Grade 4 Spelling

Spelling the long a sound with ai in the middle of a syllable and ay at the end, as in rainbow and subway.

ai, ay: rainbow, subway

Choosing between ee and ea for the long e sound in two-syllable words like freedom and reason.

ee, ea: freedom, reason

Spelling the long o sound with oa or ow and the long i sound with igh, as in toaster, pillow and tonight.

oa, ow, igh: toaster, pillow, tonight

Spelling the vowel sounds made by oo, ew, ue, au and aw in words like shampoo, nephew, statue and applause.

oo, ew, ue, au: shampoo, nephew, statue, applause

Spelling the r-controlled vowels ar and or in two-syllable words like market and corner.

ar, or: market, corner

Choosing among er, ir, ur and ear for the same sound in words like perhaps, furniture, turkey and early.

er, ir, ur, ear: perhaps, furniture, turkey, early

Spelling two-syllable words that split between two different consonants, like plastic and dentist.

VC/CV: plas-tic, den-tist

Spelling two-syllable words with a double consonant in the middle, like lesson and dinner.

VC/CV twins: les-son, din-ner

Spelling two-syllable words whose first syllable ends in a long vowel, like bonus and solar.

V/CV: bo-nus, so-lar

Spelling two-syllable words whose first syllable has a short vowel closed by one consonant, like river and wagon.

VC/V: riv-er, wag-on

Spelling words with three consonants in the middle, like pumpkin, hundred and surprise, without dropping one.

VCCCV: pump-kin, hun-dred, sur-prise

Spelling three-syllable words by saying and spelling each syllable, like banana and umbrella.

ba-na-na, um-brel-la

Adding -es to make plurals and verbs for words ending in s, x, ch or sh, like walruses and ostriches.

-es after s, x, ch, sh: walruses, ostriches

Spelling plurals of words ending in f or fe: most change to ves, like leaves, and a few just add s, like roofs.

f to ves, or just s: leaves, roofs

Changing y to i before adding -es, -ed, -er or -est, as in berries, worried and heavier.

y to i: berries, worried, heavier

Doubling the last consonant of a short-vowel word before adding -ing, -ed, -er or -est, as in jogging and biggest.

double the last letter: jog to jogging, big to biggest

Dropping the silent e before adding an ending that starts with a vowel, as in exciting, arrived and bravest.

drop the e: chase to chasing, brave to bravest

Spelling the -ed ending the same way whether it sounds like t, d or id, as in laughed, crawled and melted.

-ed says t, d or id: laughed, crawled, melted

Spelling words for people who do a job or action with the endings -er and -or, like gardener and actor.

-er, -or: gardener, actor

Adding -ful (full of) and -ly (in a way) to base words without changing the base, as in graceful and suddenly.

-ful, -ly: graceful, suddenly

Adding -ness and -ment to make words that name a thing or feeling, like stillness and measurement.

-ness, -ment: stillness, measurement

Adding -y (full of) and -able (can be) to base words, as in sandy and breakable, and dropping a final e when needed.

-y, -able: sandy, breakable

Adding the prefixes un- and dis- (not) and mis- (wrongly) to a base word without changing its spelling.

un-, dis-, mis-: unbutton, disloyal, mismatch

Adding the prefixes re- (again), pre- (before) and non- (not) to a base word, as in recharge, prehistoric and nonstop.

re-, pre-, non-: recharge, prehistoric, nonstop

Spelling homophones, words that sound the same but mean different things, by using the sentence as the clue.

weather/whether, piece/peace, hole/whole

Spelling more homophones, like pair and pear or threw and through, by matching the spelling to the meaning.

pair/pear, threw/through, week/weak

Spelling everyday homophones, including number words like four, eight and one and their sound-alikes.

four/for, eight/ate, heard/herd, cent/scent

Telling apart words that look or sound almost the same, like though and thought or dairy and diary.

than/then, though/thought, dairy/diary

Remembering the silent first letter in words that start with kn, wr or gn, and the silent g in sign.

kn, wr, gn: knock, wreath, gnome

Remembering silent letters inside and at the end of words, like the b in lamb, the t in often, the l in chalk and the h in honor.

mb, t, l, h: lamb, often, chalk, honor

Spelling words built from the Greek parts phon (sound) and graph (write), where ph makes the f sound.

phon (sound), graph (write): xylophone, graphite

Spelling words built from the Latin roots port (carry) and aqua (water) and the Greek part micro (small).

port (carry), aqua (water), micro (small): airport, aquarium, microwave

Spelling words that start with number parts: uni (one), bi (two), tri (three) and cent (hundred).

uni (one), bi (two), tri (three), cent (hundred): unicorn, tripod, century

Spelling words where gh is silent or says f, like weight, eighth and neighbor.

gh words: weight, eighth, neighbor

Spelling everyday words that Grade 4 kids often misspell by saying every syllable and remembering the tricky letters.

often misspelled: especially, already, truly

Spelling common words whose letters don't match their sounds, like business, guitar and women, by remembering them.

spell it from memory: business, guitar, women