Year 3 & 4 Spelling Words
Years 3 and 4 introduce the statutory word list - 100 words that children must be able to spell by the end of Year 4, such as believe, calendar, caught, different, and separate.
Unlike the KS1 common exception words, the Year 3 and 4 list contains many longer, multisyllabic words that reward understanding of word roots and spelling patterns alongside memorisation.
The full Year 3 & 4 word list
Statutory word list · National Curriculum (England)
- accident
- accidentally
- actual
- actually
- address
- answer
- appear
- arrive
- believe
- bicycle
- breath
- breathe
- build
- busy
- business
- calendar
- caught
- centre
- century
- certain
- circle
- complete
- consider
- continue
- decide
- describe
- different
- difficult
- disappear
- early
- earth
- eight
- eighth
- enough
- exercise
- experience
- experiment
- extreme
- famous
- favourite
- February
- forward
- forwards
- fruit
- grammar
- group
- guard
- guide
- heard
- heart
- height
- history
- imagine
- increase
- important
- interest
- island
- knowledge
- learn
- length
- library
- material
- medicine
- mention
- minute
- natural
- naughty
- notice
- occasion
- occasionally
- often
- opposite
- ordinary
- particular
- peculiar
- perhaps
- popular
- position
- possess
- possession
- possible
- potatoes
- pressure
- probably
- promise
- purpose
- quarter
- question
- recent
- regular
- reign
- remember
- sentence
- separate
- special
- straight
- strange
- strength
- suppose
- surprise
- therefore
- though
- although
- thought
- through
- various
- weight
- woman
- women
Source: National curriculum in England: English programmes of study, Department for Education.
The Year 3 & 4 words children miss most
These are the words from this list that children get wrong most often when they practise on Spelling.Live, with the mistake they usually make and a way to remember the right spelling.
| Word | Missed | Common mistake | How to remember it |
|---|---|---|---|
| separate | 48% | seperate | There's "a rat" in separate - both middle vowels are a. |
| disappear | 50% | disapear, dissapear | dis + appear: one s from dis, two p from appear. |
| occasion | 41% | occassion | Two c, one s. |
| surprise | 31% | - | Say it slowly: sur-prise. The first r is easy to lose when you say it quickly. |
| business | 27% | - | busy + ness: the y changes to i. |
| straight | 26% | - | The -aight ending, like in eight. |
| medicine | 26% | - | Think of medical: medi-cine. |
| knowledge | 25% | - | know + ledge: both parts are words you already know. |
| favourite | 25% | - | The British spelling keeps the u: favourite, like colour. |
"Missed" is the share of practice attempts that were wrong, across children practising on Spelling.Live (April to September 2026). Only words practised by at least 10 children are shown, and a common mistake is only listed when at least 3 different children made it. Games are not counted.
📥 Free printable paper-practice sheet
Download a clean, ready-to-print Year 3 & 4 sheet - the full statutory list, 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
The statutory list is built into Spelling.Live as ready-made KS2 lists, so there's no typing. Your child hears each word, writes it, and gets instant feedback - and tricky words come back automatically until they stick.
- Open your child's profile and tap Word Lists.
- Tap Browse Preset Lists and choose the KS2 tab.
- Add Year 3/4 - Everyday Essentials (or Tricky Spellings) and start practising.
New: Paper practice
Set a written spelling test on paper, then snap a photo of the marked sheet. Spelling.Live reads the ticks and crosses, records which words were right, and feeds the misspelled ones back into practice automatically - it can even score handwriting and letter formation. All the benefit of writing by hand, with AI-assisted marking.
For teachers: run this list with your class
Schools are using Spelling.Live for short whole-class sessions on school devices, small-group spelling interventions and early years handwriting practice. Assign the Year 3/4 statutory spellings to a class, pupils sign in with a printed label, and every answer is marked and reported for you - no marking, and you see which words and spelling rules are catching the class out.
See how schools are using it - and pilot it free with one class for six weeks.
Year 3 & 4 spelling: common questions
How many words are on the Year 3 and 4 statutory spelling list?
About 100. The National Curriculum lists them in English Appendix 1, and children are expected to spell them by the end of Year 4. Some come in pairs, such as occasion and occasionally.
Which Year 3 and 4 words do children find hardest?
In practice on Spelling.Live, separate, disappear and occasion are missed most often, each by 40 to 50% of the children who practised them. The common mistakes are the ones in the table above: seperate, disapear and occassion.
How long should my child practise each day?
Five to ten minutes a day works better than one long session before the test. Short, spaced practice brings the tricky words back just as they start to fade.
Should children write the words or type them?
Both help, but school tests are written by hand. It is worth making sure some practice is written, either on paper or on a tablet with a finger or stylus.
Can I print the Year 3 and 4 list?
Yes. The free printable sheet above has the full list, 10 words a page, for look, cover, write, check.
A ready-made weekly plan practises them - handwriting, 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 2 · Year 4 & 5 · Year 5 & 6 Read more: KS2 spelling lists guide · Paper practice explained Browse all free spelling resources →