Unit 1 — -cial and -tial
After a vowel, -cial. After a consonant, -tial. It mostly holds.
Sixth grade
Sixth grade spelling words
The last year a weekly spelling list is worth running. Eighty words chosen for how often they will be needed in essays, science write-ups and exam questions over the next six years.
Sixth grade 80 words 8 units
Take a unit
Unit 2 — -ent and -ant
Identical to the ear, and the single commonest adult spelling error.
Unit 3 — Roots: vid, vis, mit, tract
See, send, pull. The words a science paper is built from.
Unit 4 — Greek roots: chron, log, phon
Time, word, sound — and the -logue ending they carry.
Unit 5 — -ize and -yze verbs
American spelling throughout; the British -ise is noted on the page.
Unit 6 — Pairs a spellchecker cannot save you from
Both spellings are real words.
Unit 7 — Syllables that get swallowed
Say them slowly and wrongly to spell them rightly.
Unit 8 — Academic vocabulary
The words that appear in every subject from here onwards.
The words
WordSentence read after it
special
Today is a special occasion.
official
The official result comes out Friday.
financial
The club had financial trouble.
crucial
The first sentence is crucial.
artificial
The field has an artificial surface.
essential
Water is essential for life.
potential
She has real potential as a runner.
initial
Write your initial next to your name.
partial
We only have a partial answer.
confidential
The report is confidential.
Unit 2
different
Every snowflake is different.
excellent
Your presentation was excellent.
independent
She is an independent reader now.
confident
I feel confident about the test.
permanent
Use a permanent marker on the label.
important
It is important to check your spelling.
assistant
The assistant showed us the exhibit.
brilliant
The comet was brilliant against the sky.
significant
There was a significant drop in temperature.
relevant
Keep your notes relevant to the topic.
Unit 3
evident
It was evident that she had practiced.
supervise
An adult must supervise the experiment.
provide
The school will provide the paper.
transmit
Radio waves transmit the signal.
permit
The rules do not permit phones in class.
submit
Submit your entry before Friday.
attract
Bright flowers attract bees.
extract
Extract the seeds from the pumpkin.
contract
Metal will contract as it cools.
subtract
Subtract nine from twenty-four.
Unit 4
chronicle
The diary is a chronicle of the voyage.
chronological
Put the events in chronological order.
synchronize
Synchronize your watches before the race.
logic
Her argument followed clear logic.
apology
He offered a quiet apology.
dialogue
Write the dialogue between the two friends.
phonetic
The dictionary gives a phonetic spelling.
microphone
Speak closer to the microphone.
megaphone
The coach shouted through a megaphone.
monologue
She learned a monologue for the audition.
Unit 5
organize
Organize the books by author.
recognize
I did not recognize her in that hat.
apologize
You should apologize for interrupting.
criticize
It is easy to criticize a first draft.
emphasize
Underline the word you want to emphasize.
summarize
Summarize the chapter in five lines.
analyze
Analyze the results in your table.
realize
I did not realize the time.
memorize
Memorize the first four lines.
categorize
Categorize the animals by habitat.
Unit 6
complement
The colors complement each other well.
compliment
She paid him a genuine compliment.
stationary
The car stayed stationary at the lights.
stationery
Buy envelopes in the stationery aisle.
desert
Cactus plants survive in the desert.
dessert
We had ice cream for dessert.
conscious
He was conscious of every mistake.
conscience
Her conscience troubled her all evening.
advice
Take my advice and start early.
advise
I advise you to check your work.
Unit 7
environment
Litter harms the environment.
government
The government announced new rules.
temperature
Take your temperature if you feel hot.
restaurant
We booked a table at the restaurant.
vegetable
A carrot is a root vegetable.
business
Her family runs a small business.
Wednesday
Band practice is on Wednesday.
jewelry
The jewelry was kept in a locked case.
miniature
He built a miniature railway.
literature
We study American literature this term.
Unit 8
analysis
The analysis took two weeks.
hypothesis
State your hypothesis before testing.
evidence
There is no evidence of a leak.
conclusion
Write a conclusion in two sentences.
sequence
Put the pictures in the right sequence.
consequence
Missing practice has a consequence.
sufficient
One coat of paint is not sufficient.
efficient
The new heater is more efficient.
ancient
They found an ancient coin.
deficient
The soil is deficient in iron.
Sheets you can print
Tick what you need. The packet prints in this order, one sheet per page, with nothing else on the paper.
Choosing the words that will still matter in ten years
A sixth grade list should not be a harder version of a fourth grade one. The selection criterion changes: not which words are difficult, but which difficult words the child will have to write repeatedly. Analysis, hypothesis, evidence, conclusion, sequence and consequence turn up in every science report and every essay from here to the end of school.
That is why the final unit is academic vocabulary rather than one last push on exotic spellings. A word like deficient earns its place because the -cient pattern it shares with sufficient, efficient and ancient will be needed again; a genuinely rare word, however satisfying to spell, will not.
The ending adults still get wrong
Independent, excellent, permanent, relevant, assistant, brilliant. The -ent and -ant endings are identical to the ear and the split is inherited from Latin, so there is nothing to hear and nothing to reason out. This is the commonest spelling error in adult professional writing, which makes it a good use of a sixth grade year.
The one usable signal is the related noun. Where the noun ends in -ence the adjective takes -ent: independence and independent, excellence and excellent. Where it ends in -ance the adjective takes -ant: relevance and relevant. It is less a shortcut than a way of checking your memory against a second copy of itself.
When the sound gives two spellings and both are words
Complement and compliment. Stationary and stationery. Desert and dessert. Conscious and conscience. Advice and advise. Nothing downstream will catch a wrong choice: both spellings are real, both parse, and the sentence usually still reads. These have to be understood rather than memorised.
Each pair has a hook worth learning once. Stationery has an e, like envelope. A dessert has two s because you want a second helping. Advise with an s is the verb, matching devise; advice with a c is the thing you get given. The hook is faintly silly and it is what will still be in the child’s head at nineteen.
American and British spellings, and picking one
The lists here use American spellings throughout: organize, memorize, analyze, favorite, jewelry. The British forms — organise, memorise, analyse, favourite, jewellery — are equally correct in their own places, and -ise is standard across the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
What matters is choosing one and staying consistent within a piece of writing, which is the rule every style guide gives and the only one an examiner actually applies. If you need the British forms, type them into the box yourself: the test reads and marks whatever you enter, and the built-in lists are a starting point rather than an authority.
Common questions
When should we stop doing weekly spelling tests?
Around the end of sixth or seventh grade for most children. After that the words still causing trouble are individual rather than patterned, and a personal list of thirty recurring errors, revisited occasionally, does more good than a weekly ritual.
Is -ize or -ise correct?
Both. -ize is standard in American English and is also Oxford’s house style in Britain; -ise is standard elsewhere in Britain and across the Commonwealth. Neither is an error. Mixing the two inside one document is.
How do I set spelling homework that is not just copying?
Ask for the word used in a sentence that shows its meaning, or for three more words sharing the same root or ending. Both require doing something with the word, which is what makes it stick. Copying it five times reliably produces five copies and no memory.
What is the difference between complement and compliment?
A complement completes something — the colours complement each other. A compliment is praise. The e in complement matches the e in complete, which is the whole of the trick and enough to keep the two apart.