Quick answer
NAPLAN tests around 25 spelling words per year. Patterns matter more than memorisation. Jump to your child's year level below.
If your child is sitting NAPLAN in 2027, the spelling section is one of the easier parts to prepare for. Unlike reading or numeracy, where the questions adapt to your child's ability, the spelling test is more predictable: students are given words to spell, sometimes in the context of a sentence, and they have to get the spelling right.
The challenge isn't the test format. It's knowing which words to focus on.
This guide covers the spelling patterns, word lists, and study strategies for NAPLAN at each year level. It's structured by year, with examples drawn from the Australian Curriculum v9.0 word knowledge sub-strand, the same framework NAPLAN uses to develop test items.
Before we get into the lists: NAPLAN spelling is not a memorisation test. It's a pattern recognition test. Students who understand spelling rules and word structure consistently outperform students who've memorised long lists. We'll cover the patterns first, then the words.
A note on the lists: ACARA does not publish an official year-by-year spelling word list. The words below are selected from the AC v9.0 vocabulary progressions and reflect the patterns NAPLAN historically tests. They are a guide for parents, not a definitive test bank.
Year 3 NAPLAN spelling
What's tested
Year 3 NAPLAN spelling focuses on high-frequency words and basic phonics patterns. The test typically includes around 25 words, and students are expected to manage words at roughly a Year 3 reading level.
The patterns Year 3 students are tested on:
- Short and long vowel sounds (cat, cake, fish, fine)
- Common consonant blends (st-, br-, -nd, -nt)
- Digraphs (sh, ch, th, wh)
- Plurals using -s and -es (boys, foxes, bushes)
- Past tense -ed endings (jumped, played, looked)
- Common contractions (don't, can't, it's, I'm)
- Compound words (sunshine, bedroom, playground)
Sample Year 3 NAPLAN spelling words
These are typical Year 3 NAPLAN-style words organised by pattern:
Short vowels: bag, dog, hit, fun, met, pen, sun, cup, top, win
Long vowels and silent e: cake, like, hope, cute, time, bone, line, made, ride, note
Consonant blends and digraphs: ship, chip, then, when, slip, spin, drop, brave, ground, splash
Plurals: boxes, dishes, foxes, classes, brushes, churches, watches, branches
Past tense -ed: walked, played, jumped, looked, talked, helped, washed, painted
Contractions: don't, can't, it's, I'm, won't, isn't, didn't, wouldn't
Compound words: sunshine, bedroom, raincoat, playground, snowflake, weekend, classroom, backpack
Common Year 3 sight words: friend, school, people, family, animal, water, every, write, after, before
How to help your Year 3 with spelling
Year 3 students are still building basic phonics confidence. The most effective strategies are:
- Read aloud daily. Children who read frequently encounter more words in context and naturally absorb spelling patterns.
- Use a sound-it-out approach. When your child guesses a spelling, ask them to say the word slowly and write each sound they hear.
- Don't drill word lists. Memorising lists rarely transfers to test performance. Better to read and write words in context.
- Celebrate close attempts. A child who writes "frend" instead of "friend" has understood the sounds correctly and missed only the silent letter. That's progress.
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Try Skillo Free →Year 5 NAPLAN spelling
What's tested
Year 5 NAPLAN spelling moves beyond memorisation into pattern recognition. The test includes around 25 words, with increasing emphasis on prefixes, suffixes, homophones, and letter patterns that require students to understand word structure.
