3rd grade spelling words
A 3rd grade spelling list covers the long vowel patterns in longer words, the vowel teams and diphthongs, contractions, prefixes and suffixes, and the first words with three syllables. This page prints all 36 weeks, fourteen words each, as one list.
Free printable PDF, 3rd grade.
One page, black and white, prints the same every time.
What is on the sheet
The table below is the sheet as it prints with these options: By week.
| Week | Words |
|---|---|
| 1 | make, shape, trade, rain, paint, chain, day, stay, tray, gray, afraid, yesterday, today, away |
| 2 | time, smile, prize, drive, high, night, bright, my, reply, shy, make, rain, lightning, butterfly |
| 3 | home, stone, slope, boat, coast, throat, snow, grow, below, own, time, night, tomorrow, rowboat |
| 4 | these, green, sweet, speech, team, dream, peach, leaf, we, he, home, snow, thirteen, beneath |
| 5 | new, few, grew, threw, chew, drew, blue, glue, true, clue, team, green, nephew, rescue |
| 6 | food, smooth, shoot, scoop, tooth, good, hook, stood, shook, wool, new, blue, bedroom, understood |
| 7 | found, sound, mouth, cloud, proud, crowd, tower, flower, growl, howl, food, good, surround, eyebrow |
| 8 | boil, coin, noise, voice, choice, moist, enjoy, royal, loyal, destroy, found, cloud, appoint, employ |
| 9 | claw, dawn, hawk, drawn, crawl, squawk, cause, pause, fault, haunt, noise, enjoy, awkward, autumn |
| 10 | air, fair, hair, chair, stairs, pair, care, share, scare, square, claw, cause, repair, compare |
| 11 | ear, hear, year, near, clear, fear, deer, cheer, steer, peer, chair, share, appear, volunteer |
| 12 | north, storm, force, before, store, score, shore, roar, board, soar, year, clear, explore, keyboard |
| 13 | ice, mice, race, place, space, price, center, circle, city, pencil, store, before, distance, bicycle |
| 14 | age, cage, page, stage, large, charge, change, giant, gentle, magic, city, circle, imagine, dangerous |
| 15 | knee, knock, knife, know, knot, wrap, wrist, wrong, write, lamb, age, large, kneel, wrinkle |
| 16 | catch, match, pitch, switch, stretch, watch, edge, bridge, judge, badge, know, write, kitchen, knowledge |
| 17 | brain, delay, tight, float, greet, least, mood, round, joint, yawn, catch, edge, remain, approach |
| 18 | isn't, aren't, wasn't, doesn't, haven't, couldn't, I'll, you'll, we've, they'd, brain, float, shouldn't, o'clock |
| 19 | afternoon, anyone, everyone, everything, homework, notebook, outside, sometimes, without, himself, isn't, I'll, grandparent, thunderstorm |
| 20 | older, colder, faster, smaller, taller, longest, strongest, smartest, kindest, greatest, outside, without, earlier, happiest |
| 21 | badly, gladly, slowly, quickly, loudly, softly, safely, nicely, weekly, friendly, older, longest, suddenly, carefully |
| 22 | unfair, unkind, unlock, unpack, unsafe, untie, unwrap, unhappy, unable, unusual, slowly, quickly, unfinished, unexpected |
| 23 | redo, refill, remake, repay, retell, rewrite, return, replace, recycle, remind, unfair, unhappy, rebuild, recover |
| 24 | careful, helpful, useful, cheerful, thankful, painful, careless, helpless, useless, fearless, return, recycle, wonderful, thoughtless |
| 25 | baby, babies, city, cities, party, parties, story, stories, penny, pennies, careful, useful, families, libraries |
| 26 | run, running, swim, swimming, shop, shopping, plan, planning, skip, skipping, babies, stories, beginning, forgetting |
| 27 | bake, baking, drive, driving, hope, hoping, smile, smiling, trade, trading, running, shopping, writing, exercising |
| 28 | able, table, little, middle, purple, simple, circle, uncle, apple, bottle, baking, hoping, possible, vegetable |
| 29 | about, again, ago, away, animal, banana, camera, pilot, wagon, lemon, table, little, another, important |
| 30 | hole, whole, knew, new, right, write, made, maid, weak, week, about, again, allowed, aloud |
| 31 | peace, piece, plain, plane, herd, heard, tale, tail, sale, sail, whole, knew, weather, whether |
| 32 | teacher, farmer, singer, player, painter, builder, dancer, helper, leader, worker, piece, plain, photographer, carpenter |
| 33 | rainy, sunny, windy, cloudy, snowy, muddy, dusty, rocky, sleepy, lucky, teacher, player, thirsty, squeaky |
| 34 | market, garden, morning, forty, perfect, person, thirty, dirty, turkey, purple, rainy, sunny, remember, important |
| 35 | because, before, people, friend, thought, through, enough, once, every, always, morning, person, favorite, different |
| 36 | surprise, stomach, straight, strength, question, special, machine, library, answer, minute, because, friend, neighbor, tomorrow |
How the year is built
Third grade is the year spelling turns into word study. The lists start with the long vowel spellings in longer words, then the sound of "oi" and "ou", the vowels with r, and the soft c and g. The middle of the year is contractions, compound words and the comparative endings. The spring adds prefixes, "un-", "re-", "dis-", and the suffixes "-ful", "-less", "-ly", so that a child spells "carefully" as three known pieces.
Fourteen words a week matches most 3rd grade programmes. The weekly worksheet prints one week with a practice column; this page is the year on one list.
Using the list
Have the child mark the pattern in each word before writing it, the prefix, the suffix, the vowel team. For the contraction weeks, write the two words each one comes from. Keep a running list of the words missed on Friday and fold five of them into the following week's dictation.
Common questions
- Are these words aligned to a standard?
- The 3rd grade language standard asks for spelling by patterns, syllables and meaningful word parts, which is how these lists are built. Schools order the weeks differently.