--- title: "Spellings" url: "https://grovevale.co.uk/children/year-6/spellings" school: "Grove Vale Primary School" --- Be Ambitious Be Resilient Be Creative Be Curious [![Grove Vale Primary School](https://files.schudio.com/grove-vale-primary-school/images/logo/logo-2.png)![](https://files.schudio.com/grove-vale-primary-school/images/logo/logo-2.png)](https://grovevale.co.uk/) - [ About Us](https://grovevale.co.uk/about-us) - [ Curriculum](https://grovevale.co.uk/curriculum) - [ School Life](https://grovevale.co.uk/school-life) - [ Parents](https://grovevale.co.uk/calendar) - [ Our Classes](https://grovevale.co.uk/children) - [ Virtual School](https://grovevale.co.uk/virtual-school) - [Calendar](https://grovevale.co.uk/calendar) - [Contact Us](https://grovevale.co.uk/contact) # Spellings ***Each week you will be set spellings to learn for your weekly test, please see your teacher if your mislay them!*** ### Year 5 and 6 word list Year 5 and 6 word list 76 KB [Open for printing](https://files.schudio.com/grove-vale-primary-school/files/documents/children/year-6/year-5-and-6-word-list.docx) The Upper Key Stage 2 Spelling patterns... #### Year 5: Revision of work done in previous years | **New work for Year 5** | |---| | **Statutory requirements** | **Rules and guidelines (non-statutory)** | **Example words (non-statutory)** | | Endings which are spelt – cious or -tious | Not many words end like this. If the root word ends in –ce, it is usually spelt c – e.g. vice – vicious, grace – gracious, space –spacious, malice-malicious Exception: anxious | Vicious, precious, conscious, delicious, malicious, suspicious, ambitious, cautious, fictious, infectious, nutritious. | | Endings which are spelt –cial or -tial | -cial is common after a vowel letter and –tial after a consonant letter, but there are some exceptions. Exceptions: initial, financial, commercial, provincial (the spelling of the last three is clearly related to finance, commerce and province). | Official, special, artificial, partial, confidential, essential | | Words ending in –able and –ible ( repeated in Yr 6) | The –able ending is far more common that the –ible ending. As with –ant and –ance/-ancy, the –able ending is used if there is a related word ending in –ation. If the –able ending is added to a word ending in –ce or –ge, the e after the c or g must be kept as those letters would otherwise have their ‘hard’ sounds (as in cap and gap) before the a of the –able ending. The –able ending is usually but not always used if a complete root word can be heard before it, even if there is no related word ending in –ation. The first five examples opposite are obvious; in reliable, the complete word rely is heard, but the y changes to i in accordance with the rule. The –ible ending is common if a complete root word can’t be heard before it but it also sometimes occurs when a complete word can be heard (e.g. sensible). | Adorable (adoration), applicable (application), considerable (consideration), tolerable (toleration). Substance (substantial) Changeable, noticeable, forcible, legible Dependable, comfortable, understandable, reasonable, enjoyable, reliable Possible, horrible, terrible, visible, incredible, sensible | | Words spelt ei after c | The ‘i’ before e except after ‘c’ rule applies to words where the sound spelt by ei is /i:/ Exceptions; protein, caffeine, seize (and either and neither if pronounced with the initial ‘i’ sound) | Deceive, conceive, receive, perceive, ceiling | | Words containing the letter –string ough (repeated in Yr 6) | Ough is one of the trickiest spellings in English – it can be used to spell a number of different sounds. | Ought, bought, thought, nought, brought, fought Rough, tough, enough Cough Though, although, dough Through Thorough, borough plough | | Homophones and other words that are often confused (repeated in Yr 6) | In these pairs of words, nouns end –ce and verbs end –se. Advice and advise provide a useful clue as the word advise (verb) is pronounced with a /z/ sound – which could not be spelt c. Aisle: a gangway between seats (in a church, plane) Isle: an island Aloud: out loud Allowed: permitted Affect: usually a verb (e.g. the weather may affect our plans) Effect: usually a noun (e.g. It may have an effect on our plans). If a verb, it means ‘bring about’ (e.g. He will effect changes in the running of the business) Altar: a table-like piece of furniture in a church. Alter: to change Ascent: the act of ascending (going up) Assent: to agree/agreement (verb and noun) Bridal: to do with a bride at a wedding Bridle: reins etc. for controlling a horse Cereal: made from grain (e.g. breakfast cereal) Serial: adjective from the noun series – a succession of things one after the other Compliment: to make nice remarks about someone (verb) or the remark that is made (noun) Complement: related to the word complete – to make something complete or more complete (e.g. her scarf complemented her outfit) Descent: the act of descending (going down) Dissent: to disagree/disagreement (verb and noun) Desert: as a noun – a barren place (stress on the first syllable); as a verb – to abandon (stress on the second syllable) Dessert: (stress on the second syllable) a sweet course after the main meal Disinterested: not having a personal stake in the matter (a World Cup referee must be disinterested – i.e. must not be from one of the countries played in the match) Uninterested: not interested, bored ( a referee should be interested, not uninterested, in football) Draft: noun – a first attempt at writing something; verb – to make the first attempt; also, to draw in someone (e.g. to draft in extra help) draught: a current of air | Advice/advise Device/devise Licence/license Practice/practise Prophecy/prophesy Eligible: suitable to be chosen or elected Illegible: not legible (i.e. Unreadable) Eliminate: get rid/exclude Illuminate: light up Farther: further Father: a male parent Guessed: past tense of the verb guess Guest: visitor Heard: past tense of the verb hear Herd: a group of animals Led: past tense of the verb lead Lead: present tense of that verb, or else the metal which is very heavy ( as heavy as lead) Morning: before noon Mourning: grieving for someone who has died Past: noun or adjective referring to a previous time ( e.g. in the past) or preposition or adverb showing place (e.g. he walked past me) Passed: past tense of the verb ‘pass’ (e.g. I passed him in the road) Precede: go in front of or before Proceed: go on Principal: adjective – most important (e.g. principal ballerina) Noun – important person (e.g. principal college) Principle: basic truth or belief Profit: money that is made in selling things Prophet: someone who foretells the future Stationary: not moving Stationery: paper, envelopes, etc. Steal: take something that does not belong to you Steel: metal Wary: cautious Weary: tired Who’s: contraction of who is or who has Whose: belonging to someone (e.g. whose jacket is that?) | #### Year 6: Revision of work done in previous years | **New work for Year 6** | |---| | **Statutory requirements** | **Rules and guidelines (non-statutory)** | **Example words (non-statutory)** | | Words ending in –ant, -ance/-ancy, -ent, -ence/-ency | Use –ant and –ance/ -ancy if there is a related word with that sound in the right position; -ation endings are often a clue. Use –ent and –ence/-ency after a soft c (/s/ sound), soft /g/ sound in the right position. There are many words, however, where the above guidelines don’t help. These words just have to be learnt. | Observant, observance (observation), expectant (expectation), hesitant, hesitancy (hesitation), tolerant, tolerance (toleration), substance (substantial) Innocent, innocence, decent, decency, frequent, frequency, confident, confidence (confidential) Assistant, assistance, obedient, obedience, independent, independence | | Words ending in –able and –ible (continue from Yr 5) | The –able ending is far more common that the –ible ending. As with –ant and –ance/-ancy, the –able ending is used if there is a related word ending in –ation. If the –able ending is added to a word ending in –ce or –ge, the e after the c or g must be kept as those letters would otherwise have their ‘hard’ sounds (as in cap and gap) before the a of the –able ending. The –able ending is usually but not always used if a complete root word can be heard before it, even if there is no related word ending in –ation. The first five examples opposite are obvious; in reliable, the complete word rely is heard, but the y changes to i in accordance with the rule. The –ible ending is common if a complete root word can’t be heard before it but it also sometimes occurs when a complete word can be heard (e.g. sensible). | Adorable (adoration), applicable (application), considerable (consideration), tolerable (toleration). Substance (substantial) Changeable, noticeable, forcible, legible Dependable, comfortable, understandable, reasonable, enjoyable, reliable Possible, horrible, terrible, visible, incredible, sensible | | Adding suffixes beginning with vowel letters to words ending in –fer | The r is doubled if the –fer is still stressed when the ending is added. The r is not doubled if the –fer is no longer stressed. | Referring, referred, referral, preferring, preferred, transferring, transferred Reference, referee, preference, transference | | Use of hyphen | Hyphens can be used to join a prefix to a root word, especially if the prefix ends in a vowel letter and the root word also begins with one. | Co-ordinate, re-enter, co-operate, co-own | | Words containing the letter –string ough (continued from Yr 5) | Ough is one of the trickiest spellings in English – it can be used to spell a number of different sounds. | Ought, bought, thought, nought, brought, fought Rough, tough, enough Cough Though, although, dough Through Thorough, borough plough | | Words with ‘silent’ letters (i.e. letters whose presence cannot be predicted from the pronunciation of the word) | Some letters which are no longer sounded used to be sounded