Ages 7 to 8 · grade 2 · UK Year 3
2nd grade spelling words
Grade 2 spelling takes the grade 1 patterns into longer words (rabbit, explain, mountain) and adds more vowel teams, prefixes and suffixes, and the rules for adding endings. The same sound can be spelled more than one way, and a child learns which spelling usually goes where.
Follow the whole grade 2 year: a new list every Monday →
Our own words for each lesson’s pattern. Spell Cub isn’t affiliated with UFLI.
Practise this week’s grade 2 list now, out loud, free →
Week 1
Short vowels in longer words
Two short syllables, each spelled the way it sounds: rab-bit, nap-kin.
- rabbit
- napkin
- picnic
- basket
- kitten
- insect
- magnet
- muffin
- because
- people
Stretch: fantastic, chipmunk, trumpet, hundred
At home: Clap the syllables, then spell each part: pic-nic, bas-ket.
Week 2
Silent e in longer words
The silent e still makes the vowel say its name in a longer word: cup-cake, in-side.
- cupcake
- inside
- sunrise
- reptile
- homemade
- explode
- invite
- pancake
- water
- laugh
Stretch: complete, escape, costume, athlete
At home: Find the silent e in each part: pan-cake, sun-rise.
Week 3
Open and closed syllables
A syllable that ends in a vowel says the vowel’s name (ro-bot); one that ends in a consonant is short (bas-ket).
- robot
- music
- tiger
- pilot
- hotel
- paper
- silent
- zero
- always
- also
Stretch: volcano, tornado, tomato, potato
At home: Split the word and listen: ti-ger (long i), pic-nic (short i).
Week 4
-tch, -dge and -le in longer words
tch and dge after a short vowel (kitchen, budget), and le at the end of a word (puzzle).
- kitchen
- catcher
- pitcher
- hedge
- budget
- gadget
- bubble
- puzzle
- great
- break
Stretch: crutches, porridge, cartridge, sparkle
At home: Clap the parts: kit-chen, puz-zle. Which part has the tricky letters?
Week 5
ar and or in longer words
An r changes the vowel before it: garden, corner.
- farm
- start
- sharp
- garden
- corner
- sport
- store
- before
- buy
- goes
Stretch: carpet, market, harvest, explore
At home: Find ar and or words in a story and spell one each.
Week 6 · Review
rabbit, basket, inside, pancake, robot, tiger, kitchen, puzzle, garden, before
Week 7
er, ir and ur in longer words
Three spellings, one sound: letter, thirsty, return. This one is mostly memory.
- letter
- sister
- under
- after
- thirsty
- birthday
- return
- purple
- their
- sure
Stretch: winter, number, thunder, circus
At home: Make a silly sentence with one of each: the thirsty girl returned the letter.
Week 8
ai and ay in longer words
Long a: ai in the middle of a part, ay at the end: ex-plain, hol-i-day.
- explain
- remain
- afraid
- contain
- holiday
- display
- crayon
- daydream
- shoe
- move
Stretch: complain, maintain, yesterday, railway
At home: Middle or end? explain (ai in the middle), display (ay at the end).
Week 9
ee, ea and ey in longer words
Long e, three ways: between, teacher, monkey.
- between
- asleep
- freedom
- teacher
- season
- reason
- monkey
- valley
- carry
- warm
Stretch: volunteer, chimney, turkey, squeaky
At home: Sort the words by spelling: ee, ea or ey.
Week 10
oa, ow and oe in longer words
Long o, three ways: throat, yellow, tiptoe.
- yellow
- window
- follow
- below
- throat
- toast
- oatmeal
- tiptoe
- half
- gone
Stretch: tomorrow, shadow, pillow, swallow
At home: Look for ow at the end of a word: window, yellow, follow.
Week 11
ie and igh in longer words
Long i: igh in the middle (flight), ie at the end (magpie).
- delight
- flight
- highway
- sunlight
- frighten
- untie
- magpie
- necktie
- built
- sugar
Stretch: tightrope, highlight, mighty, slightly
At home: Three letters, one sound: igh. Find it in sunlight and highway.
Week 12 · Review
letter, birthday, explain, holiday, teacher, monkey, window, throat, flight, highway
Week 13
oo in longer words
Two sounds, one spelling: oo in noodle and oo in wooden.
- bamboo
- shampoo
- noodle
- scooter
- igloo
- bookcase
- wooden
- understood
- walk
- talk
Stretch: toothbrush, kangaroo, afternoon, mushroom
At home: Sort the words: oo like moon, or oo like book.
Week 14
ew, ue and ui
The oo sound spelled ew (nephew), ue (avenue) and ui (fruit).
- fruit
- juice
- suitcase
- nephew
- renew
- avenue
- cashew
- cruise
- wash
- squash
Stretch: continue, newspaper, recruit, interview
At home: Spot ui and ew in a recipe or on a fruit bowl.
Week 15
au, aw and augh
The aw sound, spelled aw (drawing), au (autumn) and augh (caught).
