Quick Practice – Spelling Homophones and tricky wordsLearning objectives:

Year 1: Pupils should be taught to:

• Spell:

owordscontainingeachofthe40+phonemesalreadytaught

ocommonexceptionwords

othedaysoftheweek

• Namethelettersofthealphabet:

onamingthelettersofthealphabetinorder

ousingletternamestodistinguishbetweenalternativespellingsofthe samesound

• Addprefixesandsuffixes:

ousingthespellingruleforadding–sor–esasthepluralmarkerfor nounsandthethirdpersonsingularmarkerforverbs

ousingtheprefixun–

ousing–ing,–ed,–erand–estwherenochangeisneededinthespelling ofrootwords[forexample,helping,helped,helper,eating,quicker, quickest]

• Applysimplespellingrulesandguidance.

• WritefrommemorysimplesentencesdictatedbytheteacherthatincludewordsusingtheGPCsandcommonexceptionwordstaughtsofar.

Year 2: Pupils should be taught to:

• Spellby:

osegmentingspokenwordsintophonemesandrepresentingtheseby graphemes,spellingmanycorrectly

olearningnewwaysofspellingphonemesforwhichoneormorespellings arealreadyknown,andlearnsomewordswitheachspelling,includinga fewcommonhomophones

Year 2: Pupils should be taught to: (cont...)

• Spellby:

olearningtospellcommonexceptionwords

olearningtospellmorewordswithcontractedforms

olearningthepossessiveapostrophe(singular)[forexample,thegirl’sbook]

odistinguishingbetweenhomophonesandnear-homophones

oaddsuffixestospelllongerwords,including–ment,–ness,–ful,–less,–ly

• Applyspellingrulesandguidance.

• WritefrommemorysimplesentencesdictatedbytheteacherthatincludewordsusingtheGPCs,commonexceptionwordsandpunctuationtaughtsofar.

Year 3 and 4: Pupils should be taught to:

• Usefurtherprefixesandsuffixesandunderstandhowtoaddthem(EnglishAppendix1).

• Spellfurtherhomophones.

• Spellwordsthatareoftenmisspelt(EnglishAppendix1).

• Placethepossessiveapostropheaccuratelyinwordswithregularplurals[forexample,girls’,boys’]andinwordswithirregularplurals[forexample,children’s].

• Usethefirsttwoorthreelettersofawordtocheckitsspellinginadictionary.

• Writefrommemorysimplesentences,dictatedbytheteacher,thatincludewordsandpunctuationtaughtsofar.

Year 5 and 6: Pupils should be taught to:

• Usefurtherprefixesandsuffixesandunderstandtheguidanceforaddingthem.

• Spellsomewordswith‘silent’letters[forexample,knight,psalm,solemn].

• Continuetodistinguishbetweenhomophonesandotherwordswhichareoftenconfused.

• Useknowledgeofmorphologyandetymologyinspellingandunderstandthatthespellingofsomewordsneedstobelearntspecifically.

• Usedictionariestocheckthespellingandmeaningofwords.

• Usethefirstthreeorfourlettersofawordtocheckspelling,meaningorbothoftheseinadictionary.

• Useathesaurus.

Year 1 – Activity 1Can you spell simple exception words?

You will need:ApartnerA6-sideddiceAgamesheeteachTwodifferentcolouredcounters

How to play:

1. Rollthedice.Yourpartnermustpickawordfromthecolumnwiththenumberthatyouroll.E.g.Ifyourolla1,yourpartnermustchooseawordfromthefirstcolumn.

2. Youneedtospellthatwordonawhiteboard.

3. Ifyouhavespelleditcorrectlythenyoucancoverthewordonyourpartner’sgamesheet.

4. Thenyourpartnerrollsthediceandyouchooseawordforthemfromthematchingcolumn.

5. Yourpartnerneedstospellitcorrectly.

6. Iftheyspellitcorrectly,theycancoverthewordonyourgamesheet.

7. TheWINNERistheonetoget4countersinarow,inacolumn,inadiagonalorthe4cornerwords.

Year 1 – Activity 1

Game sheet 1

1 2 3 4 5 6

to are was you your some

is by were they once where

his put my one come said

no the here love today other

she of ask pull house there

me has full our school friend

Game sheet 2

1 2 3 4 5 6

was she has where other friend

my they the today some you

by is pull were here said

no one of full come your

are his ask put house school

me to our love there once

Year 1 – Activity 2

Can you play the game to make some compound words?

