Are you ready for Halloween? Make sure you don't make these 10 mistakes this spooky season: Don’t muddle up the words witch and which! Our spelling game Which Witch is great for practice! Heard a scary sound? It’s a probably a creak, not a creek! As Frankenstein is a name, it needs capital letters. Make sure you don’t confuse forget the apostrophe if you’re writing about Frankenstein’s monster. Don’t get caught out by silent letters – watch out for the sneaky ‘h’ in the words ghost and ghoul . Describing somethin...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for 2023 is tricky spelling words. This year, after sharing the definition and etymology of each week’s word, we will end every blog post with some tips and tricks to help you spell it. In March, we looked at the words beautiful, because, business, definitely, and disappear. Our first tricky spelling word for April is immediately. If something happens immediately, it means it happens straight away without delay or hesitation. Here is immediately used in some example sentences: Please reply to me immediately. It started to rain and we left the park immediately. ‘Stop talking immediately...
There are thousands of word lists on Spellzone which you can adapt to suit your classroom needs and use in a variety of online and offline activities. Here are our three spelling lists for March: Words ending in 'fle' This month’s spelling pattern is words ending in 'fle'. Unless the /f l/ sound is a suffix, like in the word handful, it usually spelt with the letters 'fle' when it appears at the end of the word. Get to grips with this spelling pattern in Unit 26 - Word endings: -le, and exceptions e.g. -al, -el, -ol. Mind your own (monkey) business! Try out this m...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for 2023 is tricky spelling words. This year, after sharing the definition and etymology of each week’s word, we will end every blog post with some tips and tricks to help you spell it. In February, we looked at the words receive, necessary, separate, and extremely. Our first tricky spelling word for March is beautiful. If something is beautiful, it means it is pleasing to the eye or delightful to the senses. The word is also used to describe prefect weather conditions. Here is beautiful used in some example sentences: My new dress is a beautiful shade of green. The sound of beautiful music filled th...
Happy new year! Our Word for Wednesday theme for 2023 is tricky spelling words. This year, after sharing the definition and etymology of each week’s word, we will end every blog post with some tips and tricks to help you spell it. Our first word of the year is beginning. A beginning is the start of something. If something is beginning, it means it is about to start. Here is beginning used in some example sentences: 2023 is only just beginning. It is the beginning of January. The film is beginning at noon. Beginning has been used in English since the later-twelfth century. The Old English word for the ‘start of something’ was ‘fruma’. ...
What is a loanword? A loanword is the term given to a word which is directly borrowed from another language and used in the recipient language without being translated first. One of the reasons why English is such a difficult language to learn (and why its spellings are so inconsistent!) is because the language is full of loanwords. The term ‘loanword’ itself is a loan translation from the German ‘Lehnwort’. Some loanwords are obvious, such as words used to describe food traditionally from other countries (such as ‘bratwurst’ or ‘hamburger’ or ‘frankfurter’), whereas others were borrowed so long ago that you might be surprised...
As the end of the year approaches, I find myself thinking about what I want from the New Year. In the past, on the blog, we’ve looked at the word ‘resolution’ as part of the Word for Wednesday feature, came up with spelling resolutions, and looked at idioms for new beginnings. For me the New Year is a time of renewal. In my resolutions, I try to refocus on old projects with fresh eyes just as much as I like to find new ones. The word ‘renew’ dates back to the late fourteenth century, from the prefix ‘re-’ meaning ‘again’ and the Middle English ‘newen’ meaning ‘resume, revive, renew’. ‘New’ comes from...
Do you consider yourself lover of words? If so you’re what’s known as a ‘logophile’. A logophile delights in expanding their vocabulary and loves how words interact with one another, how words came to be and why their meanings have changed over time. Let’s disassemble the word to its Greek components: ‘logo’ comes from Greek and means literally ‘word’ or ‘speech’. The ‘-phile’ suffix which means ‘lover of…’ or ‘enthusiast for…’ originates from the Latin ‘philus’, but arrived to English through the Greek ‘philos’ meaning ‘loving’ ...
In this week’s Word for Wednesday extravaganza we’ll be taking a look at some popular bad habits and the weird and wonderful nomenclature that accompanies them! Biting your fingernails. The often-painful habit is also known as ‘onychophagy’. The prefix ‘onycho-‘ is used for words pertaining to the nails and the suffix ‘-phagy’ refers to consumption or feeding. Stealing food This unforgivable practice is known as ‘cleptobiosis’. A students nightmare – ever gone to the fridge and realized someone has taken your last drop of milk, leaving you incapable to brew that much-needed cuppa? The prefix ‘...
Today marks the birthday of an important figure in music history, best known for the invention of the Saxophone. Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax was born this day in 1814. To commemorate his contributions to music, 6th of November is celebrated annually as National Saxophone Day. The word Saxophone is a compound of ‘Sax’ (after Adolphe) and ‘Phone’. The name Sax spans from the Germanic Sachs literally meaning ‘Saxon’ or ‘one from Saxony’. The suffix ‘Phone’ is derived from the Greek ‘Phonos’ meaning ‘sounding’ or ‘voice’. Not to be confused with another Greek definition for ‘Phono...
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