Learning Map

Tricky words

Spell common exception words from memory that do not follow regular phonic patterns, including the days of the week

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

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Try this together

Can your child spell tricky everyday words like "said," "were," "come," and the days of the week from memory without needing to sound them out?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on
Knowing all lettersages 4–6Need letter recognition for exception word spelling
Segmenting words into soundsages 4–7Phonemic spelling helps as starting strategy
Tricky wordsthis skill · ages 5–8
Unlocks
Spelling Word Lists (age 7+)ages 7–9Y3-4 statutory word list builds on Y1-Y2 exception words spelling
Spelling from Dictationages 5–8Exception words appear in dictation

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Candidate matches to official curriculum codes — machine-suggested, unreviewed (v0.1).

Show candidate curriculum codes · 3 ACARA · 2 NSW · 3 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9E1LY13medium confidenceYear 1 · Literacy

spell one- and two-syllable words with common letter patterns

AC9E3LY12low confidenceYear 3 · Literacy

recognise and know how to write most high-frequency words including some homophones

AC9E3LY11low confidenceYear 3 · Literacy

use phoneme–grapheme (sound–letter) relationships and less common letter patterns to spell words

NSW syllabus codes & stages only

ENE-SPELL-01medium confidenceEnglish K-10 · Early Stage 1
EN1-SPELL-01low confidenceEnglish K-10 · Stage 1

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2E2LY05medium confidenceEnglish · Level 2 · Literacy strand
VC2EFLY07medium confidenceEnglish · Foundation · Literacy strand
VC2E4LY05low confidenceEnglish · Level 4 · Literacy strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

All Spelling & Word Study skills →