The patterns Year 5 students are tested on:
- Prefixes (un-, re-, dis-, mis-, pre-)
- Suffixes (-tion, -sion, -able, -ible, -ous, -ful, -less)
- Plurals of irregular words (children, mice, women, knives, leaves)
- Homophones (there/their/they're, your/you're, its/it's, here/hear, where/wear)
- Silent letters (knee, knight, write, wrong, calm, half)
- Double consonants (running, beginning, occurred, address)
- Common letter combinations (-ough, -ight, -tion, -cious)
Sample Year 5 NAPLAN spelling words
Prefixes: unhappy, unable, return, rewrite, discover, dishonest, mislead, prepare, previous, predict
Suffixes -tion / -sion: action, station, decision, division, attention, tension, position, mention, vision, conclusion
Suffixes -able / -ible: comfortable, valuable, available, possible, terrible, sensible, horrible, reliable, suitable, visible
Suffixes -ous / -ful / -less: dangerous, famous, careful, helpful, hopeless, harmless, beautiful, wonderful, mysterious, courageous
Irregular plurals: children, mice, women, men, feet, teeth, knives, leaves, wolves, sheep
Homophones: their/there/they're, your/you're, its/it's, here/hear, where/wear, no/know, write/right, two/too/to, son/sun, knew/new
Silent letters: knee, knight, knock, write, wrong, half, calm, listen, climb, lamb
Double consonants: running, beginning, swimming, occurred, happened, address, success, possess, professor, committee
Tricky Year 5 words: friend, separate, necessary, business, address, sentence, government, beginning, surprise, weather
How to help your Year 5 with spelling
Year 5 is the level where spelling stops being about phonics and starts being about word structure. Effective strategies:
- Teach patterns, not words. If your child learns the -tion pattern, they can spell hundreds of words. Memorising 50 individual words covers only 50 words.
- "Action" and "react" share the same root. Understanding word roots transforms spelling into a logic puzzle, not a memory test.
- Make homophones a daily conversation. When your child uses "their" or "there" in writing, briefly note which one they used and why.
- Read at or above their reading level. Exposure to harder texts is the strongest predictor of spelling growth at this age.
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Try Skillo Free →Year 7 NAPLAN spelling
What's tested
Year 7 NAPLAN spelling assumes students have mastered basic phonics and patterns. The focus shifts to less common letter combinations, words borrowed from other languages, and academic vocabulary students encounter in secondary subjects.
The patterns Year 7 students are tested on:
- Academic and subject-specific vocabulary (history, science, geography terms)
- Greek and Latin roots (graph, phon, scope, port, struct)
- Less common spelling patterns (-ious, -eous, -tial, -cial)
- Words with unusual letter combinations (rhythm, gauge, queue, plateau)
- Common misspellings adults still get wrong (definitely, separate, necessary, accommodation)
- Words from other languages now used in English (cafe, restaurant, manoeuvre, hors d'oeuvre)
Sample Year 7 NAPLAN spelling words
Greek and Latin roots: photograph, telephone, microscope, transport, structure, biography, autograph, telegraph, telescope, important
-ious / -eous patterns: serious, obvious, religious, mysterious, courteous, hideous, gaseous, righteous, gorgeous, courageous
-tial / -cial patterns: special, social, official, financial, commercial, essential, partial, initial, crucial, beneficial
Academic vocabulary: research, evidence, analyse, conclude, evaluate, compare, contrast, structure, function, process
Subject vocabulary (science): experiment, hypothesis, observation, photosynthesis, organism, ecosystem, molecule, chemistry, biology, geology
Subject vocabulary (humanities): democracy, parliament, government, society, culture, century, historical, geographical, political, economic
Common misspellings: definitely, separate, necessary, accommodation, embarrassing, occurred, beginning, occasionally, surprise, achievement
Words from other languages: cafe, restaurant, manoeuvre, queue, rhythm, gauge, ballet, debut, plateau, bureau
Tricky Year 7 words: argument, opportunity, conscience, environment, criticise, parallel, recommend, immediately, government, achievement
How to help your Year 7 with spelling
By Year 7, spelling improvement is largely a function of how much your child reads. Most other interventions have small effects. What does work:
- Encourage wider reading. Newspapers, magazines, non-fiction books, longer-form online content. Variety matters more than volume.
- Don't fight technology. Spell-check has changed how spelling is learned. Year 7 students need to write fluently first and spell precisely second.
