Spelling Worksheets
Twelve spelling pages built around high-utility patterns: tricky common words, inflections, vowel teams and prefixes or suffixes. Spanish covers h, b and v, g and j, and written accents.
Ages 7-11
Updated October 2026
Curated by 
Poppy Fox
Tricky common words
Ten high frequency words that break the rules they were taught with: because, school, people, again, there, their, where, would, could and friend. Sight and handwriting do the work here, not sounding out.
Tricky common words, practice 1
Eight tricky words copied out one per line, their, school, people, again, would, because, there and where, with the odd part circled.
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Tricky common words, practice 2
Half spelled versions of the same set: b_cause, sc_ool, whe_e, a_ain, co_ld, the_e, t_eir and peop_e, with the bank alongside.
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Tricky common words, practice 3
Sorting job: friend, again, people and five more split into two groups the child defines, with a line for the rule.
Download PDFEndings and inflections
One base word at a time, then what an ending does to it: carry, carried, carrying; happy, happier, happiest; hope, hoped, hoping; and runner with its doubled n. The y, the dropped e and the double letter all sit in the same eight words.
Endings and inflections, practice 1
Carry, carried, carrying, happy, happier, hoped, hoping and runner copied out with the ending circled on each one.
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Endings and inflections, practice 2
Ca_ried, hop_ng, c_rry, happi_st, carryi_g, h_ppy, hap_ier and r_nner to finish, with the doubling and the y both in play.
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Endings and inflections, practice 3
Six sentences to write from a bank of happy, carrying, carried, happier, hoped, hope, runner and hoping.
Download PDFVowel spellings
Sounds spelled with letters a child cannot hear: igh in night, right and light, ough in brought and thought, augh in caught, and the ei against ie of weight, eight, field and piece.
Vowel spellings, practice 1
Brought, night, thought, light, right, weight, eight and field written out with the vowel spelling ringed in each.
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Vowel spellings, practice 2
Pie_e, n_ght, thoug_t, rig_t, e_ght, weig_t, c_ught and broug_t, eight gaps that all fall inside the tricky vowel string.
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Vowel spellings, practice 3
Two columns to fill from piece, brought, field, weight, right, caught, night and eight, then a line to name the rule.
Download PDFPrefixes and suffixes
Endings that change what a word does: -ness, -ment, -ful, -ly, -er, -ian and -ion, carried by kindness, movement, enjoyment, careful, helpful, slowly, teacher, musician and action.
Prefixes and suffixes, practice 1
Kindness, movement, enjoyment, careful, musician, action, slowly and teacher copied out with the prefix or ending marked.
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Prefixes and suffixes, practice 2
Musi_ian, movem_nt, enjoym_nt, k_ndness, car_ful, s_owly, ac_ion and t_acher completed against the bank, every gap sitting in the root.
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Prefixes and suffixes, practice 3
A bank of teacher, helpful, movement, kindness, musician, action, slowly and enjoyment, and six sentences to build from it.
Download PDFFour spelling problems, not one spelling list
These twelve pages are not a weekly list. Each group of three takes one thing English spelling handles badly and works it until the hand remembers it. First come the tricky common words that turn up in everything a child writes and obey almost no rule: because, school, people, again, there, their, where, would, could, friend. Next is what an ending does to a word: carry becomes carried and carrying, happy becomes happier and happiest, hope becomes hoped and hoping, and runner doubles its n. Third are the long vowel spellings that look nothing like they sound: night, right, light, brought, thought, caught, weight, eight, field, piece. Last are prefixes and suffixes on kindness, movement, enjoyment, careful, helpful, slowly, teacher, musician and action.
Which group to start with
Inside each group, practice 1 goes first: eight words copied out with the pattern circled. That is a reading page as much as a writing page, and it belongs at the start, while the words are still new. Practice 2 gives the same words with a letter missing and the bank still on the page, so nobody gets stuck. Practice 3 is the one that costs thinking. In the tricky words group and the vowel group it asks for the eight words to be sorted into two columns and the rule written underneath, in the child's own wording. In the endings group and the prefix group it asks for six sentences instead, which is where you find out whether a spelling survives away from the bank.
Where the gap is put, and why it matters
Their and there swap places for years, and so do would and could once the l goes missing. The doubling rule catches everybody: runner takes two n, hoping takes one p, carried turns the y into i and carrying leaves it alone. In the vowel group the error is honest phonetics, since a child who writes nite has heard the word perfectly well and only lost the spelling. In the last group the root is usually right and the ending is not: kindness with one s, musician finished off as -tion.
