Year 5 and 6 Word List organised from the 2014 National Curriculum Appendix 1 Some words will appear more than once, as they belong to more than one family or spelling pattern. Words in bold are included in the statutory NC list. Others may be taught alongside these. a-e accommodate appreciate average exaggerate immediate / ly create demonstrate estimate excavate illustrate imitate investigate hurricane manage separate terminate ventilate i-e criticise definite sacrifice decide infinite umpire ie achieve mischievous ei foreign leisure deceive height receipt seize double consonants accommodate appreciate attached committee correspond embarrass exaggerate harass interrupt marvellous occupy opportunity programme profession recommend suggest appear disappeared followed hurricane immense parallel succeed success tomorrow swallow Double vowels committee guarantee career engineer exceed succeed woollen zoology e-e interfere sincere / ly persevere scheme severe sphere -nce conscience convenience existence hindrance nuisance -tion competition explanation pronunciation nation station Kent Literacy Consultants 2013 -ent ancient apparent environment excellent government parliament relevant frequent / ly instrument lenient -ous conscious curious / curiosity disastrous marvellous mischievous delicious infectious ridiculous tremendous suspicious ‘hidden’ letters environment foreign rhyme rhythm yacht knight knuckle knead knowledge wrap rerecognise recommend relevant restaurant receive receipt recent refuse request revise rewind -ar/ary dictionary familiar necessary secretary calendar February library momentary similar similarly er/ery cemetery shoulder soldier whether -or category equator inferior exterior minor superior Y: short ‘i’ phoneme physical rhythm Symbol System mystery mysterious sympathy syllable syrup -ure / ury leisure signature temperature endure manufacture moisture century jury Page 1 syllables a/ccom/mo/date a/ppa/rent ca/te/go/ry ce/me/ter/y co/mmi/ttee con/tro/ver/sy co/rres/pond de/fi/nite des/per/ate de/vel/op em/ba/rass ex/a/gger/ate go/vern/ment i/den/ti/ty in/di/vid/u/al in/ter/rupt mar/ve/llous ne/ce/ssa/ry o/ppor/tu/ni/ty pri/vi/lege pro/nun/ci/a/tion re/le/vant se/cre/ta/ry tem/per/a/ture ve/ge/ta/ble ough thorough through bought brought cough enough rough eigh neighbour eight eighth weigh weight root and affix conscious conscience critic criticise curious curiosity develop development equip equipped equipment special especially Excel excellent govern government immediate immediately individual individually interfere interference interrupt interruption light lightning marvel marvellous mischief mischievous muscle muscular occupy occupation Kent Literacy Consultants 2013 occupied occur occurred persuade persuasion prejudice prejudicial privilege privileged recognise recognition rhyme rhythm rhythmical sacrifice sacrificial sincere sincerely sincerity twelve twelfth variety various variant variation vegetable vegetation vehicle vehicular ui bruise cruise aw awkward bawl crawl hawk squawk ua-e language persuade ci/sci/ti = ‘sh’ ancient appreciate competition conscience conscious especially sufficient ammunition beneficial crucial determination financial partial social special Page 2 Some words on the Year 5 and 6 Word List have unusual spellings which are not found in other words on the list, such as ‘queue’. It is better to teach these alongside other words which have a similar phoneme or spelling pattern, even though these words are not included in the list. If there is simply no other word like it, then it goes into the ‘Unique Spelling Chest’, which you can create in your classroom. There are many different strategies to help children learn to spell words. Sometimes the morphology of the word will help. That is, breaking the word up into its constituent parts and looking carefully at the meaning of each part, e.g. the root, prefix or suffix. How does the addition of the affix change the meaning of the word? In other words, simply pronouncing each separate syllable in an obvious and unnatural way, can help – even if that is not how the whole word should be pronounced, e.g. Wed/nes/day. Mnemonics can help too, such as funny rhymes or sayings which help the child to remember the letters. The longer the words become, the less realistic this approach can be. Children’s visual memory will be enhanced by the visual display of plenty of words around their environment too, especially those high frequency words which help children to become fluent, confident writers. Sometimes analogy works well. Dissect words, like a scientist. See how they are made up. Count their phonemes, or syllables. Look for affixes. Segment and blend the word if you can. Above all, encourage children to be fascinated with words, rather than fearful of them. Play Word Detectives to help children become more analytical about how words are put together. Play plenty of word games, and make your spelling lessons as engaging and multi-sensory as possible. Kent Literacy Consultants 2013 Page 3