Years 3 and 4 word list

Statutory requirements

Non‑statutory information and Spellzone resources

Adding suffixes beginning with vowel letters to words of more than one syllable.

If the last syllable of a word is stressed and ends with one consonant letter which has just one vowel letter before it, the final consonant letter is doubled before any ending beginning with a vowel letter is added. The consonant letter is not doubled if the syllable is unstressed.

Curriculum word list — 1
Curriculum word list — 2

The /ɪ/ sound spelt y elsewhere than at the end of words.

These words should be learnt as needed.

Curriculum word list

The /ʌ/ sound spelt ou.

These words should be learnt as needed.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list

More prefixes.

Most prefixes are added to the beginning of root words without any changes in spelling, but see in– below.
Like un–, the prefixes dis– and mis– have negative meanings.
The prefix in– can mean both ‘not’ and ‘in’/‘into’. In the words given here it means ‘not’.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list — 1
Spellzone course word list — 2
Spellzone course word list — de or dis

Before a root word starting with l, in– becomes il.
Before a root word starting with m or p, in– becomes im–.
Before a root word starting with r, in– becomes ir–.

Curriculum word list

re– means ‘again’ or ‘back’.
sub– means ‘under’.
inter– means ‘between’ or ‘among’.

Curriculum word list

super– means ‘above’.
anti– means ‘against’.
auto– means ‘self’ or ‘own’.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list — 1
Spellzone course word list — 2
Spellzone course word list — ante or anti

The suffix –ation.

The suffix –ation is added to verbs to form nouns. The rules already learnt still apply.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list

The suffix –ly.

The suffix –ly is added to an adjective to form an adverb. The rules already learnt still apply. The suffix –ly starts with a consonant letter, so it is added straight on to most root words.

Curriculum word list

Exceptions:
(1) If the root word ends in –y with a consonant letter before it, the y is changed to i, but only if the root word has more than one syllable.
(2) If the root word ends with –le, the –le is changed to –ly.
(3) If the root word ends with –ic,
–ally is added rather than just –ly, except in the word publicly.
(4) The words truly, duly, wholly.

Curriculum word list

Words with endings sounding like /ʒə/ or /tʃə/.

The ending sounding like /ʒə/ is always spelt –sure.
The ending sounding like /tʃə/ is often spelt –ture, but check that the word is not a root word ending in (t)ch with an er ending – e.g. teacher, catcher, richer, stretcher.

Curriculum word list — 1
Curriculum word list — 2
Spellzone word list

Endings which sound like /ʒən/.

If the ending sounds like /ʒən/, it is spelt as –sion.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone word list — 1
Spellzone word list — 2
Spellzone word list — 3
Spellzone poster (pdf)

The suffix –ous.

Sometimes the root word is obvious and the usual rules apply for adding suffixes beginning with vowel letters.
Sometimes there is no obvious root word.
–our is changed to –or before –ous is added.
A final ‘e’ of the root word must be kept if the /dʒ/ sound of ‘g’ is to be kept.
If there is an /i:/ sound before the
–ous ending, it is usually spelt as i, but a few words have e.

Curriculum word list

Strictly speaking, the suffixes are –ion and –ian. Clues about whether to put t, s, ss or c before these suffixes often come from the last letter or letters of the root word.
–tion is the most common spelling. It is used if the root word ends in t or te.
–ssion is used if the root word ends in ss or –mit.

–sion is used if the root word ends in d or se.
Exceptions: attend – attention, intend – intention.
–cian is used if the root word ends in c or cs.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone poster (pdf)

In the Latin words from which these words come, the Romans probably pronounced the c and the k as two sounds rather than one – /s/ /k/.

Curriculum word list

Note: Not covered in Spellzone units.

The apostrophe is placed after the plural form of the word; –s is not added if the plural already ends in
–s, but is added if the plural does not end in –s (i.e. is an irregular plural – e.g. children’s).

Note: singular proper nouns ending in an s use the ’s suffix e.g. Cyprus’s population.