Category Core Phonics

Prefix sub- Word Search

A SUBMARINE goes under the sea. A SUBWAY goes under the road. SUBTITLES sit under the picture. SUB- means under — and a child who learns it gets a key that opens an entire family of words, several of which…

Homophones Set 1 Word Search

THERE, THEIR and THEY’RE all sound identical. WRITE and RIGHT are indistinguishable by ear. FLOWER and FLOUR could not sound more alike. Homophones cause more spelling errors in primary writing than almost any other pattern — not because the words…

Homophones Set 2 Word Search

Is it the WEATHER or WHETHER? Did the WITCH cast a spell, or WHICH spell did she choose? Did you BREAK the BRAKE? After the first homophone set, the pairs get slightly nastier — the words are longer, the meanings…

Prefix mis- Word Search

MIS- means wrongly. MISREAD is read wrongly. MISCOUNT is count wrongly. MISSPELL — ironic but inevitable — is spell wrongly. After dis-‘s many meanings, mis- is a relief: one meaning, no exceptions, and a base word that almost always survives…

Prefix pre- Word Search

PRE- means before. A PREVIEW is a view before the main event. To PREHEAT is to heat before cooking starts. To PREDICT is to say what will happen before it does. Of all the prefixes in this stage, pre- is…

Suffix -tion Word Search

The “shun” sound at the end of a word is one of the most useful in English — and it is almost always spelled -tion. Action, nation, station, question. Recognise -tion on the page and a hundred long words suddenly…

Suffixes -sion and -ssion Word Search

MISSION says “shun”. TENSION says “shun”. VISION says “zhun” — a softer, buzzier sound. Three near-identical endings, three subtly different jobs. After -tion, this is the puzzle where the “shun” family stops being simple and starts being interesting. This word…

Suffix -ous Words Word Search

FAMOUS, NERVOUS, CURIOUS, ENORMOUS. The -ous suffix is one of the most useful adjective-makers in English, and it carries one transparent meaning: full of, or having the quality of. Full of nerves: NERVOUS. Full of curiosity: CURIOUS. The pattern is…

Suffixes -ture and -sure Word Search

NATURE sounds like “nay-cher”. PICTURE sounds like “pic-cher”. TREASURE sounds like “tre-zher”. None of those endings looks like its sound — the letters T-U-R-E and S-U-R-E have no obvious connection to “cher” or “zher”. This is one of those English…

Prefix dis- Word Search

Un- was the first prefix children met — two letters that flipped a word into its opposite. Dis- arrives as un-‘s more sophisticated cousin: it can mean not, it can mean opposite, it can mean apart, and sometimes it means…

Silent kn Words Word Search

Write KNOW on the board and any Year 3 child reads it perfectly. Now ask them to point to the letter that makes no sound. There it is — the K, printed in full view, contributing absolutely nothing. English is…

Silent wr Words Word Search

WRITE and RIGHT sound identical. WRAP and RAP sound identical. The only difference is a silent W standing at the front — inaudible in speech, indispensable on paper. After kn, this is the second great ghost letter of KS2 spelling,…