Spelling Word Lists (age 7+)

PROCEDURAL

English›Spelling & Word Study|Ages 7—9|ID: mt_O2dS6gvClw

Spell words from the statutory word list for Years 3 and 4, including commonly misspelt words that do not follow regular patterns

Mastery Evidence

Spell at least 20 words from the Y3-4 statutory list correctly (e.g., accident, believe, different, favourite, imagine)
Identify tricky parts of statutory words and use a strategy to remember them (e.g., 'separate' has 'a rat' in the middle)
Use statutory list words accurately in own writing across subjects

Assessment Prompt

“Can [child] spell the tricky words on their school's Year 3 and 4 word list — like "enough," "believe," or "separate" — from memory when writing?”

Curriculum Standards2 alignments

Eng_App1_Sp_Y34_18The national curriculum in England

Word list – years 3 and 4

Pupils should be taught to spell the words in the statutory word list for years 3 and 4.

English · Key Stage 2

Eng_LKS2_Write_Trans_Spell_3The national curriculum in England

Spell often misspelt words

Spell words that are often misspelt (English Appendix 1)

English · Key Stage 2

Prerequisites2

Tricky words
hardAges 5—8
Alternative Spellings for Sounds
softAges 6—9

Show full prerequisite tree

Tricky words hard
Y3-4 statutory word list builds on Y1-Y2 exception words spelling
- Segmenting words into sounds soft
  Phonemic spelling helps as starting strategy
  - Phonics Vocabulary hard
    Segmenting words into phonemes and spelling CVC words requires knowing 'phoneme', 'segment', and 'CVC' as defined terms
  - Single Letter Sounds hard
    Need GPC knowledge to encode phonemes
    - Knowing all letters hard
      Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
      - Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
  - Onsets & Rimes hard
    Need segmenting skill for spelling
    - Rhyming words soft
      Rhyme awareness supports finer phoneme skills
    - Syllables soft
      Syllable awareness builds toward phoneme level
  - Sitting and holding a pencil soft
    Handwriting needed for spelling practice
- Knowing all letters hard
  Need letter recognition for exception word spelling
  - Understanding print hard
    Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
Alternative Spellings for Sounds soft
Alternative spellings knowledge supports learning statutory words
- Segmenting words into sounds hard
  Must be able to encode CVC words before learning alternative spellings
  - Phonics Vocabulary hard
    Segmenting words into phonemes and spelling CVC words requires knowing 'phoneme', 'segment', and 'CVC' as defined terms
  - Single Letter Sounds hard
    Need GPC knowledge to encode phonemes
    - Knowing all letters hard
      Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
      - Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
  - Onsets & Rimes hard
    Need segmenting skill for spelling
    - Rhyming words soft
      Rhyme awareness supports finer phoneme skills
    - Syllables soft
      Syllable awareness builds toward phoneme level
  - Sitting and holding a pencil soft
    Handwriting needed for spelling practice
- Phonics Vocabulary hard
  Alternative grapheme choices for phonemes requires knowing 'grapheme', 'phoneme', 'homophone', and 'GPC'
- Single Letter Sounds hard
  Must know basic letter-sound correspondences before alternative spellings
  - Knowing all letters hard
    Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
    - Understanding print hard
      Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
- Alternative Spellings for Known Sounds soft
  Knowledge of alternative GPCs for reading supports choosing correct spellings
  - Consonant Digraphs hard
    Must know consonant digraphs before learning alternative consonant GPCs
    - Single Letter Sounds hard
      Must know single letters before digraphs
      - Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
  - Vowel Digraphs hard
    Must know common vowel digraphs before learning alternative representations
    - Single Letter Sounds hard
      Must know single letter sounds before vowel digraphs
      - Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
  - Single Letter Sounds hard
    Must know single letter sounds before learning alternatives
    - Knowing all letters hard
      Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
      - Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
  - Blending Sounds to Read Words hard
    Alternative GPCs build on basic blending ability
    - Single Letter Sounds hard
      Need GPC knowledge to blend
      - Knowing all letters hard
        Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
        
        Understanding print hard
        Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
    - Onsets & Rimes hard
      Phoneme awareness needed for blending
      - Rhyming words soft
        Rhyme awareness supports finer phoneme skills
      - Syllables soft
        Syllable awareness builds toward phoneme level

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Spelling Word Lists (age 9+)
hardAges 9—10