Words TowerTap a word to hear it. The voices are AI-generated recordings that ship with the game — nothing is sent anywhere when you play them.
Week 1Endings -able, -ible and -ous
Make worksheets from this listPlay in the gameShare with a class
Week 2Endings -ance and -ence
Make worksheets from this listPlay in the gameShare with a class
Week 3Words ending in -ment
Make worksheets from this listPlay in the gameShare with a class
Week 4Greek and Latin roots
Make worksheets from this listPlay in the gameShare with a class
Week 5Long words, syllable by syllable
Make worksheets from this listPlay in the gameShare with a class
Week 6Tricky spellings
Make worksheets from this listPlay in the gameShare with a class
5th grade spelling words — six weeks of ten. Printed from https://vocabularygames.org/spelling-practice/5th-grade-spelling-words/
About these lists
A fifth grader’s vocabulary comes more and more from Latin and Greek. Knowing that “tele” means far and “port” means carry explains “telephone”, “television”, “transport” and “passport” at once — spelling becomes reasoning rather than memory.
The endings weeks set look-alike endings side by side (-able and -ible, -ance and -ence) and the last week collects spellings that break the rules, from “receive” to “restaurant”.
What trips children up in grade 5
- -able usually follows a whole word you can still see: “afford-able”. -ible often follows a part that is not a word on its own: “poss-ible”.
- -ance and -ence sound identical; group the words and learn each group as a set.
- “i before e except after c” works for “receive” and “receipt” — and fails for “neighbor” and “weight”, which are in the same week for that reason.
- Long words lose letters in the middle when said quickly: “nec-es-sar-y”, “li-brar-y”. Say each syllable while writing.
A week with one list
Clap the syllables of each word and write it one syllable at a time.
For the roots week, find another word with the same root for every word on the list.
Print the worksheets and give the home test; the words still wrong go into next week’s list.
Worksheets and the game
Under week 1, “Make worksheets from this list” opens the worksheet generator with available, possible, responsible and the other 7 words of “endings -able, -ible and -ous” filled in, ready to print for grade 5: each word read, traced and written four times, then a home test, with a QR code in the corner that opens the same list in Words Tower. “Play in the game” starts a tower from the same week at once, the grade 5 words said aloud at the doors; nothing to install, no ads, and progress stays on your device.
Questions
What spelling words should a fifth grader know?
Words with Latin and Greek roots, endings such as -able, -ible, -ance, -ence, -ment and -ous, and multi-syllable words with unstressed vowels. These six weeks cover each group.
Is “neighbor” American spelling?
Yes. The recorded voices and the lists follow American spelling, as American schools use; in British English the word is “neighbour”.
How do we keep them learned after the test?
Bring old lists back. In the game, what your child has met comes back now and then, and the hard ones sooner.
Is it free?
Yes. The lists, the recordings, the worksheets and the game are free, with no ads and no sign-up; progress stays in the browser on your own device.
Our school sends its own list. Can we use that instead?
Yes. Type it into the worksheet generator to print it, or paste it into the game under Test prep and set the test date. These lists are for the weeks when nothing comes home, or for extra practice.
Other grades
Before this: 4th grade spelling words. How the week before a spelling test works with the game: spelling test prep.