Remember to use SpellingShed too.

Year 3 and 4 Common Exception Words 

accident

accidentally

actual

actually

address

although

answer

appear

arrive

believe

bicycle

breath

breathe

build

busy

business

calendar

caught

centre

century

certain

circle

complete

consider

continue

decide

describe

disappear

different

difficult

early

earth

eight

eighth

enough

experience

exercise

experiment

extreme

famous

favourite

February

forwards

fruit

grammar

group

guard

guide

heard

heart

height

history

imagine

increase

important

interest

island

knowledge

learn

length

library

material

medicine

mention

minute

natural

naughty

notice

occasion

occasionally

often

opposite

ordinary

particular

peculiar

perhaps

popular

position

possess

possession

possible

potatoes

pressure

probably

promise

promise
purpose
quarter
question
recent
regular
reign
remember
sentence
separate
special
straight

strange

strength

suppose

surprise

Adding il , im and dis.

Adding il to a work creates an antonym. 

Adding dis changes the word to its opposite meaning.

• illogical
• illiterate
• illegal
• illegible
• impatient
• impractical

• impolite
• disobey
• disagree
• disqualify
• disappear

-sion words

television

revision

confusion

invasion

explosion

division

decision

erosion

collision

Remember to drop the final e and the final consonant when adding -sion to make a noun.

televise >>> television

Words with the s sound spelt sc.

• scent
• science
• scene
• scissors
• fascinate
• muscle

• ascend
• descend
• ascending
• ascended
• descending
• descended
• scenes

Remember to drop the e at the end of the root word before adding a suffix that starts with a vowel, such as -ing or -ed.

Words ending in -ous

The suffix -ous sounds like us.  We just add it to some root words. 

mountain → mountainous

danger → dangerous

In the words below, we keep the e so that the g is a soft g:

courage → courageous

outrage → outrageous

If a root word ends in our, we swap the letters our for or then add the suffix -ous.

humour → humor + ous → humorous

glamour → glamor + ous → glamorous

Some words already have ous as part of the root words:

serious

curious

hideous

anxious

obvious

jealous

anxious

tremendous

Words with the ay sound spelt -eigh, -ei or -ey

eight

eighteen

eighty

sleigh

weigh

weightless

freight

neighbour

neighbourly

vein

veil

rein

reign

reins

reigned

they

grey

greyness

obey

obeyed

prey

preyed

Adding the prefix inter-

The prefix inter- means "between" or "among". 

We can add this to the front of words without changing the spelling. 

• Internet
• intergalactic
• international
• interact
• interlock
• intercity
• intermediate
• interrelate

Notice that Internet is spelt with a capital I.

The prefix auto-

The prefix auto- means "self" or "own".  When we add it to the front of a root word, we do not need to change the spelling of the root word.

• autograph
• autopilot
• automatic
• autocue
• automobile
• autobiography
• autobiographies

Words ending in zhuh spelt - sure

• measure
• treasure
• pleasure
• enclosure
• leisure
• closure
• picture
• adventure
• mixture
• creature
• puncture
• capture
• measurement
• capturing
• measuring
• treasuring

Adding the suffix -ly

We can add the suffix -ly to make an adverb.  

• sadly
• nicely
• rudely
• slowly
• finally
• physically

We swap a y for an i before adding -ly.

• happy  → happily
• sleepy  → sleepily
• cheeky  → cheekily
• bossy  → or bossily
• angry → angrily
• heavy  → heavily
• hasty  → hastily
• cosy  → cosily

When a word ends with -ic, we add -ally instead of -ly.  

• magic → magically
• comic  → comically
• frantic  → frantically
• heroic  → heroically
• dramatic  → dramatically
• automatic  → automatically

 mis-, un-, in- and dis-

• mismatch
• mistrust
• misprint
• mistreat
• misplace
• mislead
• misbehave
• misspell
• misunderstand
• unfair
• undo
• unkind
• unhappy
• inactive
• inhuman
• incorrect
• incomplete
• disagree
• disappear

The prefix sub-

• subway
• subsoil
• subzero
• submarine
• subtitles
• subheading
• submerge
• subdivide

The prefix anti-

• anticlimax
• antiseptic
• antisocial
• antifreeze
• antibiotic
• anticlockwise.

The prefix super-

• superglue
• supermarket
• supersize
• superman
• superhuman
• superwoman
• supersonic
• superheroes

The c sound spelt -que and the g sound spelt -gue.

• unique
• cheque
• antique
• grotesque
• fatigue
• colleague
• catalogue
• dialogue
• league

The ending -que sounds like c as in cat. 

The ending -gue sounds like g as in gate.

Adding ir- to words beginning with r.

• irrelevant
• irregular
• irresistible
• irresponsible
• courageous
• fascinating
• humorous
• decision
• scissors
• poisonous

Before root words beginning with r, the prefix in- becomes ir-.

This changes the word to give it the opposite meaning.

Adding the suffix -ion (sound shun)

The sound shun at the end of words can be spelt in different ways.

If the root word ends in ss, just add -ion.

possession

impression

expression

confession

progression

discussion

depression

procession

Remember to swap the t with ss before adding -ion if a word ends in -mit..

permit >>> permiss + ion >>> permission

permission

submission

transmission

admission

Remember to practise the Year 1 and 2 words that are in the back of

The Bishop's Hull Book of Everything.