Free Year 3 NAPLAN Spelling Practice Questions

Year 3 NAPLAN spelling tests focus on high-frequency words, common phonics patterns and simple prefixes and suffixes. Skillo has hundreds of spelling practice questions aligned to the Australian Curriculum, free and ready to go.

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What’s tested in Year 3 NAPLAN Spelling

  • High-frequency words — words every Year 3 student should know
  • Phonics patterns — common vowel and consonant patterns
  • Prefixes and suffixes — un-, re-, -ing, -ed, -er
  • Homophones — words that sound alike but are spelled differently
  • Compound words — combining two words to make one
  • Australian English spelling — colour, favourite, centre

Sample questions

Question 1Easy

Choose the correctly spelled word to complete the sentence: The zoo carer looked after all of the _____ in her care.

A) animals
B) animels
C) annmals
D) animuls

Answer: The correct spelling is 'animals' — AN-i-mals. Three syllables: AN + I + MALS. The vowel in '-mals' is 'a'. Option B ('animels') changes 'a' to 'e' in '-als'. Option C ('annmals') doubles the 'n'. Option D ('animuls') changes 'a' to 'u' in '-als'.

Question 2Medium

The farmer ___ checked on all the animals before the sun went down. Which spelling is correct?

A) alwas
B) always
C) allways
D) alwayes

Answer: 'Always' is the correct spelling. It comes from 'all' + 'ways', but the double 'l' is shortened to one 'l': al-ways. Option A ('alwas') drops the 'y'. Option C ('allways') keeps the double 'l' from 'all'. Option D ('alwayes') adds an extra 'e'.

Question 3Hard

The teacher said she had never ___ more creative artwork from the class. Which spelling is correct?

A) bean
B) bene
C) been
D) bein

Answer: 'Been' is the correct spelling — it is the past participle of the verb 'be', used with 'had' to form the past perfect tense: 'had never been'. Option A ('bean') is a vegetable — a homophone of 'been'. Option B ('bene') is not a word. Option D ('bein') is not a word either.

How to use Skillo for Year 3 Spelling

  1. Select Year 3 and Spelling on the home screen
  2. Use Quick Practice for short daily spelling sessions
  3. Focus on words your child gets wrong and revisit them
  4. Check the Skill Breakdown to see which spelling patterns need work

Skillo is free, requires no email or account details, and is built specifically for Australian students. Every question is mapped to the Australian Curriculum v9.0.

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