Year 2 spelling rules: soft sounds, endings and apostrophes

Year 2 is where spelling stops being only sounds and starts to have patterns. These ten cards cover the new work in the national curriculum for Year 2. Read a card, say the example words aloud, then try the quiz at the end.

Soft j and soft s: -dge, -ge, g and c

At the end of a word the j sound is spelt -dge straight after a short vowel sound, and -ge after a long vowel sound or after a consonant. Inside words, g before e, i or y often says j, but j is always used before a, o and u. The letter c before e, i or y says s.

-dge after a short vowel

badge hedge fridge lodge nudge judge

-ge after a long vowel or consonant

cage huge orange change village fringe

g says j

gentle giant gym magic energy

c says s

cent face city circus cycle fancy

Watch out: English words never end in j. The jam, jog and jump words use j because g would say a hard sound before a, o and u.

Silent first letters: kn, gn and wr

Some words begin with a letter you cannot hear. kn says n, gn says n and wr says r. Hundreds of years ago people did say both letters. There are no short cuts here: learn each word with its silent letter.

kn

knee knit knob know knife knock

gn

gnat gnome gnaw

wr

wrap write wrist wrong wreck wrinkle

Watch out: Write the silent letter first when you practise, so your hand remembers it.

Word endings: -le, -el, -al and -il

The sound at the end of table can be spelt four ways. -le is by far the most common. -el comes after m, n, r, s, v and w. -al is mostly found in adjectives and a few nouns. -il is rare.

-le

table apple bottle candle puzzle little

-el

camel tunnel squirrel towel shovel tinsel

-al

metal pedal animal hospital capital

-il

pencil fossil nostril April

Watch out: If you are unsure and the word is not on the -el list, try -le first.

Words ending in y or ey

A y at the end of a word can say eye (cry) or ee (happy). The ey ending also says ee and is made plural by adding just s.

y says eye

cry fly sky try reply July

y says ee

happy funny puppy jelly family

ey says ee

key donkey monkey valley chimney

Watch out: Plural of ey words: keys, donkeys, valleys. Never keies or valleies.

Adding endings to words that end in y

When a word ends in a consonant then y, change the y to i before -es, -ed, -er and -est. Keep the y before -ing, because two i letters in a row would look wrong. If a vowel comes before the y, nothing changes.

y becomes i

babies stories parties cries copied happier happiest tidied

keep y before -ing

crying copying carrying tidying hurrying

vowel before y: no change

plays played toys monkeys stayed

Watch out: Only a few ordinary words contain ii, for example skiing.

Adding endings to words that end in e, and doubling

If a word ends in a silent e, drop the e before an ending that starts with a vowel letter (-ing, -ed, -er, -est, -y). For a short word with one vowel and one consonant at the end, double the last consonant so the vowel stays short. The letter x is never doubled.

drop the e

hiking hiked hiker nicer nicest shiny smiling

double the consonant

patting hummed saddest runner bigger fatter

x is never doubled

mixing boxer sixes fixed

Watch out: Being keeps its e. A word with two vowels before the last consonant is not doubled: rain, raining.

Tricky vowel sounds

Some letter patterns say a different sound from the one you expect. a before l or ll often says or. o can say u. After w or qu, an a says o. or after w says er. ar after w says or. The s in television says zh.

a says or before l, ll

all ball call walk talk always

o says u

other mother brother nothing Monday

a says o after w, qu

want watch wander quantity squash

or says er after w

word work worm world worth

ar says or after w

war warm towards

s says zh

television treasure usual pleasure

Watch out: These are patterns, not rules without exceptions. Check each new word by looking at it, saying it and writing it.

Suffixes -ment, -ness, -ful, -less and -ly

A suffix that starts with a consonant letter is added straight on to most words with no change. If the root word ends in a consonant plus y and has more than one syllable, change the y to i first. One-syllable words keep their y.

added straight on

enjoyment sadness careful hopeless badly playful

y changes to i

happiness merriment plentiful penniless happily

one syllable keeps the y

shyness dryness

Watch out: The word argument drops the e from argue. It is an exception.

Apostrophes for missing letters and for owning

In a contraction the apostrophe shows where letters are missing: can't is cannot. For one owner, add 's to the noun. The word it's always means it is or it has. The possessive word is its, with no apostrophe.

contractions

can't didn't hasn't couldn't it's I'll we're they've

one owner

Ravi's bag the girl's coat the dog's bone the child's drawing

Watch out: Test it's by saying it is. If it does not fit, you want its.

Words ending in -tion

The ending that sounds like shun is most often spelt -tion. Learn the shape of the ending and you will spell hundreds of words.

-tion

station fiction motion national section nation lotion potion

Watch out: Question says chun, not shun, so it ends -stion.

Homophones: same sound, different word

Homophones sound the same but have different spellings and meanings. Use the meaning of your sentence to choose.

pairs and trios

there / their / they're here / hear quite / quiet see / sea bare / bear one / won sun / son to / too / two be / bee blue / blew night / knight

Watch out: Make a clue: hear has an ear in it; here is a place like there; a knight has a silent k.

Year 2 spelling quiz

12 quick questions on the rules above. Choose an answer for each, then check.

Keep going

Spelling lists and grammar terminology: Department for Education, National curriculum in England: English programmes of study, Appendices 1 and 2 (Crown copyright 2013), reproduced under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Example sentences, tips, explanations and questions are by Litlings.