Year 10 spelling words: list and free spelling test
Years 9 and 10 sit in Stage 5 of the NSW English syllabus. Learnest's Stage 5 spelling works on Greek, Latin and French word origins, as in psychology and silhouette, the harder choices between ance and ence, ant and ent, able and ible, doubled letters, pairs such as discreet and discrete, and technical words from other subjects, such as hypotenuse and photosynthesis.
53 Year 10 words below, grouped by pattern, each from Learnest's own Stage 5 questions. The device reads a word aloud, then the sentence it comes from, your child types it, and the slip shows the right spelling with the tricky part marked.
The free spelling test
Pick a pattern, or ten mixed words.
Turn the sound up. The first word plays when you press Start.
Words to practise
Every word right. Pick another pattern, or try the mixed ten again.
Email me this for later
We email you this score and the words to practise, so you can come back to them. Your email address only: nothing about your child.
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.
14 days free, then $10 a month for one child and $5 for each extra child. You add a card today and pay $0. Cancel online before day 14 and you pay nothing.
This browser cannot read words aloud. Ask a grown-up to read the words: say the word, then its sentence, then the word again, while your child writes it down. The list is the answer sheet.
The Year 10 words, by pattern
Ask a grown-up to read the words: say the word, then its sentence, then the word again, while your child writes it down. The list is the answer sheet.
Endings that sound alike: ance, ence, ant
- acquaintance Mateo is only an acquaintance, not a close friend.
- adolescence Sleep needs change during adolescence.
- perseverance
- occurrence Hail in Parramatta in December is a rare occurrence.
- resistant The new hiking jacket is resistant to wind and rain.
The endings able and ible
- permissible Calculators are permissible in the second half of the test.
- negligible The gap between the two swimmers was negligible, less than a hundredth of a second.
- indispensable
- irreplaceable Grandma's old photo album is irreplaceable.
When a letter doubles at a join, and when it does not
- transferred Amir transferred to a new school in Year 9 after his family moved to Newcastle.
- commitment
- dissatisfied
- unnecessary Packing three jumpers for a summer trip to Newcastle seemed unnecessary.
- illogical It is illogical to study for the wrong test.
- questionnaire
Words that sound the same as another word
- discreet Please be discreet and keep the surprise party a secret from Hana.
- discrete The survey sorted students into discrete groups, so no student belonged to more than one.
- complement Mint sauce is a perfect complement to roast lamb.
- stationary The bus stayed stationary at the lights for three whole minutes.
- cite In your essay, cite the page number for every quotation you use.
- allusion The title of Leo's story is an allusion to a famous fairy tale.
- illusion The magician's trick created the illusion that the coin had passed through the glass.
- elicit Ms Ng asked open questions to elicit ideas from the quieter students.
Words often mixed up with a similar word
- proceed When the bell rings, proceed to the hall for the exam.
- imminent Dark clouds and thunder warned the campers that a storm was imminent.
- personnel Only medical personnel may enter this area. Visitors must wait outside.
- devise The engineers will devise a plan to stop the creek flooding the park.
- practise Kaan needs to practise his lines before the drama performance on Friday.
Words from French that keep French letters
- silhouette At sunset, Theo saw the silhouette of a gum tree against the orange sky.
- rendezvous The rendezvous for the bushwalk was the car park at Wollongong station.
- chauffeur Grace's uncle works as a chauffeur, driving guests from the airport to their hotels.
- connoisseur Uncle Omar is a connoisseur of coffee and can name a bean by its taste.
- entrepreneur
- camouflage The stick insect's camouflage made it almost invisible on the branch.
Words from Greek with silent or unusual letters
- mnemonic Ruby used a mnemonic to remember the order of the planets.
- pseudonym The author wrote her first mystery novel under a pseudonym.
- diaphragm Singers breathe deeply using the diaphragm, the muscle below the lungs.
- pneumonia Dr Patel explained that pneumonia is an infection of the lungs.
- catastrophe
Words from maths and science
- hypotenuse Mina used Pythagoras' theorem to find the length of the hypotenuse.
- isosceles
- circumference Hugo measured the circumference of the circular garden bed with a tape.
- perpendicular The two streets meet at right angles, so they are perpendicular.
- photosynthesis Leaves use photosynthesis to turn light into food.
- catalyst Adding the catalyst made the bubbles form much faster.
- mitochondria
- precipitation Wollongong had more precipitation than Parramatta last month.
- meteorologist The meteorologist predicted heavy rain for Wollongong on the weekend.
Words from geography and civics
- bicameral
- parliamentary The Year 9 class toured the parliamentary library in Sydney.
- legislation The class read the legislation that sets the speed limit in school zones.
- archipelago The ferry stopped at every island in the archipelago.
- tributary
Questions parents ask
What spelling should a Year 10 child be able to do?
Year 10 sits in Stage 5 of the NSW English syllabus. Learnest's Stage 5 spelling questions work on the endings ance and ence, when a letter doubles at a join, sound-alike pairs such as discreet and discrete, words from Greek and French such as pseudonym and connoisseur, and technical words such as hypotenuse and bicameral. The words on this page come from those questions and show those patterns. The list is Learnest's own.
How does the practice work?
Pick a pattern, or ten mixed words, and press Start. The device reads a word aloud, then the sentence it comes from, and 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, and can try those again or print them.
What if the device cannot read the words aloud?
Some browsers have no voice, and a tablet with the sound off says nothing. Then a grown-up reads the words from the list on this page: say the word, the sentence, then the word again, and let your child write it. The list is the answer sheet, and it prints on a few pages, with a sheet of lines for your child at the end.
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.
14 days free, then $10 a month for one child and $5 for each extra child. You add a card today and pay $0. Cancel online before day 14 and you pay nothing.
Learnest is not affiliated with ACARA, NESA, the NSW Department of Education or the Australian Maths Trust. Every word and sentence on this page is Learnest's own, from the questions it sets. None comes from a school list or a past paper.