6th Grade Spelling Units (Level F)

This first spelling unit focuses on words with short vowel sounds. The word list includes enchanted, scamper, appearances, frivolous, investment, budgeting, disrupted, involved, astonishing, establish, dumpster, fictitious, fundamental, satisfy, confidential, federal, constant, timid, sensitive, and fashionable.

Words in the second unit use different spelling patterns to make long vowel sounds. The list contains aphid, evaluation, humidity, exceedingly, conveyed, gigabyte, sorrowful, restraint, queasy, postpone, identical, genuine, typhoon, freight, recede, conceited, radioactive, copyrighted, goatee, and annual.

Students will spell a variety of words with r-controlled vowels in Unit 3. Word list: carpenter, guarantee, concert, alerted, conspiracies, whirlwind, horizontal, elaborate, disturbing, ensure, carnival, compartment, swerve, determine, confirmation, inspirational, corrupt, authority, absurd, and burden.

Unit F-4 looks at words that contain silent letters. Note the silent consonant or closing vowels in each word: pterodactyl, debt, unbeknownst, bristling, league, piranha, gnarled, jostled, scenario, limbs, fascinating, wriggle, thistle, resuscitate, rogue, depot, solemn, numbing, cologne, and asthma.

The fifth unit of 6th grade spelling focuses on words with the /s/ and /z/ sounds. Students will spell the following words: pacifier, service, compromise, trousers, blizzard, sympathize, optimism, deceptive, recite, license, episode, browsed, quartz, citizen, clumsiest, dissolve, disease, episode, motorcycle, and glimpsed.

Practice different spelling patterns that produce the /k/ and /kw/ sounds in week 9. The complete list of words is kayak, conquistadors, relinquish, plaques, critique, chronological, lacquer, quirky, chaotic, klutz, technique, critic, cloak, squander, quotient, squeamish, turquoise, choir, monarch, and hectic.

Learn some of the patterns used to produce three complex consonant sounds: /sh/, /ch/, and /j/. List 7's twenty standard words are: exaggeration, manufacture, unapproachable, licorice, situation, practitioner, abbreviation, rummage, comprehension, congestion, pigeon, chandelier, gingerly, competition, dungeon, digestion, habitual, generation, and procedure.

Week 8 contains words with unstressed final syllables. Unstressed syllables usually have ambiguous sounds called schwas (the topic of Week 9!), and they're tricky because they can be spelled with multiple consonant-vowel patterns. Costal, grimace, penguin, stencil, furnace, margin, reassure, satchel, summit, neutral, leisure, departure, vital, premature, bargain, language, straddle, swivel, humble, skillet.

The ambiguous schwa often sounds like a reduced (or weak) short i or short u. All words in List 9 contain one or more schwa: askew, purposefully, innovative, anthem, afterward, objection, fluency, monument, especially, engaging, competent, regional, seldom, variety, entitlement, delicate, amendment, troublesome, considerable, merchant.

Each word in our tenth unit ends with -ory, -ary, or -ery. Secretary, itinerary, mandatory, unnecessary, misery, observatory, satisfactory, military, scenery, category, nursery, surgery, literary, dictionary, documentary, auditory, territory, temporary, mystery, solitary.

The inflectional endings -ing and -ed are added to every word in this collection. Check if letters double in unplugged, collecting, embedded, obtained, throbbing, limited, knotting, strumming, profiting, permitted, regretted, forbidding, committed, complaining, begging, excelled, resulted, abandoning, explained, and resembling.

Irregular plural nouns are the topic of List 12. Singular forms are also included for easy reference. Cacti (cactus), criteria (criterion), quizzes (quiz), radii (radius), curricula (curriculum), indices (index), bacteria (bacterium), crises (crisis), foci (focus), larvae (larva), nuclei (nucleus), vertebrae (vertebra), antennae (antenna), hypotheses (hypothesis), vetoes (veto), fungi (fungus), dominoes (domino), tornadoes (tornado), calves (calf), lice (louse).

Words from the thirteenth list require attention to context. Students will be differentiating between these pairs of homophones in no time! Core and corps, compliment and complement, grizzly and grisly, bizarre and bazaar, vile and vial, capitol and capital, shear and sheer, stationery and stationary, vein and vain, idle and idol.

