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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.

One word per line, or paste a comma-separated list. Numbering and bullets are stripped. A sentence after a pipe is read out with the word.

Your list, the answers and any name you type stay in this browser — nothing is uploaded. The built-in lists are compiled by spelling pattern, not issued by a curriculum authority. Check this before you rely on it. This spelling test maker is provided free and without warranty, and its results are not professional advice.

Grade 2 spelling words — Unit 1 — Silent e with a

Name ____________________ Date ____________

Listen to each word and write it on the line. Put your name at the top first.

Grade 2 spelling words — Unit 1 — Silent e with a

Name ____________________ Date ____________

Look at the word, cover it, write it, then check. Repeat any you get wrong.

  1. cakeWe shared the cake at break.
  2. nameWrite your name in the box.
  3. gateShut the gate so the dog stays in.
  4. lateThe train was ten minutes late.
  5. madeWe made cookies on Saturday.
  6. tapeStick the poster up with tape.
  7. gameWe lost the game by one point.
  8. waveA big wave splashed the pier.
  9. planeThe plane landed in heavy rain.
  10. shapeA hexagon is a six-sided shape.

Spelling certificate

Awarded to

 

Grade 2 spelling words — Unit 1 — Silent e with a

Score ______ out of ______

Date ____________

Every word in Grade 2 spelling words

80 words in 8 groups, grouped by pattern.

Unit 1 — Silent e with a

The e says nothing and changes everything: tap becomes tape.

  1. cake
  2. name
  3. gate
  4. late
  5. made
  6. tape
  7. game
  8. wave
  9. plane
  10. shape

Unit 2 — Silent e with i, o and u

Same rule, three more vowels. Say the short word first.

  1. bike
  2. time
  3. ride
  4. hope
  5. note
  6. rope
  7. cube
  8. June
  9. smile
  10. stone

Unit 3 — ai and ay

One sound, two spellings, and a rule that holds: ay ends the word.

  1. rain
  2. train
  3. paint
  4. tail
  5. play
  6. day
  7. stay
  8. away
  9. today
  10. gray

Unit 4 — ee and ea

The rule that does not hold. These have to be learned word by word.

  1. tree
  2. week
  3. green
  4. sleep
  5. read
  6. teach
  7. clean
  8. dream
  9. seat
  10. please

Unit 5 — Doubling before -ed and -ing

One vowel, one consonant, one syllable: double it.

  1. stopped
  2. running
  3. hopped
  4. sitting
  5. planned
  6. swimming
  7. clapped
  8. getting
  9. shopped
  10. hugging

Unit 6 — Plurals with -es

Add -es after s, x, z, ch and sh, because -s cannot be said.

  1. boxes
  2. wishes
  3. buses
  4. foxes
  5. dishes
  6. glasses
  7. benches
  8. brushes
  9. classes
  10. matches

Unit 7 — Contractions

The apostrophe marks the missing letters, and only those.

  1. don't
  2. can't
  3. isn't
  4. didn't
  5. we'll
  6. I'm
  7. it's
  8. that's
  9. wasn't
  10. couldn't

Unit 8 — oo, ou and ow

Three spellings that each cover two different sounds.

  1. book
  2. look
  3. food
  4. moon
  5. house
  6. mouse
  7. found
  8. cow
  9. down
  10. brown

What the practice modes do

Generated by the same code the buttons run, on the first few words of this list, so what is printed here is what you will get.

Word Letter scramble Missing letters Spelled out loud
cakeackec_keC, A, K, E
nameamennam_N, A, M, E
gateateggat_G, A, T, E
latetlael_teL, A, T, E

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.

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