hundreds of years ago: e.g. knight, there was a /k/ sound before the /n/, and the gh used to represent the sounds that ‘ch’ now represents in the Scottish word loch. | Doubt, island, lamb, solemn, thistle, knight | | Homophones and other words that are often confused (continued from Year 5) | In these pairs of words, nouns end –ce and verbs end –se. Advice and advise provide a useful clue as the word advise (verb) is pronounced with a /z/ sound – which could not be spelt c. Aisle: a gangway between seats (in a church, plane) Isle: an island Aloud: out loud Allowed: permitted Affect: usually a verb (e.g. the weather may affect our plans) Effect: usually a noun (e.g. It may have an effect on our plans). If a verb, it means ‘bring about’ (e.g. He will effect changes in the running of the business) Altar: a table-like piece of furniture in a church. Alter: to change Ascent: the act of ascending (going up) Assent: to agree/agreement (verb and noun) Bridal: to do with a bride at a wedding Bridle: reins etc. for controlling a horse Cereal: made from grain (e.g. breakfast cereal) Serial: adjective from the noun series – a succession of things one after the other Compliment: to make nice remarks about someone (verb) or the remark that is made (noun) Complement: related to the word complete – to make something complete or more complete (e.g. her scarf complemented her outfit) Descent: the act of descending (going down) Dissent: to disagree/disagreement (verb and noun) Desert: as a noun – a barren place (stress on the first syllable); as a verb – to abandon (stress on the second syllable) Dessert: (stress on the second syllable) a sweet course after the main meal Disinterested: not having a personal stake in the matter (a World Cup referee must be disinterested – i.e. must not be from one of the countries played in the match) Uninterested: not interested, bored ( a referee should be interested, not uninterested, in football) Draft: noun – a first attempt at writing something; verb – to make the first attempt; also, to draw in someone (e.g. to draft in extra help) draught: a current of air | Advice/advise Device/devise Licence/license Practice/practise Prophecy/prophesy Eligible: suitable to be chosen or elected Illegible: not legible (i.e. Unreadable) Eliminate: get rid/exclude Illuminate: light up Farther: further Father: a male parent Guessed: past tense of the verb guess Guest: visitor Heard: past tense of the verb hear Herd: a group of animals Led: past tense of the verb lead Lead: present tense of that verb, or else the metal which is very heavy ( as heavy as lead) Morning: before noon Mourning: grieving for someone who has died Past: noun or adjective referring to a previous time ( e.g. in the past) or preposition or adverb showing place (e.g. he walked past me) Passed: past tense of the verb ‘pass’ (e.g. I passed him in the road) Precede: go in front of or before Proceed: go on Principal: adjective – most important (e.g. principal ballerina) Noun – important person (e.g. principal college) Principle: basic truth or belief Profit: money that is made in selling things Prophet: someone who foretells the future Stationary: not moving Stationery: paper, envelopes, etc. Steal: take something that does not belong to you Steel: metal Wary: cautious Weary: tired Who’s: contraction of who is or who has Whose: belonging to someone (e.g. whose jacket is that?) | ### [Latest News](https://grovevale.co.uk/news) [![Image of Nursery and Reception Open Day 5th November 2026](https://files.schudio.com/grove-vale-primary-school/imagecache/150x150c/news/logo-2.png)](https://grovevale.co.uk/news/2026-06-11-nursery-and-reception-open-day-5th-november-2026) #### [Nursery and Reception Open Day 5th November 2026](https://grovevale.co.uk/news/2026-06-11-nursery-and-reception-open-day-5th-november-2026) 11 June 2026 [![Image of September 2026 Starters](https://files.schudio.com/grove-vale-primary-school/imagecache/150x150c/news/logo-2.png)](https://grovevale.co.uk/news/2026-04-18-september-2026-starters) #### [September 2026 Starters](https://grovevale.co.uk/news/2026-04-18-september-2026-starters) 18 April 2026 [![Image of Partnerships With UNICEF ](https://files.schudio.com/grove-vale-primary-school/imagecache/150x150c/news/unicef.jpg)](https://grovevale.co.uk/news/2024-09-19-partnerships-with-unicef) #### [Partnerships With UNICEF ](https://grovevale.co.uk/news/2024-09-19-partnerships-with-unicef) 19 September 2024 ### Contact Us **Grove Vale Primary School** Monksfield Avenue Great Barr Birmingham B43 6AL Tel: 01213574319 - [CEOP](http://www.ceop.police.uk/) - [Think You Know](http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/) - [Department for Education](https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education) - [Action for Children](http://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/) © Copyright 2017–2026 Grove Vale Primary School School & Trust Websites by [ ![Schudio logo](https://grovevale.co.uk/img/logo/light.png) ](https://www.schudio.com/)