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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.

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 6 spelling words — Unit 1 — -cial and -tial

Name ____________________ Date ____________

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

Grade 6 spelling words — Unit 1 — -cial and -tial

Name ____________________ Date ____________

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

  1. specialToday is a special occasion.
  2. officialThe official result comes out Friday.
  3. financialThe club had financial trouble.
  4. crucialThe first sentence is crucial.
  5. artificialThe field has an artificial surface.
  6. essentialWater is essential for life.
  7. potentialShe has real potential as a runner.
  8. initialWrite your initial next to your name.
  9. partialWe only have a partial answer.
  10. confidentialThe report is confidential.

Spelling certificate

Awarded to

 

Grade 6 spelling words — Unit 1 — -cial and -tial

Score ______ out of ______

Date ____________

Every word in Grade 6 spelling words

80 words in 8 groups, grouped by pattern.

Unit 1 — -cial and -tial

After a vowel, -cial. After a consonant, -tial. It mostly holds.

  1. special
  2. official
  3. financial
  4. crucial
  5. artificial
  6. essential
  7. potential
  8. initial
  9. partial
  10. confidential

Unit 2 — -ent and -ant

Identical to the ear, and the single commonest adult spelling error.

  1. different
  2. excellent
  3. independent
  4. confident
  5. permanent
  6. important
  7. assistant
  8. brilliant
  9. significant
  10. relevant

Unit 3 — Roots: vid, vis, mit, tract

See, send, pull. The words a science paper is built from.

  1. evident
  2. supervise
  3. provide
  4. transmit
  5. permit
  6. submit
  7. attract
  8. extract
  9. contract
  10. subtract

Unit 4 — Greek roots: chron, log, phon

Time, word, sound — and the -logue ending they carry.

  1. chronicle
  2. chronological
  3. synchronize
  4. logic
  5. apology
  6. dialogue
  7. phonetic
  8. microphone
  9. megaphone
  10. monologue

Unit 5 — -ize and -yze verbs

American spelling throughout; the British -ise is noted on the page.

  1. organize
  2. recognize
  3. apologize
  4. criticize
  5. emphasize
  6. summarize
  7. analyze
  8. realize
  9. memorize
  10. categorize

Unit 6 — Pairs a spellchecker cannot save you from

Both spellings are real words.

  1. complement
  2. compliment
  3. stationary
  4. stationery
  5. desert
  6. dessert
  7. conscious
  8. conscience
  9. advice
  10. advise

Unit 7 — Syllables that get swallowed

Say them slowly and wrongly to spell them rightly.

  1. environment
  2. government
  3. temperature
  4. restaurant
  5. vegetable
  6. business
  7. Wednesday
  8. jewelry
  9. miniature
  10. literature

Unit 8 — Academic vocabulary

The words that appear in every subject from here onwards.

  1. analysis
  2. hypothesis
  3. evidence
  4. conclusion
  5. sequence
  6. consequence
  7. sufficient
  8. efficient
  9. ancient
  10. deficient

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
specialciespalsp_c_alS, P, E, C, I, A, L
officialcfioiflaoff_c__lO, F, F, I, C, I, A, L
financialancaifinlf_n_nc_alF, I, N, A, N, C, I, A, L
crucialurilcaccr_ci_lC, R, U, C, I, A, L

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.

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