Spelling list – Year 3 and 4

Your child’s school will have decided which of these spellings will be taught in year 3 and which will be taught in year 4. Ask your child’s teacher to find out when your child will learn these spellings.

Taken from the Department for Education’s English Appendix 1: Spelling.

What will my child learn?	Examples
Adding suffixes beginning with vowel letters to words of more than one syllable	forgetting, forgotten, beginning, beginner, prefer, preferred gardening, gardener, limiting, limited, limitation
The suffix –ation	information, adoration, sensation, preparation, admiration
The suffix –ly	sadly, completely, usually, finally, comically, happily, angrily, gently, simply, humbly, nobly, basically, frantically, dramatically
The suffix –ous	-poisonous, dangerous, mountainous, famous various -tremendous, enormous, jealous -humorous, glamorous, vigorous -courageous, outrageous -serious, obvious, curious -hideous, spontaneous, courteous
The prefixes dis-, mis-, in-, il-, im-, re-, sub-, inter-, super-, anti- and auto-	dis–: disappoint, disagree, disobey mis–: misbehave, mislead, misspell in–: inactive, incorrect il-: illegal, illegible im-: immature, immortal, impossible, impatient ir-: irregular, irrelevant, irresponsible re-: redo, refresh, return, reappear sub-: subheading, submarine, submerge inter-: interact, intercity, international super-: supermarket, superman, superstar anti-: antiseptic, anticlockwise, antisocial auto-: autobiography, autograph
The i sound spelt y elsewhere than at the end of words	myth, gym, Egypt, pyramid, mystery
The u sound spelt ou	young, touch, double, trouble, country
Words with endings spelt –sure and –ture	measure, treasure, pleasure, enclosure creature, furniture, picture, nature
Words with the endings spelt –sion	division, invasion, confusion, decision, collision, television
Endings spelt –tion, –sion, –ssion, –cian	-tion: invention, injection, action, hesitation -ssion: expression, discussion, confession -sion: expansion, extension, comprehension -cian: musician, magician, politician
Words with the k sound spelt ch	scheme, chorus, chemist, echo, character
Words with the sh sound spelt ch	chef, chalet, machine, brochure
Words ending with the g sound spelt –gue and the k sound spelt –que	league, tongue, antique, unique
Words with the s sound spelt sc	science, scene, discipline, fascinate, crescent
Words with the ay sound spelt ei, eigh, or ey	vein, weigh, eight, neighbour, they, obey
Possessive apostrophe with plural words	girls’, boys’, babies’, children’s, men’s, mice’s
Homophones	accept/except affect/effect ball/bawl berry/bury brake/break fair/fare grate/great groan/grown here/hear heel/heal/he’ll knot/not mail/male main/mane meat/meet medal/meddle missed/mist peace/piece plain/plane rain/rein/reign scene/seen weather/whether whose/who’s

Year 3 and 4 – Common Exception Words

These are words for children to learn to spell from memory and to read by sight.