Hard spelling words
Hard spelling words that adults and older students still misspell, like accommodate and separate. Make proofreading, multiple-choice and fill-in practice.
Free · No account · Answer key included · Print or save as PDF
Tip: Describe the specific skill or topic. The generator calibrates complexity to the grade level you pick.
GradeWithAI is used by 21,000+ teachers, including teachers at
Why some English words are hard to spell
Hard spelling words are common words that people see often and still misspell, because their letters don't follow the patterns their sounds suggest. 'Accommodate' has two c's and two m's; 'separate' has an a in the middle. This generator builds proofreading, multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank practice from these words.
The patterns behind most misspellings
Most misspellings fall into a few groups, and a writer's errors usually cluster in two or three of them, so knowing your groups beats memorizing a long list. One ending rule: 'supersede' is the only common '-sede' word, and 'exceed', 'proceed' and 'succeed' are the common '-ceed' words.
Doubled consonants: accommodate, occurrence, committee, embarrass, millennium
Silent letters: rhythm, conscience, mischievous, knowledge, psychology
Tricky endings: separate, desperate, definitely, privilege, judgment/judgement
Homophones: principal/principle, stationary/stationery, complement/compliment
ie and ei: receive, believe, weird, seize, foreign, leisure
Why adults still misspell these words
Spellcheck corrects 'recieve' every time, so a writer can go years without learning the correct spelling. Writing the word correctly by hand, in a sentence, builds it into memory in a way that clicking a correction doesn't.
Practice formats for hard words
Ask the generator for one of three formats, each with an answer key:
Proofreading: find and correct the misspelled word in a sentence
Multiple choice: the correct spelling and two or three common misspellings
Fill in the blank: write the word, useful for homophones like complement and compliment
How to make a spelling test
- 1
Add the words
Paste your list, or describe the grade and spelling pattern.
- 2
Pick the format
Describe it in the box, then set the grade and number of items.
- 3
Print
Print the student copy, then the answer key.
What teachers say
Teachers across subjects, from AP history to astrophysics, on grading with GradeWithAI.
“I've really enjoyed using the GradeWithAI program. It saves me a ton of time, especially when I have class sizes of 35 or 36 students times five.”
“GradeWithAI doesn't just grade. It gives the student reasoning as to why every point is awarded or not awarded. That is a very valuable thing for the students.”
“More impressive though is that it corrects student answers not simply using a pre-written answer, but by following the thought process they've pursued.”
“For Chadwick users, GradeWithAI has improved feedback efficiency and effectiveness, as it is grounded in existing platforms and is highly adaptable.”
“GradeWithAI [provides] students with timely individualized feedback on their homework assignments and formative assessments. This is a job that is virtually impossible for a teacher to do on a regular basis.”
“Students have also appreciated the consistency and immediacy of the feedback I can provide through GradeWithAI. This has enabled them to make necessary corrections and achieve their desired scores on any assignment.”
Grading the spelling tests?
Upload the scanned or photographed tests to GradeWithAI with your word list as the answer key. It reads handwriting, and you review every score before it posts.
Students working on paper? See how GradeWithAI grades handwritten work
Words that appear on most commonly-misspelled lists include accommodate, separate, definitely, occurrence, necessary, receive, committee, embarrass, rhythm and conscience.
Both are correct. 'Judgment' (no e) is standard in American English and in legal writing. 'Judgement' (with e) is more common in British English outside legal contexts. Pick one and use it consistently within a document.
Only partly. It holds for 'believe', 'relieve', 'piece' and 'niece', and it correctly predicts 'receive', 'deceive' and 'ceiling'. It fails for 'weird', 'seize', 'leisure', 'foreign', 'height', 'either', 'neither', 'protein' and 'forfeit'. Treat it as a rough guide and learn the common exceptions.
Yes. Ask for a Dolch or Fry list by name (for example, Dolch pre-primer or Fry's first 100) and check the words against your district's copy before printing. The lists aren't stored in the tool; the AI writes them from what it knows.
Yes. Paste the words into the description and the worksheet uses them.
Fill-in-the-blank sentences, multiple choice with one correct spelling, practice sheets, and spelling bee lists. It doesn't draw tracing letters.
Yes. Leave it on to print the answers on a separate page, or turn it off for the student copy.
Yes, with no account.
Spelling lists and tests by grade
Starting points with the grade, list, or test format filled in.
Format
Spelling bee
By grade
- Kindergarten spelling words
- 1st grade spelling words
- 2nd grade spelling words
- 3rd grade spelling words
- 4th grade spelling words
- 5th grade spelling words
- Spelling test for 1st grade
- Spelling test for 2nd grade
- 3rd grade spelling bee words
- 4th grade spelling bee words
- 5th grade spelling bee words
- 6th grade spelling words
- 7th grade spelling words
- 8th grade spelling words
Grade the spelling tests with GradeWithAI
21,000+ teachers use GradeWithAI to grade essays, tests, and handwritten work, and report saving 10+ hours a week.
The free plan grades 25 submissions every 30 days. No credit card.
Reported by teachers using GradeWithAI, with feedback on every submission they grade.