The national curriculum for England sets out 100 words that children in Years 5 and 6 (ages 9 to 11) should learn to spell. This is the full statutory list, in A to Z order. Some entries group related forms, as the curriculum does: immediate(ly) and sincere(ly) each count as one entry.
In Year 6, the KS2 SATs include a spelling test. It draws on the Key Stage 2 spelling curriculum, which includes this list.
The 100 words
- accommodate
- accompany
- according
- achieve
- aggressive
- amateur
- ancient
- apparent
- appreciate
- attached
- available
- average
- awkward
- bargain
- bruise
- category
- cemetery
- committee
- communicate
- community
- competition
- conscience
- conscious
- controversy
- convenience
- correspond
- criticise (critic + ise)
- curiosity
- definite
- desperate
- determined
- develop
- dictionary
- disastrous
- embarrass
- environment
- equip (-ped, -ment)
- especially
- exaggerate
- excellent
- existence
- explanation
- familiar
- foreign
- forty
- frequently
- government
- guarantee
- harass
- hindrance
- identity
- immediate(ly)
- individual
- interfere
- interrupt
- language
- leisure
- lightning
- marvellous
- mischievous
- muscle
- necessary
- neighbour
- nuisance
- occupy
- occur
- opportunity
- parliament
- persuade
- physical
- prejudice
- privilege
- profession
- programme
- pronunciation
- queue
- recognise
- recommend
- relevant
- restaurant
- rhyme
- rhythm
- sacrifice
- secretary
- shoulder
- signature
- sincere(ly)
- soldier
- stomach
- sufficient
- suggest
- symbol
- system
- temperature
- thorough
- twelfth
- variety
- vegetable
- vehicle
- yacht
Practising at home
- Pick five or six words at a time rather than the whole list.
- Say the word, use it in a sentence, then write it from memory and check it.
- Come back to a missed word over the next few days, not just once.
- Find the tricky part, such as a double letter or a silent letter, and talk about it.
Practise with Spelling Camp
Spelling Camp is an iPhone and iPad app for these lists. Your child hears each word in a sentence, types it, and missed words come back until they stick. It works offline, with no child accounts, advertising, analytics or tracking. The free download includes 20 statutory words, 10 from each list, and a one-time Full KS2 unlock adds every word on both lists.
Get Spelling Camp on the App Store
Source
The word list is from The national curriculum in England: English programmes of study (Department for Education), English Appendix 1. It contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.