This third grade spelling words game helps children practice 20 third grade spelling words by playing: unscramble the letters, pick the correct spelling, race cars or sprint through true and false sentences. The words include animal, answer, bridge and castle and winter, and the wrong choices are realistic mistakes such as a dropped letter or a swapped vowel. Free, with no sign-up.
Third grade spelling words game: see how it plays
The grade 3 spelling game opens in Word Scramble and has three more modes. The printable list has all 20 words with a place to write each one.
Word scramble game and three more modes: how the third grade spelling words game works
All four modes use the same 20 words, so a child meets each spelling several times in different ways. These examples come from this list:
| Mode | What the child does | Example from this list |
|---|---|---|
| Word Scramble | Taps the letter tiles in order, ten words a round; hearing the word first costs a point | icekthn becomes kitchen |
| Balloon Pop | Pops the one correct spelling before the balloons drift off; three misses end the round | dollar, dolar, dolllar, dullar |
| Answer Race | Picks the right spelling to move a car forward; the first to 15 beats three computer cars | island or islnad |
| True or False | Judges spellings for sixty seconds; a streak of five or more scores double | orage is false, orange is true |
The wrong spellings are made by dropping a letter, doubling a letter, swapping two neighbors or changing a vowel, the same slips children make in their own writing.
Third grade spelling word list: all 20 words in the third grade spelling words game
The words are 6 to 7 letters long, with an average of 6.0 letters: 19 have 6 letters and 1 has 7 letters. Use the list for a weekly spelling test, or print the word list and play the game for practice.
| No. | Word | Letters | Spelling tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | animal | 6 | an-i-mal, three syllables |
| 2 | answer | 6 | silent w |
| 3 | bridge | 6 | dge ending says /j/ |
| 4 | castle | 6 | silent t, le ending |
| 5 | circle | 6 | first c says /s/, cle ending |
| 6 | dollar | 6 | double l, ar ending |
| 7 | family | 6 | fam-i-ly, y says long e |
| 8 | finger | 6 | ng then er |
| 9 | friend | 6 | ie: a friend to the end |
| 10 | garden | 6 | g says /g/, den ending |
| 11 | island | 6 | silent s |
| 12 | kitchen | 7 | tch says /ch/ |
| 13 | lesson | 6 | double s |
| 14 | monkey | 6 | ey says long e |
| 15 | number | 6 | mb then er |
| 16 | orange | 6 | or-ange, soft g |
| 17 | pencil | 6 | c says /s/ |
| 18 | rabbit | 6 | double b |
| 19 | school | 6 | ch says /k/ |
| 20 | winter | 6 | er ending |
Spelling patterns in the third grade spelling words game
Words are easier to learn in groups that share a pattern. These are the patterns in this list:
| Pattern | Words | What to teach |
|---|---|---|
| Silent letters | answer, castle, island | The w in answer, the t in castle and the s in island are written but not said. |
| Words ending in -le | castle, circle | A consonant plus le makes the last syllable. |
| The dge and tch endings | bridge, kitchen | dge says /j/ and tch says /ch/ after a short vowel. |
| Words ending in -er and -ar | answer, dollar, finger, number, winter | The last syllable is a murmur: say it clearly and think about the usual spelling, er. |
| Double letters | dollar, lesson, rabbit | A single vowel followed by two consonants is a clue that the vowel is short. |
| Tricky vowels and sounds | family, friend, monkey, orange, school | ie in friend, ey in monkey and ch saying /k/ in school need extra practice. |
Wikipedia’s spelling article explains why English spelling has so many patterns and exceptions, and why teaching patterns works better than memorizing each word alone.
Third grade spelling practice: a 4-week plan
Twenty words are easiest to learn in four weekly groups of five. Introduce one group per week, review the earlier groups, and use the game for the final check:
| Week | Words |
|---|---|
| Week 1 | animal, answer, bridge, castle and circle |
| Week 2 | dollar, family, finger, friend and garden |
| Week 3 | island, kitchen, lesson, monkey and number |
| Week 4 | orange, pencil, rabbit, school and winter |
Each week adds its group to the earlier ones. The patterns to point out:
- Week 1: answer (silent letters and words ending in -er and -ar), bridge (the dge and tch endings), castle (silent letters and words ending in -le), circle (words ending in -le).
- Week 2: dollar (words ending in -er and -ar and double letters), family (tricky vowels and sounds), finger (words ending in -er and -ar), friend (tricky vowels and sounds).
- Week 3: island (silent letters), kitchen (the dge and tch endings), lesson (double letters), monkey (tricky vowels and sounds), number (words ending in -er and -ar).
- Week 4: orange (tricky vowels and sounds), rabbit (double letters), school (tricky vowels and sounds), winter (words ending in -er and -ar).
End each week with a short test of that group plus two words from earlier weeks.
Grade 3 spelling words: where the third grade spelling words game fits at school
| Level | What children are expected to do |
|---|---|
| Grade 3 (US) | Language standard L.3.2.e and L.3.2.f: use conventional spelling for high-frequency and other studied words and use spelling patterns and generalizations in writing words |
See the Common Core grade 3 language standards for the full wording. In England, several words in this list, such as island and answer, appear on the statutory spelling list for pupils in Years 3 and 4.
Third grade spelling words game: frequently asked questions
What are third grade spelling words?
They are words that children are expected to learn to spell in grade 3. This game uses 20 of them, including animal, answer and bridge.
How many words are in the third grade spelling words game?
There are 20 words in the list, and each round of Word Scramble uses ten of them, chosen at random.
Which words in this list need the most practice?
The words that belong to more than one spelling pattern: answer (silent letters and words ending in -er and -ar); castle (silent letters and words ending in -le); dollar (words ending in -er and -ar and double letters). Start each week with these.
Which spelling pattern has the most words?
Words ending in -er and -ar has the most, with 5 words: answer, dollar, finger, number, winter.
What do the wrong spellings look like?
They are slips a child might really write. For dollar the choices include dolar (a dropped letter), dolllar (a doubled letter) and dullar (a changed vowel), and for island one choice is islnad (two letters swapped).