Ages 10 to 11 · grade 5 · UK Year 6
5th grade spelling words
Grade 5 spelling is about long words: endings that sound the same (-ance, -ence), doubled letters nobody hears, and Latin roots that carry the meaning (port means carry, rupt means break). A child who knows the root can often spell a word they have never seen.
Follow the whole grade 5 year: a new list every Monday →
Practise this week’s grade 5 list now, out loud, free →
Week 1
-cious and -tious
The shus sound at the end of a describing word: delicious, cautious.
- delicious
- precious
- gracious
- spacious
- suspicious
- cautious
- nutritious
- ambitious
- although
- apparently
Stretch: conscious, ferocious, superstitious, pretentious
At home: Use the base word: grace, gracious; space, spacious.
Week 2
ie and ei
i before e (believe), except after c (receive), and the words that break the rule (weird).
- chief
- thief
- field
- shield
- receive
- ceiling
- deceive
- conceit
- cupboard
- colonel
Stretch: seize, weird, protein, perceive
At home: After c, it’s ei: receive, ceiling. Find the exceptions together.
Week 3
-ance and -ence
They sound the same. This list is mostly memory, helped by a related word: confident, confidence.
- distance
- importance
- appearance
- assistance
- confidence
- existence
- independence
- innocence
- exhausted
- genuine
Stretch: obedience, convenience, interference, perseverance
At home: Match the pairs: distant and distance, confident and confidence.
Week 4
Double letters
Doubles nobody hears: two c and two m in accommodate.
- accommodate
- committee
- embarrass
- necessary
- occur
- possess
- success
- aggressive
- gauge
- marriage
Stretch: immediately, unnecessary, accommodation, embarrassment
At home: Write the word and circle the doubles: a-cc-o-mm-odate.
Week 5
Latin roots: port, rupt, dict and tract
port means carry, rupt means break, dict means say, tract means pull.
- transport
- export
- portable
- interrupt
- erupt
- predict
- dictate
- attract
- minuscule
- phenomenon
Stretch: dictionary, abrupt, subtraction, distraction
At home: Find the root in each word and say what it means.
Week 6 · Review
delicious, cautious, chief, receive, appearance, existence, necessary, embarrass, transport, predict
Week 7
Tricky long words
Words older writers use often and misspell often.
- according
- available
- category
- cemetery
- government
- language
- restaurant
- vehicle
- pigeon
- recipe
Stretch: environment, communicate, parliament, temperament
At home: Say each word in parts as it is spelled: res-tau-rant.
Week 8
bio, geo, hydro and therm
Greek roots in science words: bio (life), geo (earth), hydro (water), therm (heat).
- biology
- geography
- geology
- geometry
- hydrant
- hydrate
- thermal
- thermometer
- sergeant
- souvenir
Stretch: hydroelectric, thermostat, biodegradable, geothermal
At home: Find the roots in a science book or on a thermometer.
Week 9
Keeping the e: -ce and -ge
Keep the e after c or g before -able and -ous, so they stay soft: noticeable, courageous.
- noticeable
- changeable
- manageable
- courageous
- outrageous
- advantageous
- replaceable
- knowledgeable
- sword
- unusual
Stretch: unmanageable, irreplaceable, interchangeable, unchangeable
At home: Why keep the e? Without it, notic-able would say k.
Week 10
-al
-al makes a describing word: music, musical; magic, magical.
- musical
- magical
- logical
- medical
- critical
- practical
- political
- historical
- vacuum
- sapphire
Stretch: electrical, mechanical, theatrical, hysterical
At home: Turn naming words into describing words: music, musical.
Week 11
ch that says k
In words from Greek, ch says k: chaos, chemical, choir.
- chaos
- chemical
- choir
- chord
- chronic
- scheme
- mechanic
- anchor
- onion
- lieutenant
Stretch: chronological, orchestral, psychology, architect
At home: Say each word and listen for the k sound spelled ch.
Week 12 · Review
government, restaurant, geography, thermometer, noticeable, courageous, magical, political, chemical, scheme
Week 13
Homophones: desert and dessert
Pairs that sound alike or nearly alike: desert and dessert, compliment and complement.
- desert
- dessert
- compliment
- complement
- council
- counsel
- prophet
- profit
- peculiar
- plateau
Stretch: precede, proceed, eligible, illegible
At home: A trick: dessert has two s because you always want seconds.
Week 14
-ation from verbs
Verbs ending in -ate drop the e (hesitate, hesitation); -ify becomes -ification.
- hesitation
- concentration
- decoration
- preparation
- admiration
- qualification
- classification
- identification
- debris
- depot
Stretch: justification, purification, multiplication, communication
At home: Turn each verb into a naming word: prepare, preparation.
Week 15
rh, pn and gn
Silent letters from Greek: rh (rhinoceros), pn (pneumonia), gn (gnaw).