- autumn
- author
- sausage
- laundry
- awful
- drawing
- yawn
- caught
- early
- learn
Stretch: daughter, applause, astronaut, strawberry
At home: aw usually comes at the end of a part (draw-ing); au comes in the middle (au-tumn).
Week 16
ea in bread
ea can also say e as in bed: weather, heavy.
- breakfast
- weather
- feather
- heavy
- ready
- instead
- sweater
- meadow
- country
- young
Stretch: pleasant, ahead, breathless, thread
At home: Two ways to say ea: eat and bread. Sort a few words into each.
Week 17
oi and oy in longer words
oi in the middle of a part (noisy), oy at the end (annoy).
- noisy
- boiling
- pointed
- avoid
- annoy
- destroy
- royal
- loyal
- answer
- listen
Stretch: oyster, voyage, appointment, employer
At home: Middle or end? boiling (oi), royal (oy at the end of a part).
Week 18 · Review
noodle, wooden, fruit, nephew, autumn, drawing, weather, heavy, noisy, royal
Week 19
ou and ow in longer words
The ow sound: ou in the middle (mountain), ow often at the end of a part (flower).
- mountain
- around
- thousand
- flower
- shower
- powder
- crowded
- downtown
- than
- among
Stretch: announce, eyebrow, mouthful, download
At home: Say "ow!" as if you stubbed a toe. Find it in mountain and flower.
Week 20
kn, wr and mb
Letters English stopped saying long ago and still writes: knee, write, thumb.
- knee
- knock
- knot
- knit
- write
- wrong
- wrap
- thumb
- often
- either
Stretch: knight, wrist, climb, wreck
At home: Say the silent letter out loud as a reminder: k-nee, w-rite, thum-b.
Week 21
-er, -est, -ly, -ful and -less
Endings that change a word, and the word before them stays the same: strong, stronger; care, careful; use, useless.
- stronger
- strongest
- smoother
- quickly
- safely
- carefully
- hopeful
- useless
- island
- ocean
Stretch: peaceful, cheerfully, restful, completely
At home: Add an ending and say what it means: hope, hopeful; safe, safely.
Week 22
un-, re-, pre- and dis-
Beginnings that change a word: un- means not, re- means again, pre- means before, dis- means not.
- unlock
- unpack
- undo
- redo
- retell
- preheat
- dislike
- disagree
- piece
- eight
Stretch: unhappy, rebuild, preview, disappear
At home: Take a word and add un- or re-: lock, unlock; tell, retell.
Week 23
Doubling: -ed, -ing, -er and -est
After one short vowel and one consonant, double the consonant: plan, planned; big, biggest.
- shopping
- clapped
- planned
- dropped
- flattest
- biggest
- hottest
- snapped
- whose
- lose
Stretch: skipping, wrapped, chopped, swimmer
At home: Say the base word. Short vowel, one consonant? Double it.
Week 24 · Review
around, flower, knock, write, quickly, hopeful, unlock, dislike, planned, biggest
Week 25
Drop the e, and y to i
Drop the silent e before -ing or -ed (skate, skating); change y to i before -es, -ed or -er (cry, cried).
- skating
- driving
- saving
- latest
- cried
- tried
- babies
- happier
- heard
- special
Stretch: families, studied, funnier, easiest
At home: Start with baby, change the y to i, and add -es: babies.
Week 26
air, are and ear
air, are and ear in chair, care and bear; ear in hear.
- hair
- chair
- pair
- care
- share
- bear
- hear
- near
- heart
- guess
Stretch: prepare, stairs, airport, appear
At home: Find things in the house: a chair, a pair of socks, a teddy bear.
Week 27
ough
The trickiest letters in English: bought, cough, rough.
- bought
- brought
- thought
- fought
- cough
- rough
- tough
- dough
- though
- through
Stretch: thoughtful, toughest, coughing, roughly
At home: Say the word as it is spelled, "b-ough-t", to remember the letters.
Week 28
Soft c and soft g
Before e, i and y, c usually says s and g often says j: city, giant.
- city
- cent
- cell
- pencil
- gem
- giant
- gym
- magic
- police
- scissors
Stretch: bicycle, cereal, gentle, ginger, celery
At home: Look at the letter after c or g: e, i or y makes it soft.
Week 29
-tion and -sion
The shun sound at the end of a word, spelled tion (action) or sion (vision).
- action
- motion
- station
- section
- mention
- question
- vision
- mission
- hour
- honest
Stretch: television, vacation, invitation, explosion, addition
At home: Clap the parts: ac-tion, sta-tion. The last part sounds like shun.
Week 30 · Review
driving, babies, chair, hear, thought, brought, city, giant, question, vision
How to practise a list like this
- Say the word, then a sentence, then the word. Your child writes it from memory, not by copying it.
- Check each word straight away. Show the right spelling, point to the letters that differ, and have them write it again.
- A few words a day beats the whole list the night before. Start on Monday with a quick check, so the practice goes on the words they don’t know yet.
Other grades
The lists are Cub Climb’s own, by spelling pattern. Every word is spelled the same in American and Canadian English. Spell Cub reads them in American or Canadian English, as the class chooses.