Unit 1 — Silent e with a
The e says nothing and changes everything: tap becomes tape.
Second grade
Second grade spelling words
The year spelling stops being one letter per sound. Eighty words across eight units, from magic e through to the first contractions.
Second grade 80 words 8 units
Take a unit
Unit 2 — Silent e with i, o and u
Same rule, three more vowels. Say the short word first.
Unit 3 — ai and ay
One sound, two spellings, and a rule that holds: ay ends the word.
Unit 4 — ee and ea
The rule that does not hold. These have to be learned word by word.
Unit 5 — Doubling before -ed and -ing
One vowel, one consonant, one syllable: double it.
Unit 6 — Plurals with -es
Add -es after s, x, z, ch and sh, because -s cannot be said.
Unit 7 — Contractions
The apostrophe marks the missing letters, and only those.
Unit 8 — oo, ou and ow
Three spellings that each cover two different sounds.
The words
WordSentence read after it
cake
We shared the cake at break.
name
Write your name in the box.
gate
Shut the gate so the dog stays in.
late
The train was ten minutes late.
made
We made cookies on Saturday.
tape
Stick the poster up with tape.
game
We lost the game by one point.
wave
A big wave splashed the pier.
plane
The plane landed in heavy rain.
shape
A hexagon is a six-sided shape.
Unit 2
bike
I locked my bike to the railing.
time
What time does the bus leave?
ride
I ride my bike to school.
hope
I hope the weather stays dry.
note
Leave a note on the kitchen table.
rope
Pull the rope hand over hand.
cube
Drop an ice cube into the glass.
June
School ends in the middle of June.
smile
A smile spread across her face.
stone
He skimmed a flat stone across the lake.
Unit 3
rain
The rain soaked my shoes.
train
The train pulled into the station.
paint
The paint is still wet.
tail
The dog wagged its tail hard.
play
We play football at lunchtime.
day
Sports day is on Friday.
stay
Stay behind the yellow line.
away
The cat ran away from the dog.
today
Today is the last day of term.
gray
Storm clouds turned the sky gray.
Unit 4
tree
A tall tree shades the yard.
week
We swim once a week.
green
The frog is bright green.
sleep
Babies sleep most of the day.
read
I read two chapters last night.
teach
Will you teach me that card game?
clean
Clean the board with a damp cloth.
dream
I had a strange dream last night.
seat
Take the seat next to the window.
please
Please close the window.
Unit 5
stopped
The bus stopped at the corner.
running
He came running down the hallway.
hopped
The bird hopped along the branch.
sitting
She is sitting at the front.
planned
We planned the trip for weeks.
swimming
The swimming pool opens at seven.
clapped
Everyone clapped at the end.
getting
It is getting dark early now.
shopped
We shopped for school supplies.
hugging
She was hugging the puppy.
Unit 6
boxes
Stack the empty boxes by the door.
wishes
She blew out the candles and made three wishes.
buses
Two buses were late this morning.
foxes
Foxes come out after dark.
dishes
Please dry the dishes.
glasses
He cleaned his glasses on his shirt.
benches
The benches were wet with rain.
brushes
Wash the brushes after painting.
classes
All the classes met in the hall.
matches
Keep the matches out of reach.
Unit 7
don't
Please don't slam the door.
can't
I can't find my other shoe.
isn't
That isn't my handwriting.
didn't
She didn't hear the bell.
we'll
We'll leave as soon as you are ready.
I'm
I'm ready for the test.
it's
It's raining, so bring a coat.
that's
That's the wrong page.
wasn't
The answer wasn't difficult.
couldn't
She couldn't reach the top shelf.
Unit 8
book
Return your book to the shelf.
look
Look at the picture on page four.
food
We packed food for the trip.
moon
The moon was full last night.
house
Their house is on the corner.
mouse
A mouse ran under the shed.
found
I found my glove under the bench.
cow
A cow was grazing in the field.
down
Slide down the hill on the sled.
brown
A brown owl sat in the tree.
Sheets you can print
Tick what you need. The packet prints in this order, one sheet per page, with nothing else on the paper.
Silent e is the first rule worth naming
Tap becomes tape. Second grade is where a letter that makes no sound of its own starts changing the one before it, and it is the first genuinely abstract idea in English spelling. Teach it as a pair — write the short word, add the e, read them both — because the rule is invisible unless the two words are sitting next to each other.
Expect the e to go missing for a term and then start appearing on words that never wanted it. hopeing, runing and mared are all signs the rule has landed and has not yet been given edges, which is a much better problem to have than the rule not landing.
Vowel teams, and the one with no rule at all
ai and ay are as tidy as English gets: one sound, and ay takes the end of a word while ai takes the middle. Rain, train, play, day. A child can be told that once and then use it, which is rare enough here to be worth doing deliberately.
ee and ea offer nothing of the kind. Tree and teach are identical to the ear and there is no way to hear which spelling a word takes, so these have to be learned one at a time. The honest thing is to say so, rather than implying a pattern the child then hunts for and cannot find.
Doubling before -ed and -ing
One syllable, one vowel, one final consonant: double it. Stop becomes stopped, run becomes running, hug becomes hugging. This is the first spelling rule with three conditions attached, and the first time a child has to check a word against a test before writing anything.
It is worth the effort because it never stops applying. Getting it right in second grade removes an error that otherwise runs on into secondary school, where stoping and runing still appear in the work of students who spell far harder words correctly.
Contractions and the apostrophe that means something
An apostrophe in a contraction marks the letters that were taken out, and nothing else. Do not loses its o and becomes don’t; cannot loses an n and an o and becomes can’t. Once a child sees the mark standing in for a gap, where to put it stops being arbitrary.
Two to watch. We’ll is easy to hear and hard to write, because almost nothing is left of will. And it’s against its sets a contraction that takes an apostrophe against a possessive that does not — genuinely irregular, worth naming as an exception, and the source of more adult errors than any other pair in the language.
Common questions
Why do we double the consonant in stopped but not in jumped?
Because jump already ends in two consonants. The doubling rule only fires for a word ending in one vowel followed by one consonant, which stop does and jump does not. Said as a checklist, the rule stops producing exceptions.
When do children learn to use a dictionary?
Second grade is a reasonable place to start, but the useful version is not alphabetical hunting. It is learning to check a word they have already written and suspect. A child who can produce a plausible spelling and then verify it is doing the grown-up thing.
Is it worth testing contractions if my child never writes them?
They are reading them constantly, and the apostrophe rule is much easier to teach before the possessive apostrophe arrives and competes with it. Ten minutes on the idea in second grade saves an argument in fourth.
How do I help with ee and ea words if there is no rule?
Group them by rhyme or by meaning instead of trying to hear a difference. Tree, free and three belong together; teach, reach and beach belong together. It is the visual grouping that sticks, because the sound gives nothing away.