Year 3 & 4 Spelling Words
UK National Curriculum Spelling List
110 essential words for 7-9 year olds
Shared Year 3 & 4 Statutory Word List
In the UK National Curriculum, Year 3 and Year 4 share the same statutory spelling list. This means children in both year groups learn from the same set of words, with the expectation that they'll master them by the end of Year 4.
In our platform, we've split this list into Level 3 and Level 4 to make learning more manageable, but all these words come from the official Year 3-4 curriculum.
Advanced Prefix Confusion
Year 3-4 (ages 7-9) introduces prefixes like 'anti-', 'auto-', 'inter-'. Children struggle to remember which prefix means what and how they change word meanings - especially when meanings aren't obvious from context.
Apostrophe Anxiety
Possessive apostrophes and contractions become critical in Year 3-4. Knowing whether it's 'its' or 'it's', and where to put apostrophes in plural possessives, causes significant confusion and test anxiety.
Word Families & Origins
Words with Latin/Greek origins (like 'bicycle', 'telephone') require understanding etymology. For 7-9 year olds, memorizing that 'bi' means two and 'cycle' means circle feels disconnected from real life.
Complete Year 3 & 4 Word List
About Year 3-4 Spelling
Year 3-4 (ages 7-9) introduces more complex spelling patterns and word origins. The UK National Curriculum provides a single statutory word list for both years, recognizing that these challenging words require extended practice time to master.
The Year 3-4 curriculum includes words from Latin and Greek origins, homophones, and words with challenging letter strings. Many children begin to feel anxious about spelling at this stage as weekly tests become more demanding.
Our approach helps Year 3-4 learners build confidence through pattern recognition and meaning-based learning, reducing the memorization burden and making spelling more logical.