Year 2 Spelling Words
Year 2 builds on the phonics knowledge from Year 1. Children are expected to spell a further set of common exception words by the end of KS1, including words like because, beautiful, find, kind, children, and wild.
By the end of Year 2, children sit the Key Stage 1 assessments. Strong spelling supports reading comprehension and written work across every subject.
The full Year 2 word list
Common exception words · National Curriculum (England)
- door
- floor
- poor
- because
- find
- kind
- mind
- behind
- child
- children
- wild
- climb
- most
- only
- both
- old
- cold
- gold
- hold
- told
- every
- everybody
- even
- great
- break
- steak
- pretty
- beautiful
- after
- fast
- last
- past
- father
- class
- grass
- pass
- plant
- path
- bath
- hour
- move
- prove
- improve
- sure
- sugar
- eye
- could
- should
- would
- who
- whole
- any
- many
- clothes
- busy
- people
- water
- again
- half
- money
- Mr
- Mrs
- parents
- Christmas
Source: National curriculum in England: English programmes of study, Department for Education.
📥 Free printable paper-practice sheet
Download a clean, ready-to-print Year 2 sheet (10 words a page) built for look, cover, write, check. Your child writes each word, then you snap a photo in the spelling.live app - Paper practice reads the sheet, marks it, and brings tricky words back automatically.
🖨️ Open printable sheet (PDF)Opens a print-ready page - choose “Save as PDF” in the print dialog to keep a copy, or send it straight to your printer.
Practise the whole list on the app
Year 2 is built in as a ready-made list on spelling.live, so there's no typing. Your child hears each word, writes it by hand on screen, and gets instant, encouraging feedback.
- Open your child's profile and tap Word Lists.
- Tap Browse Preset Lists and choose the KS1 tab.
- Add Year 2 - Everyday Words (or Tricky Spellings) and start practising.
New: Paper practice
Prefer pen and paper? Let your child do the worksheet by hand, then snap a photo of the finished sheet. spelling.live reads the ticks and crosses, records which words were right, and feeds the misspelled ones back into practice automatically - and it can even check letter formation. The best of paper and screen, with AI-assisted marking.
Handwriting mode, word games, paper practice, and instant feedback - all aligned to the National Curriculum. Free to start.
Start practising freeMore National Curriculum lists: Year 1 · Year 3 & 4 · Year 5 & 6 Read more: KS1 common exception words guide · Paper practice explained Browse all free spelling resources →