What these lists are
Children in England are expected to learn these 200 words by the end of Year 6: 100 in Years 3 and 4, and 100 more in Years 5 and 6. The spelling part of the SATs grammar, punctuation and spelling test often uses them.
Source: DfE, National curriculum in England: English Appendix 1: Spelling (gov.uk PDF). The words are copied exactly, in the same order.
Years 3 and 4
100 words- accident(ally)
- actual(ly)
- address
- answer
- appear
- arrive
- believe
- bicycle
- breath
- breathe
- build
- busy/business
- calendar
- caught
- centre
- century
- certain
- circle
- complete
- consider
- continue
- decide
- describe
- different
- difficult
- disappear
- early
- earth
- eight/eighth
- enough
- exercise
- experience
- experiment
- extreme
- famous
- favourite
- February
- forward(s)
- fruit
- grammar
- group
- guard
- guide
- heard
- heart
- height
- history
- imagine
- increase
- important
- interest
- island
- knowledge
- learn
- length
- library
- material
- medicine
- mention
- minute
- natural
- naughty
- notice
- occasion(ally)
- often
- opposite
- ordinary
- particular
- peculiar
- perhaps
- popular
- position
- possess(ion)
- possible
- potatoes
- pressure
- probably
- promise
- purpose
- quarter
- question
- recent
- regular
- reign
- remember
- sentence
- separate
- special
- straight
- strange
- strength
- suppose
- surprise
- therefore
- though/although
- thought
- through
- various
- weight
- woman/women
No words match in this list.
Years 5 and 6
100 words- accommodate
- accompany
- according
- achieve
- aggressive
- amateur
- ancient
- apparent
- appreciate
- attached
- available
- average
- awkward
- bargain
- bruise
- category
- cemetery
- committee
- communicate
- community
- competition
- conscience*
- conscious*
- controversy
- convenience
- correspond
- criticise (critic + ise)
- curiosity
- definite
- desperate
- determined
- develop
- dictionary
- disastrous
- embarrass
- environment
- equip (–ped, –ment)
- especially
- exaggerate
- excellent
- existence
- explanation
- familiar
- foreign
- forty
- frequently
- government
- guarantee
- harass
- hindrance
- identity
- immediate(ly)
- individual
- interfere
- interrupt
- language
- leisure
- lightning
- marvellous
- mischievous
- muscle
- necessary
- neighbour
- nuisance
- occupy
- occur
- opportunity
- parliament
- persuade
- physical
- prejudice
- privilege
- profession
- programme
- pronunciation
- queue
- recognise
- recommend
- relevant
- restaurant
- rhyme
- rhythm
- sacrifice
- secretary
- shoulder
- signature
- sincere(ly)
- soldier
- stomach
- sufficient
- suggest
- symbol
- system
- temperature
- thorough
- twelfth
- variety
- vegetable
- vehicle
- yacht
No words match in this list.
Reading the brackets
Some entries cover more than one word. You need to know all of them:
- accident(ally) means both accident and accidentally.
- busy/business means both busy and business.
- equip (–ped, –ment) means equip, equipped and equipment.
- criticise (critic + ise) shows how the word is built: critic with ise on the end.
- conscience* and conscious* have a star in the government list because they are related to science. Conscience is just science with con in front. Both come from the Latin scio, meaning I know.