Year 1 English Tricky Words: check-up and quiz

Method. Say the name of the picture, then spell it.

1. Look at the picture. Think what the building shows.
   school
2. Check the tricky part. The ch makes the “k” sound, as in “cat”. It does not make the “ch” sound in “chair”.
   Tricky part: ch
3. Write the word.
   school

Check. Say the word and count the letters: 6 in all. ✓

Watch out. Look at the tricky part before you write the word.

Method. Find the part of the word that does not follow the usual sound.

1. Say the word slowly. Listen to each part of it.
   one
2. Find the unusual letters. The o makes the “w” sound, as in “wet”, and then the “u” sound, as in “fun”.
   The tricky part is o
3. Write the answer.
   o

Check. Read one again and point to o. ✓

Watch out. Do not try to sound out the tricky part. Learn it by heart.

Method. Say the whole word, then find the letters that are missing.

1. Say the whole word. Read every letter in order.
   full
2. Look at the empty box. The box stands for 1 letter(s).
   1 missing letter(s)
3. Write the missing letters. The u makes the “oo” sound, as in “book”. It does not make the “uh” sound in “fun”.
   u

Check. Put u back into the box and read the word: full. ✓

Watch out. Write the tricky letters exactly as they are in the word.

Method. Read the whole sentence. Which word makes sense in the gap, and is spelled with its tricky part?

1. Read the sentence with the gap. Think what the sentence means.
   Dad ___ we can go to the park after lunch.
2. Find the word that fits. Says is used when one person tells something now.
   says
3. Write the word. Spell the tricky part exactly.
   says

Check. Put says in the gap and read the sentence again. It makes sense. ✓

Watch out. The ay makes the “e” sound, as in “bed”. The last s makes the “z” sound, as in “zip”.

Method. Compare the sound with the example word.

1. Find the tricky part. It is the unusual letters.
   o
2. Find its sound. Each tricky part has one sound.
   come: the sound in “fun”
3. Compare with the claim. The claim says the sound in “fun”.
   The same sound
4. Write the answer.
   True

Check. The note says: The o makes the “u” sound, as in “fun”. The e at the end is quiet.

Watch out. Check the example word, not the spelling.

Method. Compare the wrong spelling with the word we want.

1. Look at “wunce”. Compare it with the word once.
   wunce is not right
2. Find the tricky part. The tricky letters must be written exactly.
   The tricky part is o
3. Write the word correctly.
   once

Check. Read your answer. Does it match the word once? ✓

Watch out. The o makes the “w” sound, as in “wet”, and then the “u” sound, as in “fun”. The c at the end says “s”.

Method. Find the word whose tricky part makes a different sound from the other two.

1. Find the tricky part of each word. Look at the unusual letters.
   said: ai as in “bed”; friend: ie as in “bed”; my: y as in “sky”
2. Compare the sounds. Two of the words share a sound. One does not.
   my is different
3. Write the answer.
   my

Check. The other two words share the same sound. ✓

Watch out. Compare the tricky parts, not the whole word.

Method. Say the whole word, then find the letters that are missing.

1. Say the whole word. Read every letter in order.
   were
2. Look at the empty box. The box stands for 3 letter(s).
   3 missing letter(s)
3. Write the missing letters. The ere makes the “ur” sound, as in “her”. It does not make the “eer” sound in “ear”.
   ere

Check. Put ere back into the box and read the word: were. ✓

Watch out. Write the tricky letters exactly as they are in the word.

Method. Find the words that make the car sound.

1. Look at are. The a makes the ar sound, as in car.
   are: ar
2. Look at ask. In many accents the a makes the ar sound too.
   ask: ar
3. Look at was. The a in was says the sound in hot, so it is not the same.
   was: o
4. Write the answer.
   are and ask

Check. Are and ask have the same sound. Was does not. ✓

Watch out. Look at the sound, not only the spelling.

Method. Find the sound of the tricky letters.

1. Look at friend. The ie says the e sound, as in bed.
   friend: e, as in bed
2. Compare with tree. In tree, the ee says the ee sound.
   tree: ee
3. Write the reason.
   The ie says the e sound, as in bed, not the ee sound in tree.

