Unit 1 — accident to breathe
Silent letters and vowels nobody can hear.
Years 3 and 4 (UK)
Year 3 and 4 spelling words
The hundred words the national curriculum names for years 3 and 4, in ten units of ten. Every one is read aloud, marked letter by letter, and returns on a schedule until it sticks.
Years 3 and 4 (UK) 100 words 10 units
Take a unit
Unit 2 — build to consider
Everyday words spelled nothing like they sound.
Unit 3 — decide to exercise
Prefixes, and the ones most often missed in this group.
Unit 4 — experience to guide
Longer words where the middle syllable disappears in speech.
Unit 5 — heard to material
Homophone traps and two spellings of the same sound.
Unit 6 — medicine to ordinary
Words that lose a syllable when spoken quickly.
Unit 7 — particular to purpose
Doubled letters with no audible cue.
Unit 8 — quarter to strange
The ones adults miss too.
Unit 9 — strength to weight
Silent letters, and the -ough family.
Unit 10 — woman to women
A pair worth teaching together, once.
The words
WordSentence read after it
accident
There was an accident on the main road.
actual
The actual cost was higher than the estimate.
address
Write your address on the back of the envelope.
answer
Check your answer twice.
appear
The stars appear once the sky is dark.
arrive
We arrive at half past eight.
believe
I believe you left it on the bus.
bicycle
She left her bicycle against the wall.
breath
He took a deep breath before diving.
breathe
It is hard to breathe at that altitude.
Unit 2
build
They plan to build a shed this summer.
busy
The shop is busy on Saturday mornings.
calendar
The calendar still showed last month.
caught
He caught the ball with one hand.
centre
Meet me in the centre of town.
century
The building is over a century old.
certain
I am certain I locked the door.
circle
Sit in a circle on the carpet.
complete
The set is not complete without the last piece.
consider
Please consider the other options first.
Unit 3
decide
We had to decide before the shop closed.
describe
Describe the character in three words.
different
Every snowflake is different.
difficult
The last question was genuinely difficult.
disappear
Watch the coin disappear into his sleeve.
early
The train left early for once.
earth
The earth turns once a day.
eight
There are eight legs on a spider.
enough
We have enough chairs for everyone.
exercise
A little exercise every day is plenty.
Unit 4
experience
Camping was a new experience for him.
experiment
The experiment needed three tries.
extreme
The cold was extreme that winter.
famous
The bridge is famous for its arches.
favourite
Green is her favourite colour.
February
February is the shortest month.
forward
He leaned forward to hear better.
fruit
There is fruit in the bowl.
grammar
The grammar in that sentence is wrong.
guide
A guide showed us round the castle.
Unit 5
heard
I heard the bell from the garden.
heart
Her heart was beating fast.
height
Measure the height of the door.
history
We are doing Roman history this term.
imagine
Imagine a house with no windows.
increase
Prices increase every January.
important
It is important to check your spelling.
interest
He showed no interest in the game.
island
The island has only one road.
material
The material feels like wool.
Unit 6
medicine
Take the medicine after food.
mention
Do not mention it to anyone.
minute
Wait a minute and I will come.
natural
Wood is a natural material.
naughty
The naughty puppy chewed a shoe.
notice
Did you notice the new sign?
occasion
He wore it on one occasion only.
often
It often rains in April.
opposite
The shop is opposite the church.
ordinary
It was an ordinary Tuesday.
Unit 7
particular
She is particular about her tea.
peculiar
There was a peculiar smell in the hall.
perhaps
Perhaps it will rain later.
popular
That song is very popular.
position
Put the chair back in its position.
possess
They possess a very old map.
possible
Finish as many as possible.
potatoes
We need potatoes for dinner.
pressure
The pressure in the tyre was low.
purpose
He did it on purpose.
Unit 8
quarter
A quarter of the cake was left.
question
Put your hand up if you have a question.
recent
That is a recent photograph.
regular
The bus runs at regular times.
reign
The queen's reign lasted forty years.
remember
I cannot remember his name.
sentence
Write one sentence about your weekend.
separate
Keep the wet clothes separate.
special
Today is a special occasion.
strange
A strange noise came from upstairs.
Unit 9
strength
He has the strength to lift it.
suppose
I suppose you are right.
surprise
The party was a complete surprise.
therefore
It rained, therefore we stayed in.
though
She kept running, though her legs ached.
although
Although it was late, we walked home.
thought
I thought the test was easy.
through
The path goes through the woods.
various
We tried various ways to fix it.
weight
The weight of the bag surprised me.
Unit 10
woman
A woman was waiting at the gate.
women
Two women were repairing the road.
library
The library closes at five.
learn
We learn a new poem each month.
length
Measure the length of the room.
knowledge
Her knowledge of birds surprised us.
guard
A guard stood by the door.
group
Work in a group of four.
promise
You must promise not to tell.
probably
It will probably rain later.
Sheets you can print
Tick what you need. The packet prints in this order, one sheet per page, with nothing else on the paper.
A statutory list is not a teaching sequence
Every other list on this site is grouped so that learning one word teaches the next: ten words sharing a pattern, met in one week. This list cannot work that way, because it was not built that way. It is a legal requirement — these are the words a child is expected to spell by the end of year 4 — and its members have almost nothing in common with each other. Bicycle, February and although are neighbours here purely by accident of the alphabet.
So the units below are alphabetical rather than phonic, which is the honest arrangement for a list of this kind. Pretending otherwise, by grouping loosely related words under invented pattern headings, would make the sequence look pedagogical without making it useful.
Ten a week covers it in a term
Ten words a week clears the hundred in ten weeks, which is roughly an autumn term with a fortnight spare. That pace is deliberate: it leaves room for the words that go wrong to come back without the weekly list growing.
What actually fixes a word is not the first sitting but the fourth. A word missed on Monday returns tomorrow, then in two days, then four, eight and sixteen — so by the end of term the difficult ones have been met five or six times each while the easy ones were quietly dropped after two.
The four that will go wrong
Separate and believe are the two most-missed words on this list at every age, and adults miss them too. Separate has an a in the middle that nobody pronounces; believe follows the i-before-e rule that half its own exceptions break. Both need to be taught as facts rather than derived.
Breath and breathe are worth teaching side by side exactly once, then keeping apart. The final e changes the sound and the part of speech together, and a child who has already met silent e has everything needed to see why. February and library both lose a syllable in ordinary speech, which is why they are written febuary and libry — say them wrongly on purpose, the way they are spelled, and the spelling sticks.
Where this differs from year 5 and 6
These are two separate statutory lists and this one comes first. A child who has not secured years 3 and 4 will get very little from the year 5 and 6 words, which are longer, rarer and assume the earlier hundred are automatic.
If your school teaches them in a different order — many do, grouping by topic or by term — paste their order into the maker. The sheets, the read-aloud sitting and the schedule all work the same on your words as on ours.
Common questions
Is this the official list?
The words are the statutory year 3 and 4 list as published. The grouping into ten units is ours, and it is alphabetical rather than official.
Ten words a week — is that enough?
It clears the list in a term. What makes them stick is the repeats afterwards, not the size of the weekly list.
My child is in year 5 but has not learnt these.
Then this is the right list. The year 5 and 6 words assume these are automatic, and starting there wastes both your time.
Why are the units alphabetical?
Because the list is. Grouping these words by spelling pattern would mean inventing patterns that are not there.