Unit 1 — Greek roots: tele, photo, graph, scope
Distance, light, writing, looking. Know the four and the word explains itself.
Fifth grade
Fifth grade spelling words
Eighty words in eight units, built on roots rather than sounds. This is the year a child can start deducing a spelling instead of recalling it.
Fifth grade 80 words 8 units
Take a unit
Unit 2 — Latin roots: ject, struct, scrib
Throw, build, write. Visible in every subject.
Unit 3 — -ance and -ence
Unstressed and identical to the ear. The list has to be learned.
Unit 4 — The schwa syllable
The vowel nobody says. Sep-a-rate, choc-o-late, cam-e-ra.
Unit 5 — Prefixes pre-, mis- and dis-
Bolt the prefix on whole — which is why misspell has two s.
Unit 6 — Words that swap meaning
Not homophones. Near-twins that a spellchecker will never flag.
Unit 7 — -ous, -eous and -ious
Full of. The extra vowel is the part that gets dropped.
Unit 8 — Letters you cannot hear
Silent k, w, c, s, n — and the two that have no vowel at all.
The words
WordSentence read after it
telephone
The telephone rang during dinner.
telescope
We saw Saturn through the telescope.
photograph
Frame the photograph for her birthday.
autograph
She asked the author for an autograph.
microscope
Look at the leaf under the microscope.
biography
I read a biography of Marie Curie.
geography
Our geography lesson covered rivers.
thermometer
The thermometer read thirty degrees.
paragraph
Start a new paragraph for each idea.
symphony
The orchestra played a short symphony.
Unit 2
project
Our science project is due Friday.
reject
The machine will reject a bent coin.
inject
The vet had to inject the calf.
construct
Construct a bridge from paper straws.
instruct
The signs instruct drivers to slow down.
structure
A honeycomb has a strong structure.
describe
Describe the character in three words.
prescribe
Only a doctor can prescribe that.
subscribe
We subscribe to the school newsletter.
manuscript
The manuscript was written by hand.
Unit 3
distance
We measured the distance in meters.
importance
She explained the importance of practice.
appearance
Snow changed the appearance of the yard.
entrance
Wait by the main entrance.
balance
Balance the ruler on one finger.
sentence
Write one sentence about your weekend.
difference
Spot the difference between the pictures.
experience
Camping was a new experience for him.
patience
Learning an instrument takes patience.
silence
The room fell into complete silence.
Unit 4
separate
Keep the wet clothes separate.
definite
We need a definite answer by noon.
category
Which category does a whale belong to?
chocolate
The chocolate melted in my pocket.
camera
The camera battery ran out.
general
The general idea is easy to follow.
several
Several people missed the bus.
memory
She has a good memory for names.
family
My whole family came to watch.
average
The average score was seventy.
Unit 5
prevent
Salt helps prevent ice on the path.
preview
We watched a preview of the film.
prepare
Prepare your questions before the visit.
mistake
Everyone makes a spelling mistake sometimes.
misplace
Try not to misplace the key again.
misspell
It is easy to misspell necessary.
disappear
Watch the coin disappear into his sleeve.
disagree
The two maps disagree about the border.
discover
You may discover a better method.
dismiss
The teacher will dismiss us early.
Unit 6
principal
The principal spoke at assembly.
principle
Sharing is a principle we all agree on.
accept
Please accept my apology.
except
Everyone came except Marco.
affect
Loud noise can affect your concentration.
effect
The medicine had an immediate effect.
weather
The weather turned cold overnight.
whether
Decide whether to walk or cycle.
than
My bag is heavier than yours.
then
Wash your hands, then sit down.
Unit 7
famous
The bridge is famous for its arches.
nervous
I felt nervous before the recital.
dangerous
Thin ice is dangerous to walk on.
jealous
He was jealous of her new bike.
curious
The curious kitten climbed the shelf.
serious
The injury was not serious.
various
We tried various ways to fix it.
gorgeous
The sunset was absolutely gorgeous.
courageous
It was courageous to speak up.
mysterious
A mysterious package arrived today.
Unit 8
knowledge
Her knowledge of birds surprised us.
rhythm
Clap the rhythm of the song.
science
We do science in the lab.
scissors
Cut the card with sharp scissors.
muscle
He pulled a muscle in his leg.
island
The island has only one road.
castle
The castle stands above the town.
wrestle
The puppies wrestle on the rug.
column
Add the numbers in the left column.
autumn
The trees turn gold in autumn.
Sheets you can print
Tick what you need. The packet prints in this order, one sheet per page, with nothing else on the paper.
Greek roots turn long words into short ones
tele is far, scope is to look, graph is to write, photo is light, micro is small. Telescope, telephone, photograph, microscope and paragraph are five long words that are really two short ones each, and a child who knows the pieces can spell all five plus a hundred more they have never met.
This is also where spelling starts helping with science and geography instead of competing with them for homework time. Thermometer is thermo plus meter, and once that is visible it stops being an eleven-letter memory test.
The vowel nobody pronounces
Say separate at normal speed and the middle vowel is not an a, an e or an i — it is the schwa, the flat neutral sound English gives almost every unstressed syllable. It carries no information about which letter to write, which is why sep-e-rate, def-i-nate and choc-late are the errors that dominate this year.
The remedy is to say the word wrongly on purpose. Sep-A-rate, def-i-NITE, choc-O-late, cam-E-ra: exaggerate the buried vowel while writing, so the spelling comes from the deliberate pronunciation rather than the real one. It feels ridiculous and it works better than anything else on this page.
Is it -ance or -ence, and why nobody can hear it
Distance and difference end in exactly the same sound and take different letters. So do importance and experience, balance and silence. The schwa strikes again, and this time there is no reliable rule at all — the split traces back to which Latin conjugation the word arrived through, which is not information a ten-year-old has any way to use.
Treat them as a straightforward memory unit, and give the memory something to work with. Write them in two columns, group them visually, and test them together so the choice is always live. A child who has seen the two columns side by side gets far more of them right than one who met the words scattered across a term.
Words that swap meaning when one letter changes
Principal and principle. Accept and except. Affect and effect. Weather and whether. Each pair is two real words, so nothing will ever flag the wrong choice — not a spellchecker, not a grammar tool, and not the child rereading it, because the sentence still makes a sort of sense.
Teach these as meaning pairs with a hook attached rather than as spellings. The principal is your pal; a principle is a rule; affect is an action and effect is the end result. The hook is the part that survives the six months between learning the pair and needing it in an exam.
Common questions
What is a schwa, in plain terms?
It is the lazy neutral vowel that unstressed syllables collapse into — the a in about, the e in taken, the o in memory. English gives it to almost any vowel that is not stressed, which is why so many spellings at this level cannot be worked out by listening.
How do I remember whether it is affect or effect?
Affect is nearly always the verb and effect nearly always the noun: the noise affects my concentration, the noise has an effect on my concentration. The exceptions are real and rare enough to leave until much later.
Are Greek and Latin roots worth teaching before high school?
Fifth grade is close to the ideal point. The words being met are long enough for roots to save real effort, and the child is old enough to hold an abstract pattern. Earlier than fourth grade it tends to become a vocabulary lesson dressed up as a spelling one.
My child spells these correctly on Friday and wrongly a month later. What now?
That is the normal decay curve, and the answer is spacing rather than more repetitions in one evening. Retest the same unit two weeks later and again after six. Three spaced retests beat twenty repetitions on one night by a wide margin.