Year 2 English · Key Stage 1 · Writing – transcription (spelling)

Year 2 spelling: segmenting, new spellings and homophones

In Year 2, spelling moves on from writing what you hear to learning which spelling is correct. Children still break spoken words into sounds and write a letter or letters for each, but they now learn that one sound can be spelled several ways, so they have to know which is right for each word. They learn common exception words, tell apart words that sound the same, such as “there” and “their”, and write sentences from memory when the teacher dictates them.

Spelling sounds and homophones, explained

The starting point is still segmenting: saying a word slowly, splitting it into its separate sounds, called phonemes, and writing a letter or group of letters, called a grapheme, for each one. “Frog” has four sounds (f-r-o-g), and “knight” has three (n-igh-t). In Year 2 children apply this to longer words by splitting them into syllables first, such as sun-set, then segmenting each part. A spelling that matches the sounds but isn’t the usual one, such as “nite” for “night”, is called phonically plausible. Teachers value plausible attempts because they show that a child understands how sounds work.

From Year 2, children move towards word-specific knowledge: knowing which spelling is right for a particular word. Many sounds can be written more than one way. Children already know some of these from Year 1, such as ai, ay and a-e in “rain”, “play” and “cake”. Year 2 adds more: the “igh” sound at the end of a word is often spelled y (cry, fly, dry), the “ee” sound can be spelled ey (key, monkey), and the “j” sound at the end of a word is spelled dge or ge (bridge, age). Other patterns taught include kn and wr at the start of words (knee, write), c for the “s” sound before e, i or y (city), word endings such as -le, -el and -al (table, camel, metal), and -tion (station). Children learn groups of words that share a spelling, so that the pattern sticks.

Common exception words are words with unusual spellings that can’t be worked out by sound alone, such as “because”, “people”, “busy”, “water” and “could”. Year 2 adds a further list, and many schools teach a few at a time, sometimes with a short weekly check. Children are taught to find the tricky part and to practise it, often with look, cover, write and check. These words matter because they come up in nearly everything a child writes.

Homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled differently and mean different things: “sea” and “see”, “blue” and “blew”, “night” and “knight”, “to”, “too” and “two”. Year 2 children learn a few common ones, including “there”, “their” and “they’re”, and near-homophones, such as “quite” and “quiet”, which sound alike but not quite the same. The meaning in the sentence decides which spelling to use, so children learn to stop and ask themselves what they mean.

Finally, children are expected to write from memory simple sentences that the teacher dictates, using the spellings, common exception words and punctuation they have been taught. Dictation checks that spelling is secure when a child is also thinking about capital letters, spaces and full stops. In class it is usually a gentle activity, not a high-stakes test.

Words your child will hear

Phoneme: A single sound in a word. “Bridge” has four phonemes: b, r, i, j.
Grapheme: The letter or letters that stand for one sound, such as b, igh or dge.
Segment: Split a spoken word into its separate sounds so you can write them.
Common exception word: A common word with an unusual spelling that needs to be learned, such as “people”.
Homophone: A word that sounds the same as another but has a different spelling and meaning, such as “sea” and “see”.
Near-homophone: A word that sounds nearly, but not exactly, like another, such as “quite” and “quiet”.
Dictation: A sentence the teacher reads aloud for children to write from memory.

What the National Curriculum says

In Year 2, pupils should be taught to:

Spell by segmenting spoken words into phonemes and representing these by graphemes, spelling many correctly
Spell by learning new ways of spelling phonemes for which 1 or more spellings are already known, and learn some words with each spelling, including a few common homophones
Spell by learning to spell common exception words
Spell by distinguishing between homophones and near-homophones
Write from memory simple sentences dictated by the teacher that include words using the GPCs, common exception words and punctuation taught so far

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: spelling “bridge” and writing it from dictation

Your child wants to write “The bridge is old.” How can they spell “bridge” and write the whole sentence from memory?

Say the word slowly and count the sounds on fingers: b, r, i, j. There are four sounds.
```
b - r - i - j
```
Write what they hear. “Brij” is a sensible first attempt and a good sign, because every sound is there. But the last sound, “j”, can be written in more than one way.
Choose the right spelling for the “j” sound. At the end of a word after a short vowel sound, it is usually spelled dge, as in badge, edge, fudge and bridge. After any other sound, such as a long vowel or a consonant, it is ge, as in age, huge, large and change.
```
b - r - i - dge
bridge
```
Check and fix it. Look at the word, cover it, write it from memory and check it again. Doing this two or three times makes the spelling stick.
Now try the sentence as dictation. Say the whole sentence, count the four words, then write it: a capital letter for The, the spellings they know, spaces between words and a full stop at the end.

bridge, and the sentence “The bridge is old.”

Common mistakes and how to help

Believing that spelling it as it sounds always works

Phonics has taught children that sounds map to letters, so “sed” for “said” or “becos” for “because” feels right to them.

What helps: Praise the attempt, then say “That’s how it sounds. Let’s look at how it’s written.” Mark the tricky part and practise only that.

Using the same spelling for a sound in every word

A child learns that “ai” says the sound in “rain” and writes “plai” for “play” or “dai” for “day”.

What helps: Teach the guideline that “ay” is usually used at the end of a word, and “ai” in the middle. Collect words with each pattern together.

Mixing up homophones such as there, their and they’re

The words sound identical, so the ear can’t help. Children often choose whichever they wrote last.

What helps: Link spelling to meaning. “Hear” has “ear” in it. “There” is a place, like “here”. Say the sentence and ask what the word is doing.

Spelling correctly in a test but wrongly in their own writing

Learning a list in isolation doesn’t guarantee the child will remember the spelling when they are also thinking about ideas, handwriting and punctuation.

What helps: Practise each new word in a sentence and in short dictation. Encourage your child to check one or two words after writing, not as they go.

How to help at home

Say it, count it, write it. When your child asks how to spell a word, say it slowly together, count the sounds on fingers, then let them write what they hear. Then show the correct spelling and talk about the bit that differs.
Collect words with the same pattern. Choose a pattern, such as ay, dge or kn, and look for words with it in books and around the house. Add to the list over a week and read it out loud.
Look, say, cover, write, check. For a tricky word, look at it closely and say it, cover it, write it from memory, then check. Do it three times in a row, then again the next day.
Do a shopping-list dictation. Say a short sentence or list of items for your child to write, such as “Buy some water and eggs.” Check the spellings together, with a capital letter and full stop.
Draw the homophones. Ask your child to draw a picture for each word in a pair, such as “sea” and “see”, and write a short sentence under each. The picture ties the spelling to the meaning.

Builds on

Year 1: Spelling sounds, tricky words and the alphabet
Year 1: Prefixes, suffixes and dictation

Leads on to

Years 3 and 4: Prefixes, suffixes and homophones
Years 3 and 4: Plural apostrophes, dictionaries and dictation