Primary 4 English spelling words
P4 spelling is where English stops being fair: silent letters, -tion and -sion, and the -ough family that sounds different in every word. These are the patterns that dominate Primary 4 lists in Singapore, with free practice below.
These are the spelling patterns that appear most often in Singapore primary 4 lists, grouped for practice. Your child's actual list comes from their teacher — photograph it and Spell Buddy will build a test from it in seconds.
The words, by spelling pattern
Set A · Silent letters kn, wr, mb
12 words
- knee
- knife
- know
- knock
- write
- wrong
- wrap
- wrist
- lamb
- thumb
- comb
- climb
Set B · Endings -tion and -sion
12 words
- action
- station
- nation
- motion
- question
- attention
- addition
- direction
- decision
- television
- division
- occasion
Set C · The -ough family
12 words
- though
- through
- thought
- brought
- caught
- taught
- daughter
- enough
- tough
- rough
- cough
- bought
Set D · Long words with tricky middles
12 words
- beautiful
- difficult
- different
- important
- interesting
- favourite
- dangerous
- delicious
- February
- Wednesday
- necessary
- separate
Silent letters and -tion endings are pure pattern memory, not phonics. That means the only thing that works is repeated recall, spaced over several days.
How to practise in five minutes
- Listen twice, write once. Play the word, let your child repeat it, then write. Repeating before writing is the step most families skip, and it is the one that fixes careless mistakes.
- Check straight away. Correcting a wrong word within seconds is worth more than correcting it tomorrow, because the wrong version has not had time to settle.
- Revisit tomorrow, not tonight. A word remembered the next morning is remembered for the test. A word repeated ten times in one sitting is forgotten by Thursday.
Write the tricky part in a different colour: knEE, thUMB, staTION. Drawing attention to the silent or unusual letters is what makes them stick.
Questions parents ask
Why is English spelling so irregular by Primary 4?
Because the words come from different languages and kept their original spellings. By P4 the list shifts from “sound it out” to “remember this one”, which needs repetition over days rather than one big session.
How do I help with words like “thought” and “through”?
Never practise them side by side. Two similar-looking irregular words in one session overwrite each other. Do one today, the other tomorrow.
My child spells well in isolation but not in compositions. Why?
Different task load. In a composition the child is spending attention on ideas and grammar, so spelling drops to whatever is automatic. Only repeated spoken practice makes a word automatic enough to survive that.
Is 15 words a week too many for P4?
It is normal for P4, but it is too many to cram in one night. Break it into four groups of four and spread them across the week.
Practice the next level
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