Does your child need to practise their spelling skills?
This article will give you 100 Year 5 spelling words and tips for parents so you can help with key skills like silent letters, suffixes, prefixes and more.
As a tutor with 200+ hours of experience with various age levels, I’ve seen firsthand how important it is to master spelling early on to avoid struggles in senior school.
Scroll for 100 Year 5 spelling words for Australian students, plus downloadable worksheets!
What words should a Year 5 student be able to spell?
20 Sample Year 5 Spelling Words for Students in Australia
How can I help my child prepare for the Year 5 NAPLAN?
Download Your 100 Year 5 Spelling Words
What words should a student at a Year 5 English level be able to spell?
The following goals, drawn directly from the English K-10 NESA Syllabus, outline the key areas for spelling development in Year 5:
1️⃣ Your child will learn to “know how to use phonic knowledge and morphology to read and spell words that share common letter patterns but have different pronunciations.” This means they will develop the ability to spell words like though, through and cough.
2️⃣ Students will also “understand how to use knowledge of known words, base words, prefixes and suffixes, word origins, letter patterns and spelling generalisations to spell new words.” For example, they will learn how prefixes like un- or suffixes like -ly change the meaning or form of a word like done → undone or quick → quickly.
3️⃣ Another key focus will be for your child to “explore less common plurals.” This involves learning about irregular plural forms like child → children or mouse → mice.
Sample Australian Year 5 Spelling Words
Here’s a list of 20 words that a Year 5 student might be tested on in a spelling test:
| Word | Example Sentence |
|---|---|
| Captivate | The school musical will surely captivate the audience. |
| Phantom | He mistook the shadow for a phantom. |
| Coverage | The election received a lot of news coverage. |
| Choir | She goes to choir practice before class. |
| Advise | I advise you to come five minutes early. |
| Habitat | The desert is a camel’s natural habitat. |
| Prescription | The doctor gave me a prescription for cough medicine. |
| Environment | Pollution is bad for the environment. |
| Oxygen | Humans breathe in oxygen. |
| Easel | She paints using an easel. |
| Irrelevant | That information is irrelevant. |
| Sympathy | I might be upset, but I don’t want your sympathy. |
| Acquaintance | He is an acquaintance of my cousin. |
| Mosquito | I was bitten by a mosquito. |
| Colleague | He was my colleague when I worked in retail. |
| Route | I’d rather take the scenic route even though it’s longer. |
| Jewellery | My sister buys lots of expensive jewellery. |
| Deceive | When I play card games I deceive my opponents. |
| Exhibit | The dinosaur exhibit was really interesting. |
| Inefficient | Group work is inefficient if we don’t listen to each other’s ideas. |
How can I help my child prepare for the Year 5 NAPLAN?
This year, your child will be sitting the NAPLAN for the second time! They would have initially sat the assessments back in Year 3, and these tests were spread across 3 days.
In these exams, your child will be assessed on:
- Reading & Writing
- Language Conventions
- Numeracy
Within the Language Conventions test, there is a section dedicated to spelling. Your child will be required to:
- Identify and correct errors in one and two syllable words that follow regular spelling patterns
- Identify and correct errors in less frequently used words with double letters
In terms of how the questions look, here’s a past example from a previous Year 5 NAPLAN test:
By using our worksheets that you can download below, your child will get into the habit of identifying and correcting any errors in their spelling.
If you’d like your child to become familiar with the layout of the NAPLAN exams, there are a bunch of practice tests that can help. Here are a few tips to help your child study:
- Practice Common Spelling Patterns: Focus on spelling patterns that frequently appear in NAPLAN, such as homophones (e.g. their/there/they’re), double letters and silent letters (e.g. vegetable, lamb).
- Use Dictation Exercises: Read sentences aloud for your child to write down, incorporating words that challenge their spelling. This helps reinforce correct spelling in context and improves listening skills.
- Play Word Games: Use fun spelling activities like word searches, crosswords, or online spelling games to make practice enjoyable and reinforce word recognition.
Download our 100 Year 5 Spelling Words
If you want access to all 100 Year 5 spelling words, you’ll probably want to download our FREE worksheets below! Here’s a sneak peek:
Need spelling sheets for other year groups?
Not to worry, we’ve got plenty of K-6 spelling resources that you can download for FREE!
Kindergarten | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 6 | Year 7
Looking for some extra help for your child?
We have an incredible team of English tutors and mentors!
We offer tutoring and mentoring for students in Years K-12 in a variety of subjects, with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home, online, or at one of our state of the art campuses in Hornsby, the Hills or Chatswood!
Looking for expert tutoring near you? Explore our Tutoring Locations to find high-quality tutoring services in your area, including NSW, VIC, QLD.
We’ve supported over 8,000 students over the last 11 years, and on average our students score mark improvements of over 20%!
To find out more and get started with an inspirational English tutor and mentor, get in touch today or give us a ring on 1300 267 888!
Christina Ugov is currently completing a double degree in International and Global Studies and Theatre and Performance at the University of Sydney. Outside of her studies, she enjoys exploring creative writing projects, analysing literature and playing with her cat. She spends her spare time reading, listening to music and drinking lots of tea.
Alicia Hassell is currently completing her final year of a Bachelor of Education (Secondary) with teaching areas in French, English and EAL/D. Teaching is a big passion of hers, and she loves everything involving languages. In her spare time she likes to read a good book and sew her own clothes!
