Year 4 & 5 Spelling Words

The National Curriculum doesn't publish a separate list for Year 4 or for Year 5. Instead it sets two statutory word lists: one for Years 3 and 4 and one for Years 5 and 6. Year 4 and Year 5 sit at the join between them.

So a Year 4 child is working to be secure on the whole Years 3 & 4 list by the end of the year - words like believe, separate, February, and knowledge. A Year 5 child starts the Years 5 & 6 list - words like accommodate, environment, necessary, and rhythm - which must be secure by the end of Year 6. Many schools split each list in half across the two years, so ask your child's teacher which words are set this term.

Both lists are below in full, with a free printable sheet for each and the spelling rules taught in each year.

Year 4 spelling words: secure by the end of the year

These are the statutory words for Years 3 and 4. A child finishing Year 4 is expected to spell all of them correctly. Many are longer, multisyllabic words that reward understanding of prefixes, suffixes and word roots alongside memorisation.

Year 5 spelling words: the list that begins this year

These are the statutory words for Years 5 and 6. Year 5 is when they are introduced; they must be secure by the end of Year 6, and they appear in the KS2 SATs spelling test and in 11+ papers. Many come from Latin and French roots, which is why endings like -ious, -ation, and -ible come up so often.

Each sheet opens as a print-ready page, 10 words a page, built for look, cover, write, check - choose “Save as PDF” in the print dialog to keep a copy, or send it straight to your printer.

The spelling rules taught in Year 4 and Year 5

Alongside the word lists, the National Curriculum sets out the spelling patterns children should be taught in each year. Knowing which rule a word follows is what turns a list of tricky words into something a child can work out.

Year 4 (finishing the Years 3 & 4 rules)

• Prefixes that don't change the root word: dis-, mis-, in- (and il-, im-, ir-), re-, sub-, inter-, super-, anti-, auto- - disappear, impossible, irregular.
• The suffix -ation and the /shun/ endings -tion, -sion, -ssion, -cian - information, invention, expression, musician.
• Adding -ly to adjectives, including -ally after -ic - gently, basically, accidentally.
• The endings -sure, -ture, and -ous - measure, creature, famous, dangerous.
• Unusual sound-spellings: ch making a /k/ sound (scheme, chorus), ch making a /sh/ sound (chef, machine), and ei, eigh, ey making an /ay/ sound (eight, weight, they).
• The possessive apostrophe with plurals - girls', children's - and homophones such as accept/except and weather/whether.

Year 5 (starting the Years 5 & 6 rules)

• Endings that sound like /shus/: -cious and -tious - vicious, delicious, ambitious, cautious.
• Endings that sound like /shul/: -cial after a vowel, -tial after a consonant - official, special, essential, partial.
• -ant/-ance/-ancy and -ent/-ence/-ency - observant, tolerance, innocent, confidence, frequency.
• -able/-ably and -ible/-ibly - adorable, applicable, possible, horribly.
• Adding suffixes to words ending in -fer - referring, referred, reference, preferred, transference.
• Silent letters - doubt, island, lamb, solemn, knight - and ough words - bought, rough, through, thorough.
• i before e except after c when the sound is /ee/ - deceive, receive, ceiling - and hyphens to join a prefix to a root: co-ordinate, re-enter.

Rules summarised from English Appendix 1 of the National curriculum in England: English programmes of study. Spelling.Live names the pattern behind each mistake in its spelling patterns report, so you can see which of these rules your child is still working on.

Practise both lists on the app

Both statutory lists are 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.

1. Open your child's profile and tap Word Lists.
2. Tap Browse Preset Lists and choose the KS2 tab.
3. Add Year 4/5 - Everyday Words or Year 4/5 - Tricky Spellings - both bridge the two lists above. The full Year 3/4 and Year 5/6 lists are there too.

Not sure which list your child is ready for? The Skills Check tests a short set of words matched to their school year and builds a focus list from what they got wrong.

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.