All of this week's words are compounds of two or more words, including some with hyphens. Teammates, gentleman, whereas, trailblazer, uproar, lightweight, afterthought, sister-in-law, spellbinding, benchmark, wherever, earthquake, mind-blowing, nevertheless, upstream, nowhere, undercover, airborne, runner-up, ourselves.

In Unit 15, familiarize yourself with words that have unique spelling patterns as a result of being loaned from other languages, such as: axolotl, parachute, bologna, khaki, debut, wildebeest, sabotage, cello, cliché, boutique, tsunami, pharaoh, spiel, quesadilla, etiquette, camouflage, souvenir, reservoir, jalapeño, and leprechaun.

The sixteenth list consists of words that use one of four prefixes: dis-, de-, re-, and mis-. Disproportionate, mistreatment, dissimilar, disembodied, misstep, deodorant, reencounter, disinfectant, decipher, misdiagnosed, decontaminate, regenerative, misguided, discontinued, redistribute, renovation, rehearsal, descent, misconduct, and decompose.

Don't let the similar-sounding prefixes per-, pre-, and pro- fool you! List 17 teaches the spelling patterns with these words: perspire, prescribed, propeller, precision, prevention, procrastinate, prohibit, provoke, prologue, permanent, perceptive, progression, prophecy, perforated, promotion, proactive, precede, persuade, preparations, profound.

This 18th unit introduces absorbed or assimilated prefixes using the example in-. It changes spelling to im-, il-, or ir- depending on the first letter of the root or base. Full word list: invulnerable, irresistible, illogical, improper, immobilize, inexpensive, impractical, illegal, irrelevant, impassable, impurities, inedible, individual, irregular, illegitimate, illegible, immediate, innocent, immortal, immature.

Sub- is another common prefix that is absorbed by the base or root word. Observe its spelling changes in List 19: submarine, subheadings, substitute, subtitles, succumb, submerge, supposed, supplement, successor, suffocate, suppress, substance, suburban, supportive, suffix, subconscious, suggestion, surrogate, surrender, suffer.

Our twentieth unit introduces the assimilated prefix ad-, which is one of the most common prefixes in all of English. Words are adhesive, aggression, aggravate, affiliate, alliance, accomplishment, adjust, affixes, allocate, affirmative, adjoining, alliteration, advocate, accommodate, addictive, accelerate, accessible, allegiance, affect, and additional.

Week 21 isn't through with the prefix ad-! Remember your doubled consonants, and you'll be spelling these words like a champ! Assembly, appropriate, arrogance, annotate, attentive, announcements, approximate, array, assume, attachment, arrangement, assessment, attribute, apprehensive, apprentice, appendix, attempt, attain, apparel, arresting.

List 22 is the first of several spelling units relating to suffixes. Start by reviewing the frequently used suffixes that appear in these words: adorable, resourceful, indestructible, divisible, relentless, defenseless, tangible, glamorous, numerous, insightful, blissful, disrespectful, reliable, marvelous, breathless, admirable, unavailable, ridiculous, eligible, and regardless.

The suffix group -er, -or, and -ar makes nouns indicating agency. Inspector, choreographer, contender, commentator, adventurer, coordinator, registrar, collaborator, juror, qualifier, contractor, borrower, commuter, customer, broadcaster, admirer, professor, gladiator, foreigner, burglar.

All the words for week 24 end in -est or -ist. Whole list, minus review and challenge words: tourist, wealthiest, pharmacist, stylist, journalist, deadliest, novelist, healthiest, therapist, finalist, receptionist, slightest, earliest, volcanologist, prettiest, antagonist, busiest, optimist, heartiest, activist.

Many suffixes end with the letter y, and they're the topic of this week's list! Look for the differences between -ety, -ity, -ly, and -y. Agility, dramatically, cautiously, formally, eventually, gravely, fidgety, anxiety, humility, unwieldy, faulty, humbly, desperately, haughty, suitably, generosity, calamity, allegedly, complexity, subtly.

The 26th unit teaches students to watch out for the different spellings of -ance and -ence. Performance, residence, maintenance, reassurance, correspondence, reference, circumstance, consequence, clearance, inconvenience, compliance, coincidence, audience, conference, interference, insurance, enhance, significance, persistence, tolerance.

