5th grade spelling words worksheets
Thirty-six weekly lists for 5th grade, fifteen words each. The year belongs to word parts: Latin and Greek roots (port, form, dict, struct, graph, phon, meter, spect, ject, tract), the -ance/-ence and -ant/-ent families, -ible, doubling before suffixes, and the hard homophones. Spell the root once and a dozen words come free.
Free printable PDF worksheet, aligned to Common Core L.5.2.e.
All 36 weekly lists are below; each prints with its practice columns.
The 36 weeks
How the weekly lists work
Read each word. Cover it, write it, then uncover and check.
Week 1 begins: importexportreportsupporttransportportable
All 36 weekly lists are fixed, so a class stays on the same words; the practice columns are yours to print as often as needed.
The lists are fixed on purpose: the whole class studies the same words toward the same Friday. Each week's sheet prints as many copies as you need.
What's on each sheet
- Weekly list. Read each word. Cover it, write it, then uncover and check. 12 questions per page.
Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key on the last page.
How to teach this
Root first, always: write the root, circle it, then build the week's words around it. When a word breaks the pattern (receipt keeps its p), call it out as the exception it is; exceptions stick better once the rule is solid. Friday tests go faster dictated in pairs: one reads, one writes, swap.
Watch for: A spelling list is not a memory dare; it's a pattern with examples. Study the pattern first and the words become predictions, not facts to cram. The two review slots aren't filler: familiar words keep confidence up, and from week 2 on they bring back exactly the words about to be forgotten.
Common questions about spelling words
- Why are 5th grade lists built on Latin and Greek roots?
- Because from here on, new vocabulary arrives in root families. Spell port once and transport, import, and portable follow; spell struct and construction stops being scary. It's also the year standardized tests start rewarding word-part thinking, and these lists are that thinking, weekly.
- What if my fifth grader already spells well?
- Move them up a few weeks, not out of the habit. The root weeks reward even strong spellers with vocabulary (the words get harder long before the year ends), and the two challenge words in every list are calibrated to make confident spellers slow down.
Related worksheets
- 1st grade spelling words A step easier, same skill
- 2nd grade spelling words A step easier, same skill
- 3rd grade spelling words A step easier, same skill
- 4th grade spelling words A step easier, same skill
- 6th grade spelling words A step harder, same skill
- Spelling words, all grades The full progression
- All 5th grade English worksheets Every skill at this level
- All 5th grade worksheets Everything at this level
Ready to print a week?
Every week's list is one click, any time of year.
Aligned to Common Core L.5.2.e. Reviewed by the One more sheet team. Content version 137, updated August 2026.
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