Year 2 spellings: what your child is learning, and how to help

At the end of a word the j sound is spelt -dge after a short vowel and -ge after anything else; before e, i and y it's often g.

Before e, i and y, the letter c often makes an s sound, as in ice and city.

At the start of some words the n sound is spelt kn or gn; the k or g isn't sounded now, as in know and gnat.

At the start of some words the r sound is spelt wr, with a silent w, as in write and wrong.

-le is the most common way to spell the ul sound at the end of a word, as in table and little.

-el is less common than -le; it's used after m, n, r, v and w, and often after s, as in camel.

Some words end in -al for the ul sound; many describing words do, as in metal and animal.

Only a few words end in -il, such as pencil and fossil.

At the end of a word, the igh sound is usually spelt y, as in cry and July.

When a word ends in a consonant and y, change the y to i before adding -es, as in babies.

After a consonant, change y to i before -ed, -er and -est (copied, happiest), but keep the y before -ing (copying).

When a word ends in e, drop the e before an ending that starts with a vowel or y, as in hiking and shiny.

In a short word with one vowel and one last consonant, double the consonant before a vowel ending, as in patting.

Before l and ll, the or sound is usually spelt a, as in ball and walk.

In some words the short u sound is spelt o, as in mother and Monday.

Some words end in -ey for the ee sound, and their plurals just add -s, as in donkeys.

After w and qu, the short o sound is usually spelt a, as in want and squash.

After w, the ur sound is often spelt or, as in word and work.

After w, the or sound is sometimes spelt ar, as in war and warm.

In a few words the zh sound (as in treasure) is spelt s.

These endings are usually added straight on; in longer words a y after a consonant changes to i, as in happiness.

In a contraction, the apostrophe shows where letters are missing, as in can't for cannot.

To show that something belongs to one person or thing, add 's, as in Megan's or the child's.

The shun sound at the end of a word is often spelt -tion, as in station and fiction.

Homophones sound the same but are spelt differently and mean different things, as in there, their and they're.