---
title: "Year 1 Spelling Words - Complete UK National Curriculum Word List - Ages 5-6"
url: https://spellwithstories.com/YearCurriculum1
description: "Complete Year 1 spelling words from UK National Curriculum. Common exception words and phonics patterns for 5-6 year olds with memory tricks and fun games."
lang: en
---

# Year 1 Spelling Words

UK National Curriculum Spelling List

45 essential words for 5-6 year olds

✏️

### Letter Formation Confusion

Year 1 children often struggle with forming similar-looking letters correctly (like 'b' and 'd', or 'p' and 'q'). This makes it harder to spell words confidently, even when they know the sounds.

🤔

### Common Exception Words

Words like 'said', 'the', and 'are' don't follow phonics rules. Young learners find these frustrating because they can't 'sound them out' like other words they're learning.

🔤

### Remembering Tricky Sounds

Graphemes like 'igh' in 'night' or 'ou' in 'out' are hard for 5-6 year olds to remember. They know the sounds but forget which letter combinations make them.

## Complete Year 1 Word List

a

are

ask

be

by

come

do

friend

full

go

has

he

here

his

house

I

is

love

me

my

no

of

once

one

our

pull

push

put

said

says

school

she

so

some

the

there

they

to

today

was

we

were

where

you

your

## About Year 1 Spelling

Year 1 is when children (ages 5-6) begin their formal spelling journey in the UK National Curriculum. At this stage, children are learning to match sounds (phonemes) to letters (graphemes) and beginning to recognize common exception words that don't follow regular phonics patterns.

The focus in Year 1 is on building confidence with simple consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words, as well as memorizing high-frequency words that appear often in children's reading and writing. Many of these words are tricky because they don't follow standard phonics rules.

Our memory tricks and multi-sensory approach help Year 1 children remember these challenging spellings through stories, images, and engaging activities - making spelling practice feel less like work and more like play.

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