# Spelling Words by Year Level: Foundation to Year 6

> Spelling words for every primary year from Foundation to Year 6, grouped by pattern and matched to the Australian Curriculum, plus a free list maker.

## Spelling words for every year, Foundation to Year 6

Search for Year 3 spelling words and you will find plenty of lists, most of them written for another country's curriculum. Australia has no official spelling list for any year level. What it has is the Australian Curriculum, which sets out the spelling knowledge students build each year, from CVC words in Foundation to Latin and Greek roots in Year 6.

So I have built a word bank for each year from that: 100 words per year, grouped by the spelling pattern they share, with each pattern's rule in one plain line. Many of the words are the examples the curriculum itself gives. Pick a year below for the full list, the curriculum focus in plain words and resources made by Australian teachers.

**[Make a printable spelling list →](/tools/spelling-list-maker)** Choose a year, tick patterns or words, add your own and print a look, say, cover, write, check sheet.

## Spelling Words for Each Year Level

| Year | Some of the patterns | Printable list |
|------|----------------------|----------------|
| [Foundation](/teacher-guides/foundation-spelling-words) | Short a CVC words; Short e CVC words; Short i CVC words | [Make a list](/tools/spelling-list-maker?year=f) |
| [Year 1](/teacher-guides/year-1-spelling-words) | Blends at the start; Blends at the end; sh, ch, th, wh, ng and ck | [Make a list](/tools/spelling-list-maker?year=1) |
| [Year 2](/teacher-guides/year-2-spelling-words) | Long a: ai and ay; Long e: ee and ea; oa, ow and ew | [Make a list](/tools/spelling-list-maker?year=2) |
| [Year 3](/teacher-guides/year-3-spelling-words) | Three sounds of ch; dge and tch after a short vowel; Three-letter blends | [Make a list](/tools/spelling-list-maker?year=3) |
| [Year 4](/teacher-guides/year-4-spelling-words) | Unstressed vowels; ough and augh; Double letters | [Make a list](/tools/spelling-list-maker?year=4) |
| [Year 5](/teacher-guides/year-5-spelling-words) | Same letters, different sounds; Word families from a base; -able and -ible | [Make a list](/tools/spelling-list-maker?year=5) |
| [Year 6](/teacher-guides/year-6-spelling-words) | Uncommon letter patterns; Greek roots; Latin roots | [Make a list](/tools/spelling-list-maker?year=6) |

Each year builds on the one before. Foundation and Year 1 are about hearing sounds and writing letters for them. Year 2 adds the different ways one sound can be spelt. From Year 3, meaning takes over: prefixes, suffixes and their rules in Years 3 and 4, word families and endings like -able and -tion in Year 5, and Latin and Greek roots in Year 6.

Students in one class are rarely all at the same point, so use the year before or after for students who need it.

## Spelling Resources for Foundation to Year 2

_(Dynamic listing feed — browse at the page URL for live results.)_

## Where These Word Lists Come From

Every year's list is built from three sources:

- **The Australian Curriculum (version 9), English.** Spelling sits in the Literacy strand under Phonic and word knowledge, with content descriptions for each year. Each year page lists its codes and links to that year on the [Australian Curriculum English](https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/learning-areas/english) site. The patterns on each page follow those descriptions, and many words are the curriculum's own examples.
- **High-frequency words.** The Foundation to Year 2 lists include common words that sit near the top of the high-frequency lists Australian schools use, such as the [Oxford Wordlist](https://www.oup.com.au/primary/oxford-wordlist) and the Magic 100 Words. They are ordinary everyday words, not a copy of either list. The [sight words list](/teacher-guides/sight-words-list) guide compares those lists.
- **Common errors in student writing.** The tricky and longer everyday words in Years 3 to 6 are words students use often and often get wrong: different, favourite, necessary, separate.

What the lists are not: an official or mandated list. Your school may follow a spelling program with its own sequence. If so, use these pages to find extra words for the pattern you are teaching that week.

## Spelling Resources for Years 3 to 6

_(Dynamic listing feed — browse at the page URL for live results.)_

## How to Build a Weekly Spelling List

A good weekly list is short, shares one pattern, and is personal to each student. This is the routine I would use at any year level:

1. **Choose one pattern** from your year's list, and 8 to 20 words that follow it (fewer in the junior years).
2. **Pretest on Monday.** Read the words aloud in sentences. Students practise only the words they got wrong.
3. **Teach the pattern** before any practice: what do these words share, and what is the rule?
4. **Practise a few minutes a day** with look, say, cover, write, check: look at the word and say it, cover it, write it from memory, then check every letter.
5. **Test on Friday** with the list plus a few new words that follow the same pattern, to see if the pattern has stuck.

Add two or three high-frequency or topic words each week. For activities to go with each pattern, see [spelling activities](/teacher-guides/spelling-activities), and for the years with NAPLAN, the [Year 3](/teacher-guides/year-3-spelling-words) and [Year 5](/teacher-guides/year-5-spelling-words) pages explain how spelling is tested.

## Spelling Words by Year: Frequently Asked Questions

### Is there an official spelling list for each year level in Australia?

No. The Australian Curriculum describes the spelling knowledge students learn each year, from writing CVC words in Foundation to using Latin and Greek roots in Year 6, but it does not give word lists. Schools and teachers choose the words. The lists on these pages are words that fit each year, not a mandated list.

### How many spelling words should students learn each week?

As a guide, 3 to 5 in Foundation, 5 to 8 in Year 1, 8 to 12 in Year 2, and 12 to 20 in Years 3 to 6, all sharing one pattern. A pretest lets each student focus only on the words they cannot yet spell.

### What is the difference between spelling words and sight words?

Sight words, or high-frequency words, are the words that appear most often in texts, such as the, said and because. Spelling words are any words students practise spelling, usually grouped by a pattern such as dge and tch or -able and -ible. High-frequency words are part of most spelling lists in the junior years.

### Does look, say, cover, write, check work?

It works best as practice after the pattern has been taught, because students then know why a word is spelt the way it is. On its own, as memorisation of unrelated words, it often lasts only until the Friday test. Pair it with teaching the pattern and testing a few unseen words that follow it.

### How do I make a printable spelling list?

Open the [free spelling list maker](/tools/spelling-list-maker), choose a year, tick the patterns or words you want, add your own and press Print. You get a look, say, cover, write, check sheet or a plain list on A4, with an optional class name.

### Where can I find free spelling resources?

Australian teachers share free spelling resources on TeachBuySell. [Browse free spelling resources](/s?keywords=spelling&price=0%2C0), or see the year pages above for paid units, word sorts and games for each year.

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Source: https://teachbuysell.com.au/teacher-guides/spelling-words-by-year
Marketplace: https://teachbuysell.com.au