Check. The two sounds are different. ✓

Watch out. The tricky part is the ie, not the whole word.

Method. Find the word with a part that does not follow the usual sound.

1. Look at both words. Check each letter.
   they and sun
2. Find the word with the tricky part. The ey makes the ay sound, as in day.
   they has the tricky part
3. Write the answer.
   they

Check. Say the other word, sun. Its letters make the sounds we expect. ✓

Watch out. A tricky word does not follow the usual sound rule.

Method. Say the name of the picture, then spell it.

1. Look at the picture. Think what the heart shows.
   love
2. Check the tricky part. The o makes the “u” sound, as in “fun”. The e at the end is quiet.
   Tricky part: o
3. Write the word.
   love

Check. Say the word and count the letters: 4 in all. ✓

Watch out. Look at the tricky part before you write the word.

Method. Say the whole word, then find the letters that are missing.

1. Say the whole word. Read every letter in order.
   push
2. Look at the empty box. The box stands for 1 letter(s).
   1 missing letter(s)
3. Write the missing letters. The u makes the “oo” sound, as in “book”. It does not make the “uh” sound in “fun”.
   u

Check. Put u back into the box and read the word: push. ✓

Watch out. Write the tricky letters exactly as they are in the word.

Method. Find the part of the word that does not follow the usual sound.

1. Say the word slowly. Listen to each part of it.
   my
2. Find the unusual letters. The y makes the “igh” sound, as in “sky”. It does not make the “ee” sound in “happy”.
   The tricky part is y
3. Write the answer.
   y

Check. Read my again and point to y. ✓

Watch out. Do not try to sound out the tricky part. Learn it by heart.

Method. Read the whole sentence. Which word makes sense in the gap, and is spelled with its tricky part?

1. Read the sentence with the gap. Think what the sentence means.
   Ali ___ the fish in the bowl.
2. Find the word that fits. Put means to place something.
   put
3. Write the word. Spell the tricky part exactly.
   put

Check. Put put in the gap and read the sentence again. It makes sense. ✓

Watch out. The u makes the “oo” sound, as in “book”. It does not make the “uh” sound in “fun”.

Method. Check the sound of the o in go, then compare it with moon.

1. Say go. The o says the sound in boat.
   go: oh, as in boat
2. Say moon. The sound in moon is the oo sound, as in to and do.
   moon: oo
3. Write the answer. Go does not have the sound in moon, so Ben is not right.
   No. The o in go makes the sound in boat.

Check. Go and boat rhyme. Go and moon do not. ✓

Watch out. Check the example word for each sound.

Method. Compare the wrong spelling with the word we want.

1. Look at “wair”. Compare it with the word where.
   wair is not right
2. Find the tricky part. The tricky letters must be written exactly.
   The tricky part is ere
3. Write the word correctly.
   where

Check. Read your answer. Does it match the word where? ✓

Watch out. The ere makes the “air” sound, as in “hair”. It does not make the “eer” sound in “ear”.

Method. Say the name of the picture, then spell it.

1. Look at the picture. Think what the picture shows.
   house
2. Check the tricky part. The ou makes the “ow” sound, as in “cow”. The e at the end is quiet.
   Tricky part: ou and e
3. Write the word.
   house

Check. Say the word and count the letters: 5 in all. ✓

Watch out. Look at the tricky part before you write the word.

Method. Find the word whose tricky part makes a different sound from the other two.

1. Find the tricky part of each word. Look at the unusual letters.
   she: e as in “tree”; be: e as in “tree”; they: ey as in “day”; we: e as in “tree”
2. Compare the sounds. Two of the words share a sound. One does not.
   they is different
3. Write the answer.
   they

Check. The other two words share the same sound. ✓

Watch out. Compare the tricky parts, not the whole word.

Method. Look at each sound in once.

1. Say the start of once. The o makes a w sound, as in wet.
   once: w, as in wet
2. Say the middle of once. The o then makes the u sound, as in fun.
   once: u, as in fun
3. Write the reason.
   The o says the w sound, as in wet, and then the u sound, as in fun.

Check. Once is spelled with an o that makes two sounds. ✓

Watch out. Say the word slowly to hear both parts of the sound in the o.