Ages 10 to 11 · P7 in Scotland and Northern Ireland
Year 6 spellings: what your child is learning, and how to help
Year 6 finishes the Year 5 and 6 programme and ends with the key stage 2 spelling test in May. Children work on -able and -ible, words ending in -fer, hyphens, homophones such as advice and advise, and the rest of the statutory words. Here's the year, with sets to practise.
What Year 6 children learn in spelling
Year 6 brings the patterns of the last two years together and adds the last of the statutory words. Homophones and near-homophones matter more now: "practice" is a noun and "practise" a verb, and the same goes for "advice" and "advise".
Each pattern below has its words, and a page to play them and download their worksheets.
Words ending in -able, -ible, -ably and -ibly
30 words-able is more common, and is usual when a whole root word can be heard (enjoyable); -ible often follows part of a word (horrible).
Set 1
10 words- adorable
- adorably
- applicable
- applicably
- considerable
- considerably
- tolerable
- tolerably
- changeable
- noticeable
Set 2
8 words- forcible
- legible
- dependable
- comfortable
- understandable
- reasonable
- enjoyable
- reliable
Set 3
12 words- possible
- possibly
- horrible
- horribly
- terrible
- terribly
- visible
- visibly
- incredible
- incredibly
- sensible
- sensibly
Adding suffixes beginning with vowel letters to words ending in -fer
11 wordsDouble the r if the fer is still stressed once the ending is added (referring); don't if it isn't (reference).
- referring
- referred
- referral
- preferring
- preferred
- transferring
- transferred
- reference
- referee
- preference
- transference
Use of the hyphen
4 wordsA hyphen can join a prefix to a word, especially when the prefix ends in a vowel and the word starts with one, as in co-operate.
- co-ordinate
- re-enter
- co-operate
- co-own
Homophones and other words that are often confused
58 wordsKnowing what each word means tells you which to write: practice is the noun and practise the verb.
Set 1
10 words- advice
- advise
- device
- devise
- licence
- license
- practice
- practise
- prophecy
- prophesy
Set 2
12 words- aisle
- isle
- aloud
- allowed
- affect
- effect
- altar
- alter
- ascent
- assent
- bridal
- bridle
Set 3
12 words- cereal
- serial
- compliment
- complement
- descent
- dissent
- desert
- dessert
- draft
- draught
- farther
- father
Set 4
12 words- guessed
- guest
- heard
- herd
- led
- lead
- morning
- mourning
- past
- passed
- precede
- proceed
Set 5
12 words- principal
- principle
- profit
- prophet
- stationary
- stationery
- steal
- steel
- wary
- weary
- who's
- whose
The Year 5 and 6 programme also covers Endings which sound like shus spelt -cious or -tious, Endings which sound like shul, Words ending in -ant, -ance/-ancy, -ent, -ence/-ency, Words with the ee sound spelt ei after c and more. They're on the Year 5 spellings page.
The Year 5 and 6 statutory list
Across Years 5 and 6, children learn the statutory word list. Here are the first ten words.
- accommodate
- accompany
- according
- achieve
- aggressive
- amateur
- ancient
- apparent
- appreciate
- attached
See every word on the Year 5 and 6 statutory list, in weekly sets
How to help your Year 6 child with spellings
- From January, practise a little every day rather than a lot in the spring.
- Practise the spelling test format: hear the word in a sentence, then write it.
- Keep a short list of the words that keep going wrong, and come back to it each week.
- For homophones, learn them as pairs with a meaning: c for the thing, s for doing it.
Are there tests in Year 6?
In May, children sit the key stage 2 grammar, punctuation and spelling tests. The spelling paper has 20 words: the teacher reads each word, then a sentence with it, then the word again, and children write the missing word.
Year 6 in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Year 6 is P7 in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The lists here are from the curriculum in England; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland don't have a statutory list. If your child's school sends words home, you can make a game from those instead.
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