Here are some of the meanings of some of the words used to talk about spelling.
What are common exception words?
Common exception words are words that can’t be sounded out easily using normal phonics rules. Children are expected to learn them by sight because they contain spellings that don’t fit standard patterns. Here, there, where and come are examples of common exception words.
What are contractions?
In contractions, the apostrophe shows where a letter or letters would be if the words were written in full. For example, do not becomes don’t.
What are Homophones?
Homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings, such as to, two, and too, or there, their, and they’re.
What is a prefix?
A prefix is a group of letters added to the beginning of a word to change its meaning,such as un- in unhappy.
What is a suffix?
A suffix is group of letters added to the end of a word to change its meaning or tense, such as -ed in jumped or -ing in running.
What is a word family?
A word family is a group of words with the same root or base, such as play, playing, played, player.
What are mnemonics?
Mnemonics are memory tricks that help children remember how to spell or learn something. Mnemonics are especially useful for tricky words or words that don’t follow regular spelling patterns. For example, to remember how to spell because, a child might use the mnemonic: Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants (each first letter matches a letter in the word)
What are compound words?
Compound words are two words joined together. Each part of the longer word is spelt as it would be if it were on its own. For example, foot and ball go together to make the compound word football.
What are high-frequency words?
These are words that appear often in reading and writing, such as and, it, he, we. Some are decodable, which means that children can read them using their phonics skills. Others can’t be decoded and so children will need to learn to read these by sight and to spell them heart.
What are plurals?
Plurals are words that show more than one of something. Most plurals are made by adding -s or -es, such as cats, dogs, or buses. Some words are irregular, like children or feet.
What are spelling patterns?
A spelling pattern is a regular way that letters are used to make sounds in words. For example, ai is often used in the middle of words, and ay at the end).
What are tricky words?
These are words that can’t be sounded out easily using phonics, such as said, the, or was. Children learn these by sight.
What are syllables?
A syllable is a single beat or part of a word. For example, butter has two syllables (but–ter), and elephant has three (el–e–phant). Breaking words into syllables can help children spell longer words.