# Year 6 Spelling Words: 100 Words by Spelling Pattern > Year 6 spelling words by pattern: Latin and Greek roots, suffixes, i before e and technical words, matched to the Australian Curriculum. Free list. ## Year 6 spelling words, grouped by pattern There is no official Year 6 spelling list in Australia. The Australian Curriculum describes what Year 6 students learn about spelling, and schools choose the words. These 100 words fit the Year 6 patterns: Latin and Greek roots, a wide range of prefixes and suffixes, the generalisations behind words like receive and trolleys, and the technical words students now meet in maths, science and HASS. Year 6 spelling is about using everything at once. A student who meets subterranean for the first time can spell it if they know sub means under and terra means earth. That is the skill to build before high school, where subject-specific words arrive every lesson. **[Make a printable Year 6 spelling list →](/tools/spelling-list-maker?year=6)** Tick the patterns you want, add words from your current unit, and print a look, say, cover, write, check sheet or a word list. ## Year 6 Spelling Resources by Australian Teachers _(Dynamic listing feed — browse at the page URL for live results.)_ ## What Year 6 Spelling Covers in the Australian Curriculum In the [Australian Curriculum (version 9) for Year 6 English](https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/learning-areas/english/year-6), spelling sits in the Literacy strand under Phonic and word knowledge. In plain words, Year 6 students learn: - to read and write increasingly complex words with common and less common letter patterns, like pneumonia and resuscitate - to use word origins, including some Latin and Greek roots, to spell new words: athlete, pentathlon and decathlon share a root - a wide range of prefixes and suffixes and how they relate words in meaning: submarine, subterranean, disappearance - the spelling generalisations behind words like receive, handkerchief, lollies and trolleys - technical words, spelt by breaking them into meaningful parts: biology, biodegradable The content descriptions behind this page, in plain words (the curriculum link above has the exact wording): - **AC9E6LY08**: common and less common grapheme-phoneme relationships in increasingly complex words - **AC9E6LY09**: word origins including some Latin and Greek roots, prefixes, suffixes and generalisations, including technical words Many of the words below are the examples the curriculum gives for these descriptions. The rest follow the same patterns. ## 100 Year 6 Spelling Words by Pattern Each group starts with its rule in one line, then the words. Teach the rule or root first, then practise the words built on it. ### Uncommon letter patterns (12 words) Silent or surprising letters: pn, sc, rh, mn. Many come from Greek, Latin or French. pneumonia, resuscitate, scissors, science, conscious, rhythm, rhyme, yacht, guarantee, solemn, autumn, column ### Greek roots (14 words) athl means contest, pent means five, dec means ten, bio means life, graph means write, tele means far, micro means small, thermo means heat, geo means earth, logy means study of. athlete, pentathlon, decathlon, pentagon, decade, biology, biography, photograph, autograph, telescope, microscope, thermometer, geography, geology ### Latin roots (14 words) port means carry, scrib and script mean write, dict means say, aud means hear, spect means look, struct means build. transport, portable, export, inscribe, manuscript, prescription, predict, dictionary, contradict, audience, audible, spectator, inspect, construction ### Prefixes sub-, inter-, anti-, super- and trans- (10 words) sub means under, inter means between, anti means against, super means above, trans means across. submarine, subterranean, subtract, intermission, antibiotic, antiseptic, supermarket, superhuman, transform, translate ### Suffixes -ous, -ance, -ence and -ity (14 words) Find the base word: appear, appearance; reliable, reliability (the le becomes il). Sometimes the base changes a little: fame, famous drops the e; curious, curiosity drops the u. poisonous, nervous, dangerous, famous, mysterious, disappearance, appearance, importance, difference, independence, reliability, possibility, electricity, curiosity ### Spelling generalisations (14 words) i before e, except after c, when it says ee (receive); learn weird and either as exceptions, and height, where ei says long i. ie can also say a short i (handkerchief, mischief). A vowel before y keeps the y (trolleys); a consonant before y changes it (lollies). A silent letter stays when an ending is added (climb, climbing; design, designed). receive, ceiling, deceive, handkerchief, mischief, lollies, trolleys, valleys, climbing, designed, shield, height, weird, either ### Technical words from other subjects (12 words) Break them into parts you know: bio + degrade + able. metaphorical, biodegradable, ratio, synthesis, parliament, democracy, percentage, parallel, perpendicular, photosynthesis, evaporation, ecosystem ### Often misspelt (10 words) Double letters and vowels you barely hear trip people up here: accommodate has two c and two m; desperate has an e you hardly say. accommodate, embarrass, committee, occurred, recommend, privilege, conscience, sincerely, desperate, queue **[Turn these words into a printable list →](/tools/spelling-list-maker?year=6)** ## Greek and Latin Root Activities _(Dynamic listing feed — browse at the page URL for live results.)_ ## How to Run a Weekly Year 6 Spelling List By Year 6 a spelling list should feel more like word study than memorising. This is the routine I would use: 1. **Pretest.** Read 15 to 20 words aloud in sentences. Students mark their own and keep only the words they got wrong. 2. **Investigate a root or rule.** Start with the root (port means carry) and have students list every word they can find that carries it: transport, portable, export, porter. Then look at how the spelling stays the same across the family. 3. **Practise.** Look, say, cover, write, check for the words they need, plus a short task that uses the words in a subject they are learning. 4. **Test and transfer.** Test the list plus a few unseen words built on the same root or rule. If students spell those, they have the pattern and not just the list. Pull technical words straight from your current maths, science or HASS unit each week. The [spelling list maker](/tools/spelling-list-maker?year=6) lets you add your own words to any list, and [spelling activities](/teacher-guides/spelling-activities) has more ideas for word study. ## Spelling Words for Other Year Levels Use the earlier years for students who need to consolidate the rules before roots make sense. - [Foundation spelling words](/teacher-guides/foundation-spelling-words) - [Year 1 spelling words](/teacher-guides/year-1-spelling-words) - [Year 2 spelling words](/teacher-guides/year-2-spelling-words) - [Year 3 spelling words](/teacher-guides/year-3-spelling-words) - [Year 4 spelling words](/teacher-guides/year-4-spelling-words) - [Year 5 spelling words](/teacher-guides/year-5-spelling-words) Or start at the [spelling words by year](/teacher-guides/spelling-words-by-year) guide, which explains how all seven lists fit together. Spelling is tested again in Year 7 NAPLAN, in the conventions of language test ([What is in the tests](https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/whats-in-the-tests), NAP). ## Year 6 Spelling Words: Frequently Asked Questions ### Is there an official Year 6 spelling list in Australia? No. The Australian Curriculum describes the spelling knowledge Year 6 students should learn, such as Latin and Greek roots, prefixes, suffixes and spelling generalisations, but it does not list words. The 100 words on this page fit those patterns, and many are the examples the curriculum gives. ### How many spelling words should a Year 6 student learn each week? Many Year 6 teachers use 15 to 20 words a week, built around one root or rule, with a few technical words from other subjects. Students who already spell the list should get harder words from the same word family. ### Which Greek and Latin roots should Year 6 students know? Common ones include bio (life), graph (write), tele (far), micro (small), port (carry), dict (say), aud (hear) and spect (look). Knowing a root lets students spell and understand a whole family of words, from biology to biography. ### Does the i before e except after c rule work? It works for words where ie or ei says the long e sound, such as believe, receive and ceiling. Common words such as weird, seize and protein break it, so teach those as exceptions rather than dropping the rule. ### How do I make a printable Year 6 spelling list? Open the [free spelling list maker](/tools/spelling-list-maker?year=6), tick the patterns or words you want, add your own words and press Print. You get a look, say, cover, write, check sheet or a plain word list on A4. ### Where can I find free Year 6 spelling resources? Australian teachers share free spelling resources on TeachBuySell. [Browse free spelling resources](/s?keywords=spelling&price=0%2C0) and filter by Year 6. --- Source: https://teachbuysell.com.au/teacher-guides/year-6-spelling-words Marketplace: https://teachbuysell.com.au