Year 6 completes the Year 5/6 statutory word list and prepares children for the KS2 SATs spelling test. The focus is on consolidation, accuracy under pressure, and using ambitious vocabulary confidently in extended writing. These words also form the foundation for secondary school English.
Practise These Words FreeBy the end of Year 6, children should spell all Year 5/6 statutory words accurately, use ambitious vocabulary in their writing, apply all spelling rules consistently, and perform well in the KS2 SATs spelling paper.
All words below are from the UK National Curriculum. Prac2XL has 9,000+ words pre-loaded with audio pronunciation and curated misspellings — so even if your school sends home words not on this list, they're almost certainly covered.
SATs spelling paper tests 20 words in context — practise spelling within sentences
Focus on the most commonly misspelled words first — these are the easy marks
Homophones (their/there/they’re, affect/effect) appear every year in SATs
Time pressure matters — practise spelling quickly, not just accurately
By Year 6, the 11+ is typically behind you. But the vocabulary foundation matters more than ever. The SATs SPaG paper tests spelling and word usage directly. Reading comprehension passages use advanced vocabulary — the words on this page. And secondary school English assumes your child arrives with a strong working vocabulary. Children who’ve been building vocabulary depth since Year 2 don’t just pass SATs — they find the SPaG paper comfortable. They read comprehension passages and understand the words. They write with precision and variety. Four years of steady vocabulary practice compounds into confidence across every English assessment.
Want to build all four dimensions — spelling, synonyms, antonyms, and words in sentences? Explore Vocab 360 →
Add these words (or your child's school list) to Prac2XL. Adaptive difficulty. Audio pronunciation. Parent stats. Free forever.
Start Free Spelling PracticeNo card required · Account needed to save progress
Your child can spell "enormous." But do they know "huge" means the same thing? That "tiny" is its opposite? Can they use it naturally in a sentence? That deeper knowledge is what 11+ verbal reasoning, reading comprehension, and SATs SPaG actually test — and it takes years to build, not weeks to cram.
Vocab 360 builds all four dimensions of every word — Spelling, Synonyms, Antonyms, and Words in Sentences — across 1,350+ curriculum words. Starting from Year 2, your child adds ~5 new words per week. By Year 5, they've built a vocabulary foundation no amount of last-minute practice papers can replicate.