11 Plus Spelling

In the race to try and do test papers or get some understanding of new areas like non-verbal reasoning, it is often forgotten that spelling plays a fundamental part in any successful 11 Plus campaign.

Schools are now finally beginning to concentrate a little more on spelling and performance levels should improve but more work can still be done on spelling.

We have put together the following spelling pages to help to stimulate thought. In some areas remember that spelling merges or crosses over with vocabulary especially as regards homophones ( words which sound the same but are spelt differently and have different meanings).

Please feel free to use the free resources on these pages and please do think about doing some regular spelling work at home whether the exam is just around the corner, you are in year five, four or even three. Spelling takes ages to develop properly so the longer you spend on it the better the outcomes will be.

Spelling resources for 11 Plus exams

Click through on the headings below to find some useful resources.

Homophones and spelling for 11 Plus. Can you tell the difference between these words. Have a go and see how good your knowledge is !

Double letter trouble. Many children will struggle with double letters and 11 Plus exams ( knowing this can be a weak point feature these things regularly to sort those who can spell from those who can’t). Have a go at these double letter spellings- should you double or should you not?

Statutory Spelling for the 11 Plus. You may not be aware but the Government has and currently does prescribe words which have to be learnt during Key Stage 2. As many 11 Plus tests aim to reward those who have learnt well through KS2 it’s not crazy to think that these words may well feature in 11 Plus tests in some form. Here’s a sample of those we think are the most difficult from the master list.

Commonly Misspelt words. Again these come up year after year and many children struggle with them. Here are what we think are amongst the top 50 that children commonly struggle with or find difficult

11 Plus Spelling resources. There are lots of vocabulary books around ( many of them unfortunately no good as all they do is test or they are too easy) but there are very few spelling books around that we would actually recommend. We have , however, recommended some titles for each year from year three onwards. Whatever stage your child is at we believe they can improve their spelling and spelling can have a marked impact on how children do in the 11 Plus.