How to play:Cutoutthecardsfrombothpacks,andputthemintwoface-downpiles.Takeitinturnstoturnoveracardfromeachpile.Ifyourtwocardsmakeacompoundword,thenyoukeepthecards.Ifyourcardsdonotmakeacompoundwordthenputthematthebottomofthepack.TheWINNERistheonewhohasthemostcorrectcompoundwords.

Pack A

black star lip white moon hand

farm pop foot pop eye air

bed play finger sun earth fire

butterfly foot snow eye rain sun

Pack B

ground berry yard stick light worm

berry corn board ball lash nail

fish room port fly print ball

bow work flower light brow bag

Lookatthesehomophones.Doyouknowwhattheymean?Explainwhattheymeantoapartner.

they’re there their to too two

where wear blue blew be bee

knight night quite quiet won one

bear bare son sun here hear

Completethesesentencesusingthewordsinthebox.Thentrymakingsomeofyourownsentencesusinghomophones.

1.The rodehishorseinthedark .

2.Arabbitrantoitshidingplacetohidefromthefox,and

miceran theirhidingplace .

3. Thebig,brown hada patchoffur.

4. lovelyandsunnydayPeter hisrace.

What are homophones?Twodifferentwordsarehomophonesiftheysoundexactlythesamewhenpronounced.

What are near homophones?Twodifferentwordsarenearhomophonesiftheysoundsimilarwhenpronounced.

Year 2 – Activity 1Can you use homophones correctly?

twoknightbaretoonetoonightwonbear

Chooseoneofthesuffixesbelowtoaddtoeachrootword.Thefirstonehasbeendoneforyou.

Root word Suffix New word

enjoy ment enjoyment

care

sad

hope

happy

slow

kind

Nowusesomeofthenewwordsinsentences.

Year 2 – Activity 2Can you match the root word to the suffix correctly?

nessmentfullessly

What is a root word?Itisawordthatcanstandalone,e.g.play,fair,footandball.Ifwewanttoknowhowtospellawordwemayhavetouseadictionarytolookfortherootwordtohelpusspellit.

What is a suffix? Thisisanendingthatcanbeaddedtoarootwordtoturnitintoanewword.Suffixescannotbewordsontheirown.E.g.playistherootwordinplayed(edisthesuffix).

Chooseoneoftheprefixesbelowtoaddtoeachrootword.Thefirstonehasbeendoneforyou.

Prefix Root word New word

super market supermarket

clockwise

behave

spell

agree

graph

matic

obey

dote

do

Nowusesomeofthenewwordsinsentences.

Year 3 – Activity 1Can you match the prefix to the root word correctly?

dismisunsuperantiauto

What is a prefix?Theseareaddedtothebeginningofarootwordtochangethemeaning.E.g.happy–unhappy

Year 3 – Activity 2

Can you match the homophones?

How to play:

Cutthehomophonecardsoutandspreadthemoutface-downonthetable.

Player1turnsovertwocardssobothplayerscanseethecards.

Ifthecardsarehomophonesthentheykeepthecards.

Iftheyarenothomophonesthentheplayerturnsthecardsbackover.

Player2thentakestheirturn.

TheWINNERistheplayerwiththemosthomophonesattheend.

accept heel he’ll heal peace here

except rain rein reign piece berry

affect brake break who’s scene grate

effect weather whether whose seen knot

main ball groan missed meat fair

mane bawl grown mist meet fare

plane plain mail male there their

there their they’re heel heal he’ll

rain reign rein ate eight hear

bury great not medal meddle they’re

Usingthepairsofhomophonesyouhavecollected,canyoumakesentencesusingbothcards?Whatcouldyouusetocheckifyouarecorrect?

Year 4 – Activity 1Can you find the correct prefix?

Chooseoneoftheprefixesbelowtoaddtoeachoftherootwordsinthetable.Thefirstonehasbeendoneforyou.Becarefulofthetrickyones.(Theremaybemorethanoneanswer.)

Useadictionarytofindoutthemeaningoftherootwordandthenewwordcreatedwhenyouhaveaddedtheprefix

PrefixRoot word and

definitionNew word Definition

im mortal–likely to die immortal not likely to die

relevant

marine

fresh

appear

responsible

divide

act

national

city

Whathappenswhenyouadddifferentprefixestowords?

inresubinteriril

Year 4 – Activity 2Can you change verbs to nouns and adjectives to adverbs?

