Middle School Spelling Words: Spelling Help for Middle Schoolers

Middle School Spelling Help

Word Families

One way to improve your spelling is to learn word families. Word families are a group of words that have the same patterns of letters. Recognizing word families will help you pronounce words correctly, as well as spell them correctly. You can find lists of many different word families on the Internet, but some of the common ones are provided below.

-ame

game, came, tame, lame, name

-all

call, tall, mall, fall, ball

-est

best, test, rest, pest, jest

-ide

ride, tide, hide, pride, chide

-ink

sink, think, link, rink, drink

-og

dog, clog, frog, smog, hog

-ot

not, rot, hot, shot, tot

-ug

rug, dug, plug, hug, mug

-um

rum, drum, chum, sum, bum

-ump

chump, hump, lump, rump, thump

Prefixes

Recognizing and learning prefixes will also help you become a better speller because you can break a word into smaller, recognizable parts. Prefixes are words or letters that are placed at the beginning of other words to create brand new words. Like word families, you can find many of these on the Internet. However, some common ones are listed below.

pre- before

Preorder: To order before

im- not

Impossible: Not possible

dis- not or opposite of

Disorganized: Not organized

re- again

Rearrange: To arrange again

Suffixes

Suffixes are similar to prefixes, but they are placed on the end of words instead of the beginning. They have their own meanings and change the definition of the words they are attached to. When you're able to recognize suffixes in words, you will improve as a speller. Some common suffixes are listed below.

able- can or can be

Readable: Can be read

less- without

Useless: Without use

er- one who

Driver: One who drives

ize- to make

Harmonize: To make harmony

Homophones

Besides just recognizing and understanding word parts, you'll also improve your spelling if you're aware of homophones. Homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different definitions. These types of words often trip up middle school students. Some common homophones are found below.

• Write and right
• Here and hear
• See and sea
• Deer and dear
• There and their
• Hair and hare
• Whose and who's