The Practice Library · Spelling and word work

Spelling Worksheets

These are the spelling and word-work pages of the Practice Library, for Kindergarten and Grades 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5: weekly lists built on one pattern each, dictation, missing letters, word building, word families and syllables.

The first three pages of every set are free PDFs, open to everyone. The rest of each set, and an answer key for every page, are included with All Access.

Kindergarten spelling worksheets

All Kindergarten phonics worksheets

1st Grade spelling worksheets

  • Find & Circle Words Free PDF Each item shows a picture and three spellings of its name — mop, mopp, mope — and the child circles the correct one.
  • Missing & Hidden Letters Free PDF The missing piece of a word is found by sound. A picture is named, and the child circles the letters it starts with, the letters for its vowel sound, or the letters it ends with: sh or ch, ai or oa, ck or ng.
  • Rhyming & Word Families Free PDF A word family is a group of words that share an ending: cat, hat, mat, sat. In Grade 1 the families are short-vowel words such as web, net, top and cup: the child sorts them by vowel, builds them, and reads them in word chains and roll-and-read games.
  • Spelling Practice Free PDF Dictation is spelling by ear. The grown-up reads from the answer key: four sounds, then eight words with the week's pattern and two heart words, then a sentence.
  • Syllables Free PDF A syllable is a word part with one vowel sound. In Grade 1 the child counts the parts of picture words such as pencil and umbrella, sorts words into one part and two, and reads two-part words such as birthday and dishes.

All 1st Grade phonics worksheets

2nd Grade spelling worksheets

  • Missing & Hidden Letters Free PDF A sound can often be spelled more than one way, and missing-letters work asks the child to choose.
  • Spelling Lists Free PDF These are weekly lists grouped by one pattern each: the ai words one week, the aw words another, and further on, lists built on a single prefix or suffix. In Grade 2 the lists are seven words long and follow the vowel teams: igh, the long a family, ou and ow, oi and oy, au and aw.
  • Spelling Practice Free PDF Dictation is spelling by ear. The grown-up reads the words and a sentence from the answer key; the child says each one back, writes it, and at the end checks the work and fixes one.
  • Word Building & Unscramble Free PDF Word building is spelling a word from its sounds. The child names a picture, writes one spelling in each sound box (a letter team such as sh or ai takes one box), then writes the whole word and reads it back.
  • Spelling Changes: Drop the e, y to i Free PDF Some base words change before an ending. A silent e drops before an ending that starts with a vowel: share, sharing; place, placed.

All 2nd Grade phonics worksheets · All 2nd Grade vocabulary & word study worksheets

3rd Grade spelling worksheets

  • Missing & Hidden Letters Free PDF The work is choosing between spellings of one sound, such as c or s for the sound in nice and house.
  • Rhyming & Word Families Free PDF A word family is a group of words that share an ending: cat, hat, mat, sat. In Grade 3 the rhyme is spelled two ways: the child sorts pairs such as are and air, ew and ue, and ight and ite, and builds chains such as square, rare, mare, hare.
  • Spelling Lists Free PDF These are weekly lists grouped by one pattern each: the ai words one week, the aw words another, and further on, lists built on a single prefix or suffix. In Grade 3 the lists run to nine words and move to soft c and soft g, the -dge ending, the -ble family and words of three and four syllables.
  • Spelling Practice Free PDF Dictation is spelling by ear. The grown-up reads the words and a sentence from the answer key; the child says each one back, writes it, and at the end checks the work and fixes one.
  • Syllables Free PDF A syllable is a word part with one vowel sound. In Grade 3 the words are longer: the child counts the vowel sounds to sort words of two, three and four syllables, such as animal, remember and education, and meets the accent.
  • Word Building & Unscramble Free PDF Longer words are built from parts. The child is given a word's parts out of order (est and low, for example), writes one part in each box in the right order, and then writes the whole word: low + est = lowest.

All 3rd Grade phonics worksheets

4th Grade spelling worksheets

  • Missing & Hidden Letters Free PDF The gaps in Grade 4 are the spellings that cannot be heard: ch saying /k/ in chorus and chemistry, the endings -cious and -tious in precious and cautious, -tion, -sion and -cian in location, explosion and electrician, and silent letters in hymn and doubt.
  • Spelling Lists Free PDF These are weekly lists grouped by one pattern each: the ai words one week, the aw words another, and further on, lists built on a single prefix or suffix. In Grade 4 each list is built on one word root, such as port, struct, astro, path and meter, so astronaut sits beside disaster and asteroid.
  • Spelling Practice Free PDF Dictation is spelling by ear. The grown-up reads the words and a sentence from the answer key; the child says each one back, writes it, and at the end checks the work and fixes one.
  • Word Building & Unscramble Free PDF Longer words are built from parts. The child is given a word's parts out of order, writes one part in each box in the right order (prefix, root or base, suffix), and then writes the whole word.

All 4th Grade phonics worksheets

5th Grade spelling worksheets

  • Missing & Hidden Letters Free PDF The gaps in Grade 5 are endings and letters that the ear cannot choose between: -able or -ible in comfortable and sensible, -tion or -sion in celebration and collision, -cious or -tious in precious and cautious, and silent letters in doubt and knob.
  • Spelling Lists Free PDF These are weekly lists grouped by one pattern each: the ai words one week, the aw words another, and further on, lists built on a single prefix or suffix. In Grade 5 the lists gather word families around a shared root, such as nature, nation and national, or reverse, version and conversation, with lists for Greek word parts and silent letters.
  • Spelling Practice Free PDF Dictation is spelling by ear. The grown-up reads the words and a sentence from the answer key; the child says each one back, writes it, and at the end checks the work and fixes one.
  • Word Building & Unscramble Free PDF Longer words are built from parts. The child is given a word's parts out of order, writes one part in each box in the right order (prefix, root, suffix), and then writes the whole word.

All 5th Grade phonics worksheets

How to use these pages

  • Dictation needs a grown-up. The words and the sentence to read aloud are on the answer key, which comes with All Access.
  • Use the list for the pattern being taught that week. Each list is built on one pattern: the ai words one week, the aw words another.
  • When a word is misspelled, have the child say its sounds and find the one that went wrong before writing it again.

How spelling is taught, step by step: Spelling →

Practice pages support a program; they are not the lesson. These sheets reinforce Phonics, Decoding, and Early Fluency, the complete K–5 reading curriculum from Faith Readers. See every program →

Made by Faith Schooling, a Christian homeschool publisher · Updated · How these pages are made and checked