Year 4 spelling words
315 words in 10 groups.
Year 4 words lean on knowing word parts: prefixes and suffixes, plurals with spelling changes, contractions and less common vowel patterns.
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 89 words
Common words that don't follow the usual sound-to-letter rules, so they have to be learned by sight and practice.
- accidentally
- actual
- adventure
- answer
- beautiful
- breathe
- built
- calendar
- castle
- centre
- century
- chocolate
- choir
- climbed
- consider
- continue
- creature
- describe
- difficult
- eighth
- enormous
- exercise
- experiment
- extreme
- future
- galaxy
- gradually
- grammar
- gravity
- guard
- guess
- habitat
- height
- honest
- imagine
- important
- increase
- insect
- interest
- interesting
- island
- january
- journey
- juice
- knowledge
- language
- listen
- mammal
- material
- medicine
- mention
- million
- mixture
- natural
- nature
- occasionally
- ocean
- opposite
- ordinary
- particular
- peculiar
- picture
- popular
- position
- possess
- possible
- predator
- pressure
- probably
- purpose
- quarter
- recent
- regular
- reign
- reptile
- sentence
- skeleton
- special
- strength
- suppose
- surprise
- texture
- therefore
- treasure
- tunnel
- universe
- various
- vegetable
- whistle
Vowel patterns 52 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.
- alone
- annoy
- appear
- applause
- avoid
- aware
- awful
- before
- bone
- brave
- brief
- cake
- cause
- cheer
- choice
- clear
- compare
- crawl
- cube
- destroy
- engineer
- explore
- field
- flame
- grey
- haunt
- huge
- joy
- kite
- moist
- noise
- obey
- prepare
- prey
- prize
- royal
- rule
- sauce
- shape
- share
- shield
- shine
- smile
- snore
- stone
- store
- straw
- they
- tune
- yawn
- yield
- zone
Suffixes 47 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.
- action
- actively
- actor
- adoration
- avoidable
- boredom
- breakable
- breathless
- broken
- brotherhood
- cheerful
- childhood
- childish
- collection
- endless
- enjoyable
- enjoyment
- famously
- foolish
- freedom
- friendly
- frozen
- golden
- graceful
- invention
- inventor
- kingdom
- likelihood
- motion
- nation
- neighbourhood
- payment
- peaceful
- powerful
- priceless
- sailor
- selfish
- statement
- station
- stylish
- timeless
- treatment
- visitor
- washable
- wisdom
- wooden
- worthless
Blends and digraphs 39 words
Words that combine consonant blends (like str- or -nd) and digraphs (like sh, ch, th).
- alphabet
- apply
- badge
- bridge
- catch
- cent
- circle
- city
- copy
- deny
- dolphin
- elephant
- energy
- family
- fence
- fridge
- giant
- giraffe
- gym
- hurry
- judge
- kitchen
- knee
- knob
- knot
- know
- phone
- pitch
- reply
- scratch
- stretch
- study
- supply
- switch
- twitch
- wrap
- wreck
- write
- wrong
Compound words 30 words
Two words joined into one, such as playground or sunflower. Spell each part, then put them together.
- armchair
- bathtub
- bedtime
- cupboard
- daytime
- doorknob
- downstairs
- earring
- earthworm
- footprint
- grandfather
- handstand
- headache
- homesick
- motorbike
- nighttime
- outdoor
- playtime
- riverbank
- sandpit
- seaweed
- snowflake
- spaceship
- sunrise
- teacup
- toothpaste
- upstairs
- waterfall
- windmill
- wristwatch
Prefixes 25 words
Beginnings that change meaning (un-, re-, dis-, mis-). Spelling stays the same, but knowing the prefix helps children break long words apart.
- bilingual
- binoculars
- deactivate
- decode
- defrost
- derail
- enable
- enclose
- encourage
- enjoy
- forearm
- forecast
- foreground
- foresee
- impatient
- invisible
- midair
- midday
- midnight
- midway
- preheat
- prehistoric
- prepay
- preview
- superstar
Plurals 15 words
More than one: adding s or es, changing y to ies, and the irregular ones that change completely.
- aircraft
- beaches
- branches
- calves
- deer
- echoes
- fish
- heroes
- loaves
- peaches
- scarves
- thieves
- torches
- tornadoes
- volcanoes
Contractions 14 words
Short forms where an apostrophe replaces missing letters, such as can't or they're.
- hadn't
- hasn't
- i'll
- i've
- mustn't
- needn't
- that's
- they'll
- we'll
- we've
- weren't
- won't
- you'll
- you've
Homophones 3 words
Words that sound the same but are spelled differently and mean different things, such as here and hear.
- bare
- bear
- threw
Word origins 1 words
Words borrowed from other languages. Knowing where a word came from often explains its unusual spelling.
- astronaut
Year 4 spelling questions
How many Year 4 spelling words are there?
Our Year 4 word bank has 315 words, in 10 groups such as tricky words, vowel patterns, suffixes.
Is this an official Year 4 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 4 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.
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