Whathappenstoawordwhenthesuffix‘-ation’isaddedtoit?E.g.informtoinformation

Whathappenstoawordwhenthesuffix‘-ly’isaddedtoit?E.g.quicktoquickly

Completethismindmapbymakingdifferentwordsusingthesuffixes‘-ation’and‘-ly’.Whatdothenewwordsmean?Useadictionarytofindout.

Nowusesomeofyourwordsinsentences.Checkthatthesentencesmakesenseandthatyouhaveusedthewordcorrectly.

–ation-ly

Whatisthepattern?Oristhereone?

Nowtrycreatingyourownsentencesusingthecorrectlyspelledwords.

Asadictionarydetectiveyoucanfindoutifthe‘ibeforeeexceptafterc’ruleisactuallytrue.Belowaretwospellingsofwordsthatfollowtherule–ordothey?Lookinthedictionaryandcircleallthecorrectspellings.Istherulecorrect?Arethereexceptions?Thinkabouthowthewordssound–isthereapatterntothewaythewordsarespelled?

Year 5 – Activity 1Can you use the ‘i before e except after c’ rule?

theif/thief

chief/cheif

decieve/deceive

yeild/yield

weight/wieght

weird/wierd

science/sceince

believe/beleive

receive/recieve

neighbour/nieghbour

Writethedefinitionofahomophone.Howdoyouknowwhentousethecorrect

homophone?

Look at the poem below and underline all the homophones.

Nowwritethepoemoutagainonaseparatepieceofpaper.Thistimemakesureyouuseallthecorrecthomophones.

Ifyouhavetime,youcouldevenwriteyourownpoemusinghomophones.

Year 5 – Activity 2Can you tell the difference between homophones?

Folk law by Naomi Allman

Thethingseye’vescene,Manyaren’taboar.

Theplaceseye’vebeanEye’veherdallaboutfolklaw.

Fairiesandmonstersandmermaidsatsee;Creaturesofdayandmonstersofknight.

Secrettunnelsanddoorwaysinneedofaquay.Theyalwaysmakemefeelsolite!

Butaretheywrongoararetheywrite?

Aretheyfilledwithmisssteaks?Ohtheanswerseye’vescene–ohwhatasite!

Theexcitementoftheweight–howitmakesmesheikh!

Yes,eye’vealwayslovedlisteningtofolklaw.Aweightoseaimaginationoftheworld’smined.

Eye’llalwayskeepsearching–Eye’llalwayswantmoor.Itendtowonderwhatelseeyecouldfined.

©2016,NaomiAllman

Year 6 – Activity 1Can you think of alternatives for over-used words?

Ourheadteacherhastoldusthatthefollowingwordsarenolongerallowedinourwriting–EVER!Ithasbeendecreedthatonlywordsthatmeanthesameoraresimilarshouldbeused.TheseareSYNONYMS.

Canyouhelpustoobeythisnewrulebyusingathesaurustofindotherwordsthatwecanuseinsteadofthesewords?

Banned word Alternatives

nice

good

happy

sad

said

cute

big

LookthroughyourEnglishbookandfindotherwordsthatyouusetoomuchinyourwriting.Canyouthinkofdifferentwordsthatyoucoulduseinstead.

Foreachofthewordsbelow,writeawordthathastheoppositemeaning.Thenuseitinasentence.Becareful–theycanmeanmorethanonething.

CLEAR BRIGHT STAND SAFE

SLIP VOLUME SENSE LARGE

RUN DARK LONG

Year 6 – Activity 2Can you make your own homophones nonsense story?

Readthepassagebelow.Lookupthewordsinboldinadictionary.Theyareallhomophones.Changethesehomophonestothe‘wrong’spellinge.g.leakforleeketc.Thenreadittoyourfriend-doesitstillmakesense?

Canyoumakeupastoryliketheoneabovewithrealwordsandthengetyourpartnerto

changeallthehomophonestomakeitnonsense?

If yew can wheel sea how grate yore work is!

Astheboystoodinthechurchhall,herealisedthattheaisledownthe

middleofitwentrighttothealtar.Themanwatchedasthechildwasledto

adoorwaythatmadeitswaytoaplacewherechildrenwerenotallowedto

be.Themanshoutedhisadvice‘Youneedalicencetogothere!’

‘NotifIhavethis!’theboywhined,andshowedasimpledevice–hiskey!