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Years 5 and 6 English · Key Stage 2 · Spelling – English Appendix 1

Years 5 and 6 spelling words: correspond to hindrance

The statutory spelling list for Years 5 and 6 contains words that children are expected to spell by the end of primary school. This page covers the second group of 25 in alphabetical order, from correspond to hindrance, including government, environment, embarrass, definite and exaggerate. Children learn them by splitting off suffixes, finding relatives and noticing exactly where the surprise is in each word.

Spelling words: correspond to hindrance, explained

The list is statutory, so schools must teach it, but they choose the order and the method. This page covers correspond, criticise, curiosity, definite, desperate, determined, develop, dictionary, disastrous, embarrass, environment, equip (with equipped and equipment), especially, exaggerate, excellent, existence, explanation, familiar, foreign, forty, frequently, government, guarantee, harass and hindrance. Many schools mix these with words from the other three groups across Year 5 and Year 6.

The curriculum guidance says that many of these words can be used to practise adding suffixes, and that word history helps. Criticise is critic plus ise. Determined is determine plus d. Frequently is frequent plus ly, and especially is especial plus ly, which is why it ends in -ally. Government is govern plus ment, environment is environ plus ment, and equipment is equip plus ment, with no change to the base. Equip with an -ed ending doubles the final p to give equipped, while equip plus ment does not. Hindrance comes from hinder with the e dropped, and disastrous drops the e of disaster.

Some words are hard because of unstressed vowels that could be any letter. In definite, the ending is said quickly, like “nut” or “nit”, but it is spelt -ite. It helps to notice that definite contains the word finite, which ends in -ite too, and that it is related to define. In familiar, the ending is -iar, and the word is related to family. Desperate has a middle e, not an a, and the guidance links it to the Latin word spero, “I hope”: a desperate person has lost hope. Curiosity comes from curious, but the u of curious is dropped. Explanation comes from explain, but loses the i of explain to become explanation.

Double letters again cause many errors. Embarrass has two r letters and two s letters. Harass is shorter, with one r and two s letters. Exaggerate has gg, excellent has ll, and correspond has rr. Guarantee has a silent u after the g and ends in -ee, and foreign has a silent g in the ending, with ei and not ie. Forty is related to four but loses the u, even though fourteen keeps it. A few endings need care too: develop has no e at the end, existence ends in -ence, and dictionary ends in -ary. Children learn these one at a time, with the surprise marked in colour.

In class, teachers use a spelling voice, saying the word as if every letter were sounded, such as “gov-ern-ment”. They ask children to split words into parts, find the tricky part and use look, cover, write and check. Spelling is also tested in the Year 6 grammar, punctuation and spelling test, and teachers look at it in children’s writing. Practising a few words at a time, in real sentences, and coming back to them later tends to work better than a single long list.

Words your child will hear

Statutory
Set down in law. Every school must teach the words on the list.
Suffix
Letters added to the end of a word, such as -ment in government or -ance in hindrance.
Root word
The base of a longer word. Govern is the root of government.
Unstressed vowel
A vowel said so quickly that it sounds like “uh”, as in the middle of definite.
Double letter
The same letter twice in a row, as in embarrass.
Word origin
Where a word came from. Desperate comes from a Latin word meaning “I hope”.

What the National Curriculum says

In Years 5 and 6, pupils should be taught to:

  • Spell these words from the statutory word list for years 5 and 6: correspond, criticise, curiosity, definite, desperate, determined, develop, dictionary, disastrous, embarrass, environment, equip (–ped, –ment), especially
  • Spell these words from the statutory word list for years 5 and 6: exaggerate, excellent, existence, explanation, familiar, foreign, forty, frequently, government, guarantee, harass, hindrance

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

Try it: finding the word inside

Your child needs to spell “government”, “environment”, “forty” and “embarrass”. How can they work out each one?

  1. Government: it is govern plus ment. Say it as “gov-ern-ment”, with the n sounded, because many people drop it in speech. Write govern first, then add ment.
  2. Environment: the same pattern. It is environ plus ment, and again the n before the m is the part that goes missing. Say “en-vi-ron-ment” and write it in chunks.
  3. Forty: link it to four, but note that the u disappears. Fourteen keeps it and forty does not. Write the pattern: four, fourteen, forty.
  4. Embarrass: the tricky part is the doubled letters, rr and ss. Say it as “em-bar-rass” and note that you need two r letters and two s letters. Compare it with harass, which has one r and two s letters.
  5. Cover, write and check all four. Try them again the next day, and put each into a sentence.

government (govern + ment), environment (environ + ment), forty (four without the u), embarrass (two r, two s).

Common mistakes and how to help

Leaving out the n in “goverment” or “enviroment”

Many people say these words without the n sound, so children write what they hear.

What helps: Split off the ending and write the base word first: govern, environ. Then add ment. Say the words in a spelling voice with the n clear.

Using the wrong vowel in unstressed syllables, such as “definate”, “desparate” or “familier”

These vowels are said so quickly that they sound like “uh”, so any vowel could fit. A child picks the one that seems likely.

What helps: Link each word to a relative. Definite contains finite, with its -ite ending. Desperate has the same e after the p as the Latin spero. Familiar belongs with family.

Mixing up the doubles in embarrass and harass, such as “embarass” or “harrass”

Both words end in -ass and both have an r, so it is easy to give them the wrong number of r letters.

What helps: Learn them as a pair. Embarrass has two r and two s. Harass has one r and two s. Write each, circle the doubles and compare.

Getting the suffix wrong, such as “disasterous”, “explaination”, “hindrence” or “equiped”

Children add the ending to the whole base word without thinking about what changes.

What helps: Work out what happens to the base: disaster loses the e, explain loses the i, hinder loses the e and takes -ance, and equip doubles the p for -ed but not for -ment.

How to help at home

  • Split off the ending. Write government, environment and equipment on cards. Cut the -ment off each one, and ask your child to say and write the base word first. Then put them back together.
  • Number pattern. Write four, fourteen and forty side by side and ask which one loses its u. Then practise writing forty in real contexts, such as a shopping total or a page number. It is a small detail that is easy to get wrong.
  • Dictionary detective. Use a dictionary to look up two or three words from the list, such as hindrance or exaggerate. Read the meaning aloud and talk about how the spelling matches the meaning.
  • Spot the relative. Write pairs such as family and familiar, critic and criticise, curious and curiosity, hinder and hindrance. Underline what is the same and circle what changes, then cover and write both.
  • Sentence challenge. Ask your child to write a short paragraph about a local issue or favourite place using at least six words from the list. Check every spelling together and fix any slips.

Related topics

Builds on

More on spelling – English Appendix 1

Everything in Years 5 and 6 English

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