Free spelling practice, read aloud, for Years 1 to 6
Pick your child's year. The page holds that year's words grouped by the pattern each shows, as the NSW English syllabus teaches them, and a practice the device runs: it reads a word aloud, then the sentence it comes from, your child types it, and a wrong one shows the right spelling with the tricky part marked. A device with no voice keeps the list for a grown-up to read out.
The years
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Year 1 spelling words and practice
60 words from Learnest's own Stage 1 questions, grouped by pattern:
- Short vowels with two consonants together
- Two letters that make one sound: sh, ch, th, ng
- Double letters at the end: ll, ss, zz, ff
- Long a: ai and ay
- Long e: ee and ea
- Long o and oo: oa, ow, oo
- Long i and long u: igh, ie, ue, ew
- tch and dge after a short vowel
- ck after a short vowel, k after anything else
- Add s or es for more than one
- Tricky words to remember
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Year 2 spelling words and practice
60 words from Learnest's own Stage 1 questions, grouped by pattern:
- Vowels with r: ar, or, ir, ur, er, air
- English words do not end in v: have, give
- Double letters in the middle
- Change y to i, or drop the e, before an ending
- Double the last letter before ing, and f becomes ves
- Endings ful, ly, est, er and y
- Prefixes un, re and dis
- Tricky words to remember
- Words that sound the same
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Year 3 spelling words and practice
51 words from Learnest's own Stage 2 questions, grouped by pattern:
- Short vowels with sh, ch, th and ck
- Long a: a-e, ai and ay
- Long e: ee and ea
- More than one: es, ies and ves
- Double the last letter before ed and ing
- Contractions with an apostrophe
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Year 4 spelling words and practice
52 words from Learnest's own Stage 2 questions, grouped by pattern:
- Add ed, ing, er or est: drop the e, or keep it
- Double the last letter, or not
- Long vowels in longer words
- Prefixes un, re, dis and pre
- Words that sound the same
- Contractions: are, have, will and not
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Year 5 spelling words and practice
48 words from Learnest's own Stage 3 questions, grouped by pattern:
- Endings tion, sion and cian
- Endings ous, ance and ence
- Prefixes in, im, il and ir
- Long words, one syllable at a time
- Words that sound the same, or nearly
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Year 6 spelling words and practice
48 words from Learnest's own Stage 3 questions, grouped by pattern:
- Word roots and parts: port, vis, spect, struct, graph, scope
- Greek and French spellings: ch, ph, que, rh
- Prefixes that change to match the word: ir, in, im
- Long words with a quiet syllable
- Words that sound the same, or nearly
How it works
- Pick a pattern, or ten mixed words, and press Start. The device reads the first word aloud, then the sentence it comes from.
- Your child types the word and presses Check. A right answer gets a tick. A wrong one shows the right spelling with the letters that differ marked, and the pattern it follows.
- At the end you see the score and the words to practise. Try those again, or print them.
No sound, or no voice on the device? The list on each year's page is the practice: a grown-up reads the word, its sentence, then the word again, and the list is the answer sheet.
Spelling by pattern, every English day.
Ten words can show a pattern that slips, not fix it. On English days Learnest sets spelling by pattern, names the slip under a wrong answer and brings the pattern back until it holds. Fifteen to twenty minutes a day covers English, maths and science.
Learnest is not affiliated with ACARA, NESA, the NSW Department of Education or the Australian Maths Trust. Every word and sentence on these pages is Learnest's own, from the questions it sets. None comes from a school list or a past paper.