Year 3 spelling words
310 words in 10 groups.
Year 3 widens the toolkit: homophones, prefixes, contractions and more suffix rules, alongside a growing set of tricky high-frequency words.
This is our own word bank, informed by the Australian Curriculum v9.0 spelling progression, with some words from England's National Curriculum statutory lists. It is not an official list and is not endorsed by ACARA or any other education authority. Words are shown in British English spelling (colour, centre), alphabetically within each group; learners who choose American English see the American spelling automatically.
Tricky words 78 words
Common words that don't follow the usual sound-to-letter rules, so they have to be learned by sight and practice.
- accident
- actually
- address
- afternoon
- again
- always
- another
- arrive
- because
- believe
- breath
- brought
- build
- busy
- captain
- caught
- certain
- complete
- could
- decide
- different
- dinosaur
- early
- earth
- eight
- every
- everyone
- everything
- famous
- favourite
- forward
- friend
- fruit
- group
- guide
- half
- heard
- heart
- jungle
- kangaroo
- laugh
- learn
- length
- library
- magic
- minute
- morning
- nothing
- notice
- often
- once
- other
- penguin
- perhaps
- pirate
- planet
- promise
- question
- remember
- rocket
- said
- should
- someone
- sometimes
- special
- straight
- strange
- though
- thought
- today
- tomorrow
- usually
- volcano
- weight
- wizard
- woman
- would
- yesterday
Blends and digraphs 43 words
Words that combine consonant blends (like str- or -nd) and digraphs (like sh, ch, th).
- black
- blanket
- block
- bring
- brush
- chest
- chip
- church
- clap
- clock
- cloud
- crab
- crown
- dress
- drum
- flag
- frog
- grass
- king
- lunch
- month
- path
- plant
- quick
- quilt
- quiz
- shell
- shop
- sing
- square
- stamp
- stick
- stop
- story
- strong
- thank
- think
- truck
- wheel
- when
- while
- white
- wish
Compound words 37 words
Two words joined into one, such as playground or sunflower. Spell each part, then put them together.
- airplane
- backpack
- bedroom
- butterfly
- campfire
- cartwheel
- cowboy
- cupcake
- daylight
- doorway
- driveway
- eyeball
- farmyard
- fireplace
- flagpole
- football
- goodbye
- haircut
- handshake
- jellybean
- keyhole
- lunchbox
- mailbox
- moonlight
- pancake
- popcorn
- rainbow
- raincoat
- sandcastle
- seashell
- seaside
- snowman
- starfish
- sunshine
- toothbrush
- toothpick
- treehouse
Vowel patterns 37 words
The same vowel sound can be spelled several ways (ai, ay, a-e; ee, ea; oa, ow). Learning which pattern goes where is a big step in Years 2 to 4.
- balloon
- beach
- blue
- boat
- bright
- chew
- clean
- coat
- day
- dream
- few
- glue
- green
- grow
- light
- moon
- new
- night
- paint
- play
- queen
- rain
- read
- right
- road
- school
- sleep
- snail
- snow
- soap
- spoon
- stay
- train
- tray
- tree
- window
- yellow
Suffixes 34 words
Endings that change a word's meaning or job (-ing, -ed, -ful, -ly), including the rules for doubling a letter or dropping a silent e.
- biggest
- careful
- careless
- cloudy
- colourful
- easily
- faster
- funny
- happily
- helpful
- homeless
- hopeful
- hopeless
- joyful
- jumped
- jumping
- noisy
- painful
- painted
- playing
- quickly
- rainy
- shorter
- sleepy
- slowly
- smallest
- sunny
- taller
- thankful
- useful
- walked
- walking
- wanted
- windy
Homophones 33 words
Words that sound the same but are spelled differently and mean different things, such as here and hear.
- be
- bee
- blew
- buy
- by
- flew
- hair
- hare
- hear
- here
- hole
- knew
- meat
- meet
- plain
- plane
- rode
- sail
- sale
- sea
- see
- son
- sun
- tail
- tale
- their
- to
- too
- two
- weak
- week
- whole
- wood
Plurals 19 words
More than one: adding s or es, changing y to ies, and the irregular ones that change completely.
- benches
- berries
- boxes
- brushes
- buses
- cherries
- dishes
- feet
- foxes
- glasses
- matches
- men
- people
- ponies
- puppies
- teeth
- watches
- wishes
- women
Prefixes 17 words
Beginnings that change meaning (un-, re-, dis-, mis-). Spelling stays the same, but knowing the prefix helps children break long words apart.
- dislike
- disobey
- distrust
- mislead
- redo
- refill
- replay
- reread
- rewind
- undo
- unfair
- unhappy
- unkind
- unlock
- unpack
- unwell
- unwrap
Contractions 10 words
Short forms where an apostrophe replaces missing letters, such as can't or they're.
- aren't
- can't
- didn't
- don't
- he's
- i'm
- it's
- let's
- she's
- we're
Silent letters 2 words
Letters we write but don't say, as in knock, wrist or island.
- knife
- thumb
Year 3 spelling questions
How many Year 3 spelling words are there?
Our Year 3 word bank has 310 words, in 10 groups such as tricky words, blends and digraphs, compound words.
Is this an official Year 3 spelling list?
No. The Australian Curriculum v9.0 describes the kinds of spelling knowledge children build each year but does not publish a word list. This is our own selection, informed by that progression. It also includes some words from England's National Curriculum statutory spelling lists (Years 3 to 6). It is not produced or endorsed by ACARA or any other education authority.
Are the words spelled the American way?
This page shows the library in British English (colour, centre). Learners who choose American English when they sign up are given the American spelling (color, center) and its example sentences automatically.
How can my child practise these Year 3 words?
Every Spell Kingdom game draws from this word bank for the year the learner has chosen, and words a child misses come back more often. On the Family plan a parent can also type in this week's school list.
Try it free
Make a free account in a minute. No email address is needed, and children only ever use a nickname.