Tricky words are words that early readers will struggle with. It might be because they have unusual spellings, contain new sounds and graphemes, or don’t follow ordinary phonemic rules. However, we often use many tricky words, so teaching kids how to spell and pronounce them is essential.
What are commonly misspelled words in English?
While you are planning spelling tests and revision support, there are some words that a lot of us need. For example, did you know that ‘misspell’ is one of the most commonly misspelled words in the English language? Check out this list of tricky words to spell that are often filled with errors. You could use this to test spelling through quizzes, tests, or even a Spelling Bee!
- acceptable
- a lot
- argument
- calendar
- column
- conscious
- definitely
- discipline
- embarrass
- exceed
- fiery
- height
- humorous
- jewelry
- library
- license
- maintenance
- miniature
- misspell
- occasionally
- possession
- receipt
- questionnaire
- referred
- rhyme
- separate
What is the most complex word ever?
If you want to challenge your little ones with tricky words to spell, why not try these tongue-twisting harsh terms?
- Sesquipedalian: This one even means ‘given using long words!
- Onomatopoeia: This word represents a particular sound and is often used for literary effect.
- Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious: Most of us remember the classic Mary Poppins character and her famous tongue-twisting song. The Oxford Dictionary defines this as a ‘nonsense word typically used by children.
More how to teach tricky words in phonics techniques:
- Encourage children to sound out the parts of the word they know and give children support with sounds they don’t know. For example, pupils can use the same tricky word, ‘ want,’ to pronounce the ‘w’ sound before they demonstrate how to pronounce the a sound.
- Teach children more letter-sound correspondences. For example, the letter ‘a’ is pronounced differently in ‘ran’ and ‘was.’ If children recognize both letter-send posts, it is easier to read new words.
- Compile a list of tricky words and write them out in different forms. For example, you can use colorful pens, write them in sand or play dough. Practice and repetition are essential when teaching tricky words in phonics, so pick activities children can repeat and remember.
What is the difference between high-frequency and tricky words to spell?
High-frequency words – A sight or high-frequency word is a commonly used word that children should be able to memorize by sight. Retaining this information is essential for children to recognize within three seconds without decoding. These words include: no, the, of, words, number, part, made, and find.
Tricky words – Tricky or phonically irregular words differ from sight words as children need longer to decode. They are words that cannot simply be sounded out in their head. Tricky words should be learned through various methods and not just by sight, as it may lead to difficulty understanding other tricky words that do not follow the same pattern.
What are Tricky Words in Phonics?
There are plenty of examples of tricky words out there. Any word with different sounds to individual phonics and phonics blends could be tricky.
For Phase 2, words like ‘I,’ ‘no,’ and ‘into’ are tricky because they can’t be correctly pronounced using phonics. In phase 3, terms like ‘he,’ ‘she,’ and ‘me’ use a long vowel sound for the e, despite not including double letters in the word.
Phase 4 includes ones like ‘some’ –pronounced the same as ‘sum’ – and ‘one,’ which sounds like ‘won.’ For Phase 5, words like ‘Mr’ and ‘Mrs’ are tricky because they’re contractions of the longer words ‘mister’ and ‘missus.’
What are the skills used in phonics?
There are five different phases used in phonics to help develop and improve reading and writing skills:
- Letter sounds – There are 42 letters to be learned in the English language.
- Letter formation – Using sensory methods to understand the way words are formed.
- Blending – Blending word sounds to read and write words.
- Sounds in words – Using auditory learning to understand sounds in words.
- Tricky Words – These are irregular spellings.
