Work for Year 2

Revision of work from Year 1

As words with new GPCs are introduced, many previously-taught GPCs can be revised at the same time as these words will usually contain them.

New work for Year 2

Statutory requirements

Non‑statutory information and Spellzone resources

The /dʒ/ sound spelt as ge and dge at the end of words, and sometimes spelt as g elsewhere in words before e, i and y.

The letter j is never used for the /dʒ/ sound at the end of English words.
At the end of a word, the /dʒ/ sound is spelt –dge straight after the /æ/, /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /ɒ/, /ʌ/ and /ʊ/ sounds (sometimes called ‘short’ vowels).

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list

After all other sounds, whether vowels or consonants, the /dʒ/ sound is spelt as –ge at the end of a word.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list

In other positions in words, the /dʒ/ sound is often (but not always) spelt as g before e, i, and y. The /dʒ/ sound is always spelt as j before a, o and u.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list

The /s/ sound spelt c before e, i and y.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list - ce
Spellzone course word list - nce
Spellzone course word list - rce
Spellzone course word list - ice
Spellzone course word list - cy

The /n/ sound spelt kn and (less often) gn at the beginning of words.

The ‘k’ and ‘g’ at the beginning of these words was sounded hundreds of years ago.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list

The /r/ sound spelt wrat the beginning of words.

This spelling probably also reflects an old pronunciation.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list

The /l/ or /əl/ sound spelt –le at the end of words.

The –le spelling is the most common spelling for this sound at the end of words.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list- ble
Spellzone course word list - cle
Spellzone course word list - kle
Spellzone course word list - dle
Spellzone course word list - gle
Spellzone course word list - fle
Spellzone course word list - ple
Spellzone course word list - tle
Spellzone course word list - stle
Spellzone course word list - zle

The /l/ or /əl/ sound spelt –el at the end of words.

The –el spelling is much less common than –le.
The –el spelling is used after m, n, rs, v, w and more often than not after s.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list

The /l/ or /əl/ sound spelt –al at the end of words.

Not many nouns end in –al, but many adjectives do.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list

Words ending –il.

There are not many of these words.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list

The /aɪ/ sound spelt –y at the end of words.

This is by far the most common spelling for this sound at the end of words.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list

Adding –es to nouns and verbs ending in
–y.

The y is changed to i before –es is added.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list

Adding –ed, –ing, –er and –est to a root word ending in –y with a consonant before it.

The y is changed to i before –ed, –er and –est are added, but not before –ing as this would result in ii. The only ordinary words with ii are skiing and taxiing.

Spellzone course word list
Spellzone course word list

Adding the endings –ing, –ed, –er, –est and –y to words ending in –e with a consonant before it.

The –e at the end of the root word is dropped before –ing, –ed, –er,
–est, –y or any other suffix beginning with a vowel letter is added.
Exception: being.

Curriculum word list

Adding –ing, –ed,
–er, –est and –y to words of one syllable ending in a single consonant letter after a single vowel letter.

The last consonant letter of the root word is doubled to keep the /æ/, /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /ɒ/ and /ʌ/ sound (i.e. to keep the vowel ‘short’).
Exception: The letter ‘x’ is never doubled: mixing, mixed, boxer, sixes.

Curriculum word list

The /ɔ:/ sound spelt a before l and ll.

The /ɔ:/ sound (‘or’) is usually spelt as a before l and ll.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list

The /ʌ/ sound spelt o.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list

The /i:/ sound spelt
–ey.

The plural of these words is formed by the addition of –s (donkeys, monkeys, etc.).

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list

The /ɒ/ sound spelt a after w and qu.

a is the most common spelling for the /ɒ/ (‘hot’) sound after w and qu.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone word list - wa
Spellzone word list - qu

The /ɜ:/ sound spelt or after w.

There are not many of these words.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list

The /ɔ:/ sound spelt ar after w.

There are not many of these words.

Spellzone course word list

The /ʒ/ sound spelt s.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list - 1
Spellzone course word list - 2
Spellzone course word list - 3

The suffixes –ment,
–ness, –ful , –less and –ly.

If a suffix starts with a consonant letter, it is added straight on to most root words without any change to the last letter of those words.
Exceptions:
(1) argument
(2) root words ending in –y with a consonant before it but only if the root word has more than one syllable.

Curriculum word list
Curriculum word list

Contractions

In contractions, the apostrophe shows where a letter or letters would be if the words were written in full (e.g. can’tcannot).
It’s means it is (e.g. It’s raining) or sometimes it has (e.g. It’s been raining), but it’s is never used for the possessive.

Note: Not covered in Spellzone units and the Spellzone dictionary does not support these words.

The possessive apostrophe (singular nouns).

 

Words ending in –tion.

Curriculum word list
Spellzone course word list
Spellzone poster (pdf)

Homophones and near-homophones.

It is important to know the difference in meaning between homophones.

Curriculum word list

Common exception words.

Some words are exceptions in some accents but not in others – e.g. past, last, fast, path and bath are not exceptions in accents where the a in these words is pronounced /æ/, as in cat.
Great, break and steak are the only common words where the /eɪ/ sound is spelt ea.

Curriculum word list - 1
Curriculum word list - 2
Curriculum word list - 3

See the Spellzone course units for content mapped to the curriculum including homophones (H) units.

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