KS2 · Year 3 · Ages 7–8

The Trailblazers' Path

Welcome to Key Stage 2. Children are now mostly reading to learn, not learning to read — so the focus shifts to spelling: a world of prefixes, root words, homophones and the first hints of word origins. This page follows the English Appendix 1 of the National Curriculum.

Prefixes

Beginnings that change meaning

A prefix sits at the front of a root word. It doesn't usually change the spelling of the root — just sticks on.

un–

Means not.

unhappy
unfair
untidy
uncertain

dis–

Means not or opposite.

disagree
disappear
dishonest
disobey

mis–

Means wrongly.

misbehave
misspell
mislead
misplace

in– / im– / il– / ir–

All mean not — chosen to sound nice with the next letter.

incorrect
impossible
illegal
irregular

re–

Means again.

redo
refresh
return
rewrite

sub– · super– · auto–

Under · above · self.

submarine
superhero
automatic
autograph

Suffixes

Endings, and what they do to the root

–ation

Turns a verb into a noun. inform → information, prepare → preparation.

–ly

Turns an adjective into an adverb. sad → sadly. If the word ends in -y, change to -ily (happy → happily). If it ends in -le, swap for -ly (gentle → gently).

–ous

Means full of. danger → dangerous, poison → poisonous, fame → famous (drop the e).

Tricky spellings

Patterns Year 3 must master

/k/ spelled ch

From Greek roots.

school
chemist
echo
chorus
character

/sh/ spelled ch

Often from French.

chef
machine
chalet
brochure

/g/ spelled gue, /k/ spelled que

Also French in origin.

league
tongue
antique
unique

/s/ spelled sc

Latin roots.

science
scene
scissors
fascinate

/ai/ spelled ei, eigh, ey

vein
weigh
eight
they
obey

/i/ spelled y

myth
gym
Egypt
pyramid
mystery

Homophones

Words that sound the same — but aren't

Year 3 is the homophone year. The trick is meaning, not sound.

here / hear
there / their / they're
see / sea
be / bee
blue / blew
no / know
knight / night
flour / flower
plain / plane
break / brake
fair / fare
main / mane
meat / meet
peace / piece
weather / whether
great / grate
groan / grown
heel / heal / he'll

Trailblazer challenge

Write one sentence that uses both members of a pair: I could hear the sea from here. The sillier the better — silly is memorable.

Common exception words (Year 3 & 4)

From the National Curriculum statutory list — these are best learned little and often.

accident
actual
address
answer
appear
arrive
believe
bicycle
breath
breathe
build
busy
business
calendar
caught
centre
century
certain
circle
complete
consider
continue
decide
describe
different
difficult
disappear
early
earth
eight
eighth
enough
exercise
experience
experiment
extreme
famous
favourite
February
forward
fruit
grammar
group
guard
guide
heard
heart
height
history
imagine
increase
important
interest
island
knowledge
learn
length
library
material
medicine
mention
minute
natural
naughty
notice
occasion
often
opposite
ordinary
particular
peculiar
perhaps
popular
position
possess
possible
potatoes
pressure
probably
promise
purpose
quarter
question
recent
regular
reign
remember
sentence
separate
special
straight
strange
strength
suppose
surprise
therefore
though
thought
through
various
weight
woman
women

Beyond the path, the woods grow deeper — KS2 spelling continues into Year 4 and onwards.