- Focus on the words your child consistently misspells. Year 7 students typically have a personal list of 10–15 words they always get wrong. Identifying and addressing those is more useful than working through generic lists.
- Show them online dictionaries and etymology resources. Many Year 7 students enjoy learning where words come from once they realise it makes spelling logical.
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Try Skillo Free →Year 9 NAPLAN spelling
What's tested
Year 9 NAPLAN spelling expects mastery of all earlier patterns. The test includes vocabulary from senior subjects, words with complex morphology, and the kind of words adults sometimes still struggle with. Around 25 words are tested.
The patterns Year 9 students are tested on:
- Multi-syllabic academic words
- Words with multiple affixes (unsuccessfully, unmistakably, recommendation)
- Words borrowed from other languages (entrepreneur, bourgeois, naive, cafe)
- Technical terminology from various subject areas
- Words that follow no consistent pattern (yacht, choir, rendezvous)
- Words commonly misspelled by adults
Sample Year 9 NAPLAN spelling words
Multi-syllabic words: communication, responsibility, opportunity, environment, characteristic, recommendation, accommodation, embarrassment, achievement, intelligence
Multiple affixes: unsuccessfully, unmistakably, irresponsible, misunderstanding, unconstitutional, multidimensional, internationalism, disenfranchisement
Words from other languages: entrepreneur, rendezvous, bourgeois, naive, cafe, facade, manoeuvre, silhouette, lieutenant, debut
Academic / technical: chromosome, photosynthesis, equilibrium, parliamentary, constitutional, philosophical, mathematical, electromagnetic, thermodynamics, archaeological
Words commonly misspelled: definitely, separate, necessary, accommodation, embarrassing, conscience, conscious, weather/whether, principle/principal, stationery/stationary
Frequently confused pairs: principle/principal, stationery/stationary, complement/compliment, advice/advise, affect/effect, accept/except, then/than, lose/loose, breath/breathe
Unusual spellings: yacht, choir, gauge, rhythm, queue, colonel, bouquet, plateau, suite, sergeant
Year 9 academic vocabulary: hypothesis, methodology, analysis, synthesis, evaluate, interpret, justify, illustrate, demonstrate, conclude
How to help your Year 9 with spelling
By Year 9, your child is approaching the spelling level they'll carry into adulthood. Improvement at this stage comes from:
- Sustained reading habit. Year 9 students who read widely consistently outperform peers in spelling. There is no shortcut.
- Writing practice. Spelling is reinforced through writing, not just reading. Encourage longer writing tasks where spelling matters.
- Spell-check awareness. Year 9 students should know what spell-check catches and what it misses (homophones, wrong-word-but-correctly-spelled errors).
- Don't over-stress NAPLAN spelling. At this point, most spelling ability is established. Cramming for NAPLAN won't change Year 9 results meaningfully.
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Try Skillo Free →How to use this guide
A few practical suggestions:
- Don't try to teach everything at once. Pick one pattern per week. A child who has internalised "all -tion words follow the same pattern" knows how to spell hundreds of words.
- Use the lists as diagnostics, not curriculums. Have your child quickly write 10 random words from their year's list. The ones they miss are the patterns to focus on.
- Practice in context. Spelling words in sentences is much more useful than spelling in isolation. NAPLAN tests both, but real-world spelling always uses context.
- Don't outsource to a paid platform unless free options aren't working. Most paid NAPLAN tools test the same words this guide covers. Free practice on a curriculum-aligned site is often equivalent.
Skillo is free for Australian families. Year 3 to 9, all four NAPLAN domains. skillo.au
Note: NAPLAN test items are developed by ACARA and ESA and are not published in advance. The word lists in this guide are drawn from the Australian Curriculum v9.0 word knowledge sub-strand and reflect patterns NAPLAN historically tests. They are a guide for parents, not an official ACARA list. Skillo is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by ACARA. NAPLAN® is a registered trademark of ACARA.