee sound spelt ey

Adding the suffix ness (1) to a root word where no change is needed

Words ending in il and words where s makes the zh sound ie. pupil, fossil, treasure, usual

Adding the suffix ness (2) and swapping y for i

Words ending in le

Homophones: seen/scene, wait/weight, hole/whole, sighed/side, new/knew

Words ending in el

Words ending in al

The ir sound spelt or after w: worm, world, worth, password, workshop

Adding the suffix ful

Adding the suffix less

Contractions and apostrophes: I’ve, we’d, they’ve, you’ve, you’d, they’d

Adding the suffix ment

Words ending in tion

Adding the suffix es

Possessive apostrophes

Year 3 spellings

We teach spellings as part of our daily English lessons, focusing on different spelling patterns and rules. Below are some of the main spelling rules that are covered throughout the year.

Adding the prefixes dis and in

Adding im to root words beginning with m or p

Year 3 and 4 word list: answer, island, February, length, strength, business, etc…

Adding the suffix ous

Adding the suffix ly to adjectives to form adverbs

Words ending in ture

Homophones: no/know, write/right, where/wear, meet/meat, great/grate, bear/bare

Adding ation to verbs to form nouns

Words with the c sound spelt ch

Words with the sh sound spelt ch

The short i sound spelt y: myth, Egypt, gym, pyramid, mysterious

Adding the suffix ion to root words ending in t or te

Adding the suffix ian to root words ending in c or cs

Adding the prefix re

Homophones: not/knot, ball/bawl, plain/plane, whether/weather, scene/seen, hear/here

Adding the prefix anti

Adding the prefix super

Adding the prefix sub

Year 4 Spellings

We teach spellings as part of our daily English lessons, focusing on different spelling patterns and rules. Below are some of the main spelling rules that are covered throughout the year.

Adding the prefix mis and revising un, in and dis

Words ending in zhuh spelt sure

The short u sound spelt ou: double, trouble, toughest, young, country, touch

Adding the prefix auto

Adding the suffix ly to adjectives to form adverbs

Adding the prefix inter

Homophones: groan/grown, main/mane, reign/rain/rein, peace/piece, berry/bury

Words with the ay sound spelt ei, eigh, ey

Words ending in ous

Words with the s sound spelt sc

Possessive apostrophes with plural words

Words ending in zhun spelt sion

Adding il and revising un, in, mis and dis

The c sound spelt que and the g sound spelt gue

Homophones: heal/heel, missed/mist, who’s/whose, accept/except, affect/effect

Adding ir to words beginning with r

Adding the suffix ion

Year 5 Spellings

We teach spellings as part of our daily English lessons, focusing on different spelling patterns and rules. Below are some of the main spelling rules that are covered throughout the year alongside the National Curriculum word lists for Years 5 and 6 (see attached below).