year 5 spelling homework

Spelling in Year 5 (age 9–10)

In Year 5, your child will be spelling more complicated words with increased accuracy.

What your child will learn

Using more prefixes and suffixes.

Suffixes are morphemes (groups of letters that mean something on their own) that are added at the end of a root or root word to change the meaning. Prefixes are morphemes added at the front of a word.

In Years 5 and 6, your child will learn about lots of prefixes and suffixes to spell longer words and change the meaning of those words.

Spelling some words with ‘silent’ letters

Some words include letters that were sounded hundreds of years ago but aren’t sounded in modern English. For example, in ‘knight’, there used to be a ‘k’ sound before the ‘n’. Now the pronunciation has changed, but the spelling hasn’t, so the word includes a ‘silent’ letter that cannot be predicted from how the word sounds. Words like this can be very tricky to spell.

In Years 5 and 6, your child will learn some of these words, including:

doubt, island, lamb, solemn, thistle, knight

Knowing the difference between homophones and other confusing words

Homophones are words that are spelled differently and have different meanings, but are pronounced in the same (or almost the same) way. They are often confused in children’s writing. In Years 5 and 6, your child will be taught the difference between:

Aisle/isle, aloud/ allowed, affect/effect, altar/alter, ascent/assent, bridal/ bridle, cereal/serial, compliment/complement, descent/ dissent, desert/dessert, draft/draught, farther/further/father, guessed/guest, heard/herd, led/lead, morning/mourning, past/passed, precede/proceed, principal/principle, profit/prophet, stationary/ stationery, steal/steel, wary/weary, who’s/whose

Using morphology and etymology in spelling

Knowledge of roots words can also help when a word isn’t spelled using the most obvious set of letters to represent the sounds. For example, knowing that that science , conscious , and conscience all share the same Latin root can help us to remember tricky ‘sci’ spellings.

Checking spellings in a dictionary

Using a thesaurus, how to help at home.

There are lots of ways you can help your Year 5 child with spelling. Here are our top ideas.

1. Help with spelling homework

If your child is struggling with a spelling list they have been asked to learn, here are a few ideas to help:

• Remind your child to regularly check through their writing for spelling errors. They need to develop a feel for whether a word looks right. They could underline words they are not sure of and then check with a dictionary.
• Use over-pronunciation. So for  Wednesday , encourage children to say  Wed-nes-day  as they write. There are lots of words which feature sounds that aren’t always pronounced clearly (such as words ending in -ed ), and over-emphasising these while spelling them out can help fix the spelling in your child’s memory.
• Ask your child to write down the words that they need to remember how to spell. The physical act of writing the words by hand helps to anchor the spelling in children’s memories and encourages them to think about the letters that represent the sounds in the word. Typing the words into a PC or tablet isn’t as effective.
• Focus your child’s attention on the tricky bits in a word by asking them to highlight them. For example, show them that said has ‘ai’ in the middle and ask them to write the word, and then highlight or underline this part to help them remember. Few resources are more motivating than a highlighter pen for primary-aged children!

2. Play spelling games

Video playlist: how can i help my child with spag.

Charlotte Raby offers her expert advice for helping your child develop their grammar, punctuation, and spelling skills at home.

For example, your child may have to learn ‘room took hoop foot book’. They could make up a silly sentence such as ‘The boy took his book across the room but got his foot caught in a hoop’. Why not draw illustrations to go with the sentences?

3. Find the right resources

Year 5 & 6 spelling word list.

• Age 5–6 (Year 1)
• Age 6–7 (Year 2)
• Age 7–8 (Year 3)
• Age 8–9 (Year 4)
• Age 9–10 (Year 5)
• Age 10–11 (Year 6)
• Year 1 (age 5–6)
• Year 2 (age 6–7)
• Year 3 (age 7–8)
• Year 4 (age 8–9)
• Year 5 (age 9–10)
• Year 6 (age 10–11)
• Grammar glossary
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Home » Spelling » Year 5

Spelling Year 5

Spelling Year 5 KS2. Support on spelling for kids with Super Brainy Beans. Primary homework help with worksheet downloads and online games.

Pick a level

If you find the spellings difficult in your year then try starting with spellings from the year below. It's ok to work lower than the year you are on and fill the gaps rather than struggling at your level without understanding the basics.

Take the Year 5

Check what your spelling level is with our online test.

Start Year 5 Spelling Test

Download all Year 5 spelling worksheets

Download and print out our spelling worksheets for Year 5. 360 words especially selected for kids in Year 5, KS2.

• Uses the Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check method.
• Covers all the essential words to learn in Year 5.
• Print at home.

Download Year 5 Spelling Worksheets

Learning spellings

Practice your spellings for four days then get someone to test you on the fifth day without looking at the words first.

Spell all 40 common words

Throughout Year 5 children are expected to learn how to spell the 40 new words which are commonly used in reading and writing.

Suffixes ment

Suffixes are groups of letters that can be added to a root word. Suffixes change the meaning of a word to make a new word.

Words ending in ment .

move ment enjoy ment equip ment

Suffixes ity

Words ending in ity .

activ ity abil ity possibil ity

Suffixes en

Words ending with en .

bright en mistak en short en

Suffixes ful

Words ending in ful , mean full of.

fear ful doubt ful boast ful

Suffixes ive

Words ending in ive .

creat ive offens ive attract ive

Spelling games

Prefixes de & re

A prefix is a group of letters that are added to a root word. Prefixes change the meaning of a word to make a new word.

Words beginning with the prefix de mean undoing or taking away.

de fuse de compose de code

Words beginning with the prefix re mean again.

re cycle re write re place

Words with y

These words contain y .

ph y sical cr y stal m y stery

Words with or

These words contain or .

aff or d en or mous categ or y

Words with au

These words have the or sound, spelt au .

c au se appl au d astron au t

Words with ere

These words have the ear sound, spelt ere .

sev ere sph ere interf ere

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Fifth Grade Spelling Worksheets

Spelling lists and exercises.

In grade 5, spelling becomes more challenging. These spelling lists and worksheets focus on more complex spelling rules and patterns , such as multiple syllables, contractions, consonant blends, rule exceptions and alternate word endings.  

Sample Grade 5 Spelling Worksheet

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