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

Years 3 and 4 spelling words: pressure to woman

The statutory spelling list for Years 3 and 4 holds words that children use all the time and often spell wrongly. This page covers the final group of 25 in alphabetical order, from pressure to woman, including separate, strength, surprise, though, through and weight. Children learn them by spotting the tricky part of each word and using what they know about related words.

Spelling words: pressure to woman, explained

The list is statutory, so every school must teach it, though the order, the pace and the method are the school’s decision. The words on this page are: pressure, probably, promise, purpose, quarter, question, recent, regular, reign, remember, sentence, separate, special, straight, strange, strength, suppose, surprise, therefore, though and although, thought, through, various, weight, and woman and women. Children usually meet them mixed in with words from the other three groups.

Several words in this group are held together by letter patterns that do not match the sound. Straight uses aigh and weight uses eigh to make a long “ay” sound. Weight rhymes with eight and straight, and it is weigh with a t added, so many children find it easier to learn them as a set. Though, although, thought and through all use ough, but each says something different: “oh” in though and although, “or” in thought and “oo” in through. The spelling of every one has to be learned, which is why it helps to practise them side by side.

Word families again do much of the work. Strength comes from strong, just as length comes from long. Weight comes from weigh. Various comes from vary, with the y changing to i. Pressure comes from press, and regular ends in -ar, like popular and particular from earlier in the list. Remember contains the word member. Sentence ends in -ence, and special has a c that makes a “sh” sound with the i after it. Probably is probable with the -le changed to -ly, and it is written with all its letters even though it is often said as “prob-ly”.

Separate is one of the best-known tricky words on the list. Hidden in the middle are the letters “a rat”, sep-a-rat-e, and many children remember the saying that there is a rat in separate. Surprise and suppose each have a letter that is easy to lose: surprise has an r in both sur and prise, and suppose has a double p. Quarter and question both begin with qu, and in quarter the ar says “or”. Question is pronounced with a “ch” sound in the middle, but it is spelt -stion.

Reign is a good example of a word with a silent g, and it is a homophone of rain and rein, a set that children also meet in their Years 3 and 4 homophone work. Woman and women are an irregular pair. The o in woman says a short “oo” sound, like the o in wolf, while the o in women says “i”. The only difference in the written word is the a and e, so careful attention to the second half is needed. These words are learned by repetition and by use in real writing.

Words your child will hear

Statutory
Set down in law. Every school must teach the words on the list.
Homophone
A word that sounds the same as another but has a different spelling and meaning, such as reign, rain and rein.
Irregular plural
A plural that is not made by adding s or es, such as women.
Silent letter
A letter you can’t hear, like the g in reign.
Mnemonic
A memory trick, such as “there’s a rat in separate”.
Root word
The word a longer word is built from. Strong is the root of strength.

What the National Curriculum says

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

  • Spell these words from the statutory word list for years 3 and 4: pressure, probably, promise, purpose, quarter, question, recent, regular, reign, remember, sentence, separate, special
  • Spell these words from the statutory word list for years 3 and 4: straight, strange, strength, suppose, surprise, therefore, though/although, thought, through, various, weight, woman/women

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

Try it: learning three tricky words

Your child writes “seperate”, “suprise” and “strenth”. How can they correct each word?

  1. Separate: the tricky part is the middle a. Say it as “sep-a-rate” in a spelling voice. Many children use a memory trick: there is a rat in separate. Write the word and underline the rat inside it.
  2. Surprise: it is the first r that disappears in speech, which is why “suprise” is so common. Say it as “sur-prise”, with the r sounded, and write it in two chunks: sur and prise. Check that it ends in -ise, not -ize.
  3. Strength: link it to strong, as length is linked to long. Say it in a spelling voice, “str-eng-th”, making sure the g is written between the n and the th.
  4. Cover, write and check all three. Come back to them the next day, and then a week later. Put each in a sentence, such as “The surprise was how much strength it took to separate the two magnets.”

separate (a rat in the middle), surprise (sur + prise), strength (from strong, ending -ngth).

Common mistakes and how to help

Writing “seperate”

Children write the middle sound as an e because the vowel is said quickly and could be any letter. It is a very easy slip to make.

What helps: Teach the memory trick that there’s a rat in separate. Say the word with the clear a, “sep-a-rate”, and write it from memory each day for a week.

Dropping a letter in surprise, suppose or strength, such as “suprise”, “supose” or “strenth”

These letters are lightly said or not said at all in everyday speech, so children write what they hear.

What helps: Say the word in a spelling voice with every letter sounded. For strength, link it to strong. For suppose, point out the double p, as in support.

Mixing up though, thought and through, or the letters in weight and straight

The ough and eigh strings stand for different sounds in different words, so no rule helps, and the words look similar.

What helps: Group the words by sound: though and although together, thought on its own, through on its own. Weight goes with eight and weigh, and straight is the odd one out with aigh. Write each group in a different colour.

Writing “woman” for more than one, or “womans”

Most plurals are made by adding s, so a child who has only met woman may add it. Women also looks like a different word altogether.

What helps: Say them together: one woman, two women. Point out that only the second half changes and write each beside a picture so the meaning is clear.

How to help at home

  • Spot the family. Write strong and strength, weigh and weight, vary and various, press and pressure. Ask your child what is the same in each pair and what has changed, and say why that helps with spelling.
  • Long “ay” sets. Make a set of straight, weight, eight and weigh and read them aloud. Notice the long “ay” sound and which letters make it. Ask your child to add other words that rhyme with eight, such as late and gate, and talk about how many ways the same sound can be spelt.
  • Rat in separate. Write separate on paper, circle the rat inside it, and stick it on the fridge. Do the same with other words that have a trick, such as the two r letters in surprise or the double p in suppose. Test them once a day for a week.
  • Question time. At the dinner table, take turns to ask each other a question using a word from the list, such as “What was the strangest thing you saw?” Write down the question and answer together and check the spellings.
  • Sentence relay. Choose five words and take it in turns to add a sentence to a short story. Each person writes the sentence with a word from the list. Check every spelling at the end.

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More on spelling – English Appendix 1

Everything in Years 3 and 4 English

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