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Years 3 and 4 English · Key Stage 2 · Spelling – English Appendix 1

Years 3 and 4 spelling: plural possessive apostrophes and homophones

In Years 3 and 4 children extend the apostrophe they met in Year 2 to show that something belongs to more than one person or thing, as in “the girls’ coats”. They also learn to spell homophones and near-homophones, words that sound the same or almost the same but are spelt differently and mean different things, such as “break” and “brake” or “whose” and “who’s”. Both skills depend on thinking about meaning, not just sound.

Plural apostrophes and homophones, explained

In Year 2 children learned that an apostrophe followed by s shows that something belongs to one person or thing: “the girl’s coat”. Now they meet the plural. If the plural word already ends in s, the apostrophe goes after it and nothing is added: “the girls’ coats” (several girls), “the boys’ shoes”, “the babies’ bottles”. If the plural does not end in s, as with “children”, “men” and “mice”, the apostrophe is followed by s as before: “the children’s toys”, “the men’s race”, “the mice’s cheese”.

The best way to choose is to follow a fixed order. First decide who or what owns the thing. Then write that owner in its plural form. Finally look at the last letter: if it is s, add only the apostrophe, and if it is not, add apostrophe and s. Reading the phrase aloud and swapping in “of the”, as in “the coats of the girls”, helps children see which noun is the owner and whether it is one or many. Many mistakes are really spelling mistakes in the plural, such as “babys’” instead of “babies’”.

The second half of this topic is homophones, words that sound the same, such as “here” and “hear”, “meat” and “meet”, “plain” and “plane”. Near-homophones sound very similar but not quite identical, such as “accept” and “except” or “affect” and “effect”. The examples in the National Curriculum include “brake” and “break”, “fair” and “fare”, “knot” and “not”, “peace” and “piece”, “scene” and “seen”, “weather” and “whether”, and “rain”, “rein” and “reign”. Schools choose which words to teach and often add their own.

A spell-checker usually won’t catch a homophone, because both words are real words. “Squeeze the break to stop the bike” has no spelling mistake a spell-checker can see, even though the child meant “brake”. So children learn to think of the meaning first, then choose the spelling. Teachers give memory tricks, such as “hear” having “ear” in it, or “piece” being a “piece of pie”. They also ask children to write the words inside sentences so that the meaning decides the spelling. The words “whose” (belonging to someone) and “who’s” (who is or who has) link the two halves of this topic: in “who’s” the apostrophe marks missing letters, while “whose” shows belonging and has no apostrophe at all.

Words your child will hear

Possessive apostrophe
An apostrophe that shows who or what something belongs to.
Plural
More than one of something: girls, children, mice.
Singular
Just one of something: girl, child, mouse.
Irregular plural
A plural that isn’t made by adding -s or -es, such as “men”, “children” or “mice”.
Homophone
A word that sounds the same as another but has a different spelling and meaning, like “plain” and “plane”.
Near-homophone
A word that sounds almost the same as another, like “accept” and “except”.
Contraction
A short form where an apostrophe replaces missing letters, as in “who’s” for “who is”.

What the National Curriculum says

In Years 3 and 4, pupils should be taught to:

  • Use the possessive apostrophe with plural words
  • Spell homophones and near-homophones

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

Try it: placing plural apostrophes

Add apostrophes where they are needed: The girls bags were next to the childrens coats and the babies bottles.

  1. Look for each place where something belongs to someone: bags to the girls, coats to the children, bottles to the babies. The other nouns are only plurals and need no apostrophe.
  2. “The girls bags”: the owners are the girls, which is plural and already ends in s. Add only the apostrophe after the s: girls’ bags.
  3. “The childrens coats”: the owners are the children. “Children” is a plural that does not end in s, so add apostrophe and s: children’s coats.
  4. “The babies bottles”: the owners are several babies. Check the plural spelling first (baby becomes babies), then add the apostrophe after the s: babies’ bottles.
  5. Read the whole sentence back, swapping in “of the” to check: the bags of the girls, the coats of the children, the bottles of the babies. It makes sense.

The girls’ bags were next to the children’s coats and the babies’ bottles.

Common mistakes and how to help

Adding an apostrophe to an ordinary plural, as in “apple’s for sale” or “the girl’s are here”

Children see apostrophes everywhere on signs and in print, and learn that they “go before an s”. They don’t yet check whether anything actually belongs to someone.

What helps: Ask the question: “Does anything belong to anyone?” If not, it is only a plural and needs no apostrophe. Spot and discuss the mistakes on shop signs.

Putting the apostrophe in the same place whether there is one owner or many

Children remember “apostrophe then s” from Year 2 and apply it to every example, writing “the girl’s coats” when they mean several girls.

What helps: Use a pair: “the girl’s coat” and “the girls’ coats”. Ask your child how many owners there are, and say which side of the s the apostrophe will go for each.

Writing “childrens’” or “mens’” for irregular plurals

The rule “plural, so apostrophe after the s” is learned well, but “children” and “men” do not end in s, so the rule does not apply.

What helps: Look at the last letter of the plural word. No s on the end means the apostrophe comes before the s you add: children’s, men’s, mice’s, women’s.

Choosing a homophone by sound alone, such as writing “weather” when “whether” is meant, or mixing up “whose” and “who’s”

The pair sounds identical, so sound gives no clue, and both spellings look like genuine words. For “who’s”, children may not realise it is short for “who is”.

What helps: Say the meaning in a sentence first. Swap in the longer form: if “who is” fits, write “who’s”. For other pairs, use a memory trick, like “we hear with our ear”.

How to help at home

  • Whose is it? Point at things around the house and ask who owns them, using a plural owner: “the cats’ bowls”, “the neighbours’ car”, “the children’s books”. Ask your child to write one or two down with the apostrophe in the right place.
  • Sign spotting. Look for apostrophes on shop signs, menus and posters on a walk. Decide together whether each one is correct, and whether a missing one is needed. Children enjoy being the expert.
  • Homophone pairs in sentences. Choose a pair such as “peace” and “piece” and ask your child to write one sentence for each, with the meaning clear. Draw a quick picture to match, because pictures help the meaning stick to the right spelling.
  • Memory tricks. Make up a trick together for each pair that causes trouble: “a piece of pie” or “we hear with an ear”. A silly trick your child invents is easier to remember than one an adult supplies.

Related topics

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More on spelling – English Appendix 1

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