Year 5 and 6 Spelling List for 11+ Preparation

About the Statutory Spelling List

The National Curriculum statutory word list for Years 5 and 6 contains words that the Department for Education expects pupils to be able to spell by the end of Year 6. These words frequently appear in 11+ exams — both directly in spelling tasks and indirectly through the creative writing and comprehension papers.

Simply staring at a long alphabetical list, however, is not an effective way to learn. Research shows that grouping words by spelling pattern makes them much easier to remember, because your brain can link related words together.

Below, we have organised key words from the statutory list (plus additional common 11+ words) into pattern-based groups. Use these groups to structure your revision.

'Ough' Words

The letter combination "ough" is one of the trickiest in English because it can be pronounced in several different ways. Grouping by sound helps enormously.

'Ough' as "uff"

• enough
• rough
• tough

'Ough' as "or"

• thought
• bought
• brought
• ought

'Ough' as "oh"

• though
• although
• dough
• thorough

'Ough' as "ow"

• plough
• drought

'Ough' as "oo"

• through

Study tip: Learn these in their sound groups, not alphabetically. Test yourself by writing the words in each group from memory, then check. The groups are small enough to master in a single study session.

Silent Letter Words

Many English words contain letters that are written but not pronounced. These silent letters are a major source of spelling errors.

Silent K

• knowledge
• knight
• knot
• knuckle

Silent B

• doubt
• subtle
• debt
• climb
• lamb
• thumb

Silent W

• wrinkle
• wrist
• wreck
• wrestle
• write

Silent G or GH

• gnaw
• sign
• design
• foreign
• reign
• eight
• weight
• neighbour

Other Silent Letters

• listen (silent T)
• castle (silent T)
• whistle (silent T)
• muscle (silent C)
• scissors (silent C)
• autumn (silent N)
• column (silent N)
• solemn (silent N)

Study tip: For each word, say it aloud as it is spelt (e.g., "k-nowledge," "sub-t-le") to fix the silent letter in your memory. This technique — called "say it silly" — is surprisingly effective.

Tricky Endings

Many statutory list words have endings that sound alike but are spelt differently. Grouping by ending pattern helps you see the logic.

Words Ending in -ible and -able

• -able: comfortable, considerable, tolerable, vegetable, reasonable, noticeable, changeable, knowledgeable
• -ible: possible, horrible, terrible, visible, incredible, responsible, sensible, reversible

Pattern hint: If you can remove the ending and be left with a complete English word, it is usually -able (comfort → comfortable). If you cannot, it is often -ible (poss → not a word → possible). This is not foolproof, but it works for most cases.

Words Ending in -ent and -ant / -ence and -ance

• -ent/-ence: independent/independence, confident/confidence, innocent/innocence, excellent/excellence, obedient/obedience, frequent/frequency
• -ant/-ance: relevant/relevance, significant/significance, elegant/elegance, reluctant/reluctance, observant/observance, tolerant/tolerance

Words Ending in -ous

• curious, jealous, marvellous, mischievous, conscious, courageous, outrageous, gorgeous, enormous, previous, obvious, various, anxious, precious

Words Ending in -cious and -tious

• -cious: conscious, precious, delicious, suspicious, vicious
• -tious: ambitious, cautious, fictitious, infectious, nutritious

Commonly Tested Statutory Words

The following words from the Year 5/6 statutory list appear particularly often in 11+ exams. Make sure you can spell every one:

• accomplish, achieve, aggressive, amateur, apparent, appreciate
• bargain, bruise, category, cemetery, committee, communicate
• controversy, convenience, correspond, curiosity, desperate, determined
• develop, dictionary, equipped, especially, exaggerate, excellent
• existence, familiar, guarantee, harass, hindrance, identity
• individual, interfere, interrupt, language, leisure, lightning
• marvellous, mischievous, muscle, necessary, nuisance, occupy
• parliament, persuade, physical, prejudice, privilege, profession
• programme, pronunciation, queue, recognise, recommend, restaurant
• rhyme, rhythm, sacrifice, secretary, shoulder, signature
• sincere, soldier, stomach, sufficient, suggest, symbol
• temperature, thorough, twelfth, variety, vehicle, yacht

Study Strategies That Work

Here are five proven methods for learning spelling words effectively:

• Look-Cover-Write-Check: The classic method. Look at the word carefully, cover it, write it from memory, then check. Repeat until you get it right three times in a row.
• Rainbow writing: Write the tricky part of the word in a different colour. For example, write "sep" in blue and "a rat" in red for "separate." The colour makes the tricky section stand out in your memory.
• Say it silly: Pronounce the word exactly as it is spelt: "Wed-nes-day," "Feb-roo-ary," "gov-ern-ment." This helps you remember silent or easily-forgotten letters.
• Word shapes: Draw a box around each letter of the word, following its shape (tall letters like b, d, h go above the line; tails like g, p, y go below). You start to recognise the word by its shape pattern.
• Spaced repetition: Test yourself on new words daily for three days, then weekly for three weeks, then monthly. This method is backed by cognitive science and is the most efficient way to move words into long-term memory.

Creating a Study Plan

• Weeks 1-2: Learn the "ough" words and silent letter words (about 40 words). Test daily.
• Weeks 3-4: Learn the tricky endings: -ible/-able, -ent/-ant, -ous words (about 40 words). Test daily.
• Weeks 5-8: Work through the commonly tested statutory words in batches of 10 per week. Test daily with a weekly review of all previous batches.
• Ongoing: When you encounter a new word you cannot spell (in reading, practice papers, or everyday life), add it to your list. A personal spelling journal that grows over time is one of the most valuable tools you can have.