- rhinoceros
- rhubarb
- rhombus
- pneumatic
- wrestle
- wreath
- gnaw
- gnarled
- doubtful
- foreigner
Stretch: pseudonym, rhetoric, mnemonic, psychiatrist
At home: Say each word as it is spelled to remember the silent letter.
Week 16
-ability and -ibility
-able becomes -ability and -ible becomes -ibility.
- ability
- responsibility
- possibility
- flexibility
- visibility
- availability
- reliability
- probability
- guardian
- jeopardy
Stretch: compatibility, accessibility, sustainability, credibility
At home: Turn each describing word into a naming word: able, ability; possible, possibility.
Week 17
trans-, inter- and counter-
trans- means across, inter- means between, counter- means against.
- transfer
- translate
- transparent
- transform
- intercept
- interval
- counterpart
- counterfeit
- leopard
- meadow
Stretch: transatlantic, intermission, counterclockwise, transcontinental
At home: Guess the meaning from the beginning: transport (carry across).
Week 18 · Review
dessert, compliment, preparation, identification, rhinoceros, wrestle, possibility, reliability, translate, interval
Week 19
-ent and -ency
Describing words in -ent make naming words in -ency: urgent, urgency.
- urgent
- urgency
- fluent
- fluency
- efficient
- efficiency
- decent
- decency
- opportunity
- quarantine
Stretch: emergency, consistency, agency, transparency
At home: Match the pairs: fluent and fluency, decent and decency.
Week 20
Words from other languages
English borrows words and keeps their spelling: safari (Swahili), tsunami (Japanese).
- bizarre
- chocolate
- safari
- tsunami
- karate
- origami
- kindergarten
- cafe
- rehearsal
- tortoise
Stretch: entrepreneur, rendezvous, ukulele, piranha
At home: Find where each word comes from on a map.
Week 21
-ious
y turns to i before -ous: glory, glorious; mystery, mysterious.
- glorious
- furious
- victorious
- mysterious
- luxurious
- envious
- harmonious
- industrious
- tournament
- triumph
Stretch: ceremonious, laborious, notorious, superior
At home: Find the base word: furious (fury), victorious (victory).
Week 22
-ally
Words ending in -al add -ly to make -ally: basic, basically; accident, accidentally.
- basically
- accidentally
- usually
- naturally
- especially
- generally
- eventually
- originally
- typhoon
- wrinkle
Stretch: incidentally, enthusiastically, academically, specifically
At home: Listen for the al you might not hear: basic-al-ly.
Week 23
More tricky long words
Long words with letters that are easy to leave out.
- occurrence
- maintenance
- questionnaire
- acquire
- acquaintance
- parallel
- millennium
- liaison
- apostrophe
- asthma
Stretch: acquisition, reconnaissance, connoisseur, conscientious
At home: Find the tricky part of each word and say it as spelled.
Week 24 · Review
urgency, efficiency, tsunami, kindergarten, glorious, furious, basically, accidentally, occurrence, parallel
Week 25
anti-, auto-, de- and non-
anti- means against, auto- means self, de- means undo, non- means not.
- antibiotic
- antifreeze
- autopilot
- autobiography
- defrost
- deflate
- nonsense
- nonfiction
- bachelor
- biscuit
Stretch: antibacterial, autonomous, dehydrate, nonstop
At home: Guess the meaning from the beginning: defrost (undo freezing).
Week 26
graph, scribe and script
Roots about writing: graph (written), scribe and script (write).
- autograph
- paragraph
- calligraphy
- scribble
- prescribe
- manuscript
- inscription
- subscribe
- boulevard
- catastrophe
Stretch: transcript, description, photographer, biographer
At home: Find the root in each word and say what it means.
Week 27
bene and mal
bene means good and mal means bad: benefit, malfunction.
- benefit
- beneficial
- benefactor
- benevolent
- benign
- malfunction
- malware
- malice
- chameleon
- curriculum
Stretch: beneficiary, benefited, malfunctioning, malicious
At home: Guess the meaning from the root: benefit (a good result).
Week 28
ject and mit
Latin roots: ject means throw, mit means send.
- reject
- inject
- project
- object
- eject
- transmit
- permit
- submit
- dinosaur
- fluorescent
Stretch: projectile, intermittent, trajectory, emission
At home: Find the root: project (throw forward), transmit (send across).
Week 29
-eous
An e before -ous, heard or not: gorgeous, simultaneous.
- courteous
- hideous
- gorgeous
- simultaneous
- miscellaneous
- spontaneous
- instantaneous
- erroneous
- haughty
- irresistible
Stretch: righteous, extraneous, heterogeneous, homogeneous
At home: Say the word in parts as spelled: gor-ge-ous.
Week 30 · Review
antifreeze, defrost, paragraph, manuscript, benefit, malfunction, project, transmit, gorgeous, simultaneous
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.