The suffixes -tion, -sion, and -cian sound identical, but they're spelled differently and can carry nuanced meaning. Practice by using the words communication, politician, magician, collision, technician, physician, intrusion, intermission, electrician, obligation, representation, illustration, admission, compassion, revolution, possession, construction, exclamation, pediatrician, and invasion.

This week is a lesson in Latin! If you can identify a Latin root, it'll help you spell words like conversation, subscription, versatile, postscript, subjective, attractive, ejected, retractable, inscribed, detract, interject, injection, transcribe, inverted, traction, extracted, extrovert, manuscript, vertex, and describe.

List 29 introduces a number of Greek roots students should learn to recognize and spell. Spot them in: psychic, psychology, epicenter, mythology, programmer, concentrate, diagram, biology, central, telegrams, eccentric, calligraphy, apathetic, anagram, psyched, autograph, graphite, teleprompter, empathize, and telepathy.

The final numbered unit in the series explores Greek and Latin versions of word parts that have the same meaning. Sets of words in this list share equivalent roots or prefixes: binoculars, duplicate, phonetically, speculate, universal, dehydration, inaudible, multicultural, reunion, monogram, aquatic, periscope, multitude, monopoly, audiovisual, polytheistic, evidence, suspicion, dialogue, bilingual.

Don't be frightened by the spooky words that make up the first of our holiday-themed units! Regular list includes gargoyle, tarantula, mysterious, crypt, werewolf, eerie, bloodcurdling, specter, superstition, phobia, phantom, cauldron, arachnid, gruesome, sinister, nocturnal, frightening, laboratory, cemetery, and apparition. Basic words are tombstone, horrible, and menacing. Students can challenge themselves with poltergeist and mausoleum.

The word list for this Thanksgiving-inspired unit includes gourd, voyage, harvest, cinnamon, heritage, banquet, centerpiece, bountiful, maize, casserole, celebration, biscuit, prosperous, guest, cornucopia, plentiful, sumptuous, cranberries, generous, gratitude, dessert, onion, thankful, recipe, and delicious.

Get into the Yuletide spirit by mastering the words included in this unit. Complete spelling list: poinsettia, deliveries, anticipation, decorations, fruitcake, icicle, excitement, festive, tinsel, yuletide, reindeer, pageant, boughs, ornaments, toboggan, scrooge, December, partridge, garland, toffee, tradition, mistletoe, sugarplum, jubilant, and candlelight.

This Easter- and spring-themed unit might be a breath of fresh air with words like cottontail, flourish, equinox, bonnet, marshmallow, chocolate, daffodil, baskets, parade, delightful, bouquet, vernal, confection, springtime, symbolic, butterfly, lilies, blossoms, hard-boiled, lamb, pastel, commemorate, hyacinth, luscious, and chrysanthemum.

Learn to correctly spell words that students are sure to see again and again in their ELA classes. Full list: biography, expression, citation, bibliography, pronunciation, explanatory, synonym, genre, personification, connotation, narrative, literacy, perspective, antonym, vocabulary, thematic, thesaurus, simile, epilogue, introduction, metaphor, informative, interrogative, synopsis, analysis.

Here's a preview of the collection of interests, hobbies, and activities covered in the basic, regular, and challenge sections of this themed list: basketball, athletics, coding, badminton, orchestra, cheerleading, Science Olympiad, jazz ensemble, cross-country, mentoring, graphic design, yearbook, culinary arts, gymnastics, lacrosse, chorus, debate club, archery, robotics, volunteering, karate, student council, photography, intramurals, and acrobatics.

Your 6th graders are probably already thinking about their futures. Make sure they know how to spell a variety of job and career titles using this list. Salesperson, filmmaker, supervisor, orthodontist, attorney, surgeon, chef, investigator, technologist, accountant, hygienist, agriculturist, designer, administrator, mechanic, translator, cashier, curator, physicist, optometrist, custodian, architect, dietitian, cosmetologist, restaurateur.

This page has links to our 30-plus 5th grade (Level E) spelling units.

You can access all of our spelling units from this page. We have lists and worksheets for students in grades 1 through 6 (Levels A through F).