Year 6 spelling mishaps: The top 20 misspelled words and how to fix them
Data reveals the 20 spellings year 6 pupils struggle with most, from 'accommodate' to 'relevant'. Get the misconceptions and classroom-ready strategies.
We tasked experienced teacher and English content lead at Learning by Questions, Kate Brindle, with finding out which National Curriculum spelling words were the most misspelled by year 6 on the platform. She looked into thousands of answers over the past three years and gave us the low down. As an added bonus, she’s also sharing their key misconceptions and her top tips and strategies for teaching these tough spellings.
If you’re after SATs guidance beyond year 6 spellings, read our Ultimate guide to KS2 SATs.
Thousands of pupils have completed LbQ’s practice spelling resources since 2023. I have dug into the answers and pulled out the top most tricky spellings for year 6 pupils from the National Curriculum.
As a spoiler, and because it will probably come as no surprise to most year 6 teachers, accommodate was the most frequently misspelled word, with 64% of pupils getting it wrong on the first try. The biggest misconception was the double ‘c’ and double ‘m’. Find out the other 19 spellings and strategies for teaching accommodate and all the others.
Key findings, at a glance
- 36% was the lowest success rate for the word accommodate
- 29% of pupils misspell separate as ‘seperate’
- 4 from the top 20 are from the year 3/4 word list
- Suffix confusion, double letter mistakes, phonetic spelling were the 3 most common issues across the 20 spellings.
How to use this blog: use in your next staff meeting
Share the top 5 errors with your team. Discuss: Which of these do you see most in your class? Do any of the strategies surprise you? How could you adapt them for your pupils?
Breakdown: The top 20 misspelled words by year 6
1. accommodate
Success rate: Only 36% of pupils spelled this word correctly on their first try.
Year group: 5/6
Main misconceptions: The trickiest part of this word is undoubtedly the double consonants. Our data shows two equally common errors: 11% of pupils wrote 'accomodate' (missing the second m), and another 11% wrote 'accommadate' (using an a instead of the second o).
Strategy to learn: A simple visual aid can work wonders. Ask pupils to draw a quick house outline with four windows. In each window, they can place one of the four double-letter pairs: cc, mm, dd, tt. This breaks the long word down into manageable, memorable chunks.
2. privilege
Success rate: 42% of pupils achieved the correct spelling on their first attempt.
Year group: 5/6
Main misconceptions: The errors were quite varied, but the most frequent mistake, made by 9% of pupils, was writing 'privilage', incorrectly replacing the -ege ending with -age.
Strategy to learn: A great way to lock in the ending is to find the smaller, more common word hidden inside: vile. Remembering that privilege contains the word vile can help secure the correct i before the -lege ending.
3. business
Success rate: 45% of pupils spelled this word correctly first time.
Year group: 3/4
Main misconceptions: The most common phonetic error, seen in 14% of responses, was ‘buisness’. This shows pupils were sounding it out as /biz-ness/ but struggling with the vowel order.
Strategy to learn: A classic memory trick is the perfect solution here: remember to ‘put the bus in the business.' Visualising a bus inside the word helps lock in the correct u and i order.
4. nuisance
Success rate: 45% of pupils were successful on their first attempt.
Year group: 5/6
Main misconceptions: The most frequent misspelling, accounting for 9% of errors, was 'nuiciance', showing misunderstandings with using s or c and also with vowel order.
Strategy to learn: A creative sentence can provide a strong mnemonic hook: ‘Ink pens can be a real nuisance: never use ink so a neat copy evolves.’ The first letter of each word in the second part spells out nuisance.
5. restaurant
Success rate: 46% of pupils spelled this word correctly on the first attempt.
Year group: 5/6
Main misconceptions: The primary error, made by 9% of pupils, was the phonetically plausible ‘restraunt’. This reflects a common two-syllable pronunciation that squashes the word down.
Strategy to learn: To counter this, encourage pupils to pronounce it with a deliberate, exaggerated three-syllable break: /rest-aur-ant/. Saying it slowly and clearly can help embed the full spelling.
Sophie B’s SATs spelling predictions 2026
The spellings in this blog are based on thousands of answers on LbQ, but what about past SATs spelling papers? Sophie Bartlett gets into it, giving you her 2026 predictions.
Sophie B’s SATs spelling predictions 2026
The spellings in this blog are based on thousands of answers on LbQ, but what about past SATs spelling papers? Sophie Bartlett gets into it, giving you her 2026 predictions.
6. separate
Success rate: 47% of pupils were correct on their first try.
Year group: 3/4
Main misconceptions: This was the most clear-cut misconception in the data. A huge 29% of pupils wrote ‘seperate’, falling into the common trap of using an e where an a should go.
Strategy to learn: A clever cross-curricular link to maths can provide the answer. The middle of the word is para. You can explain that, ‘just like parallel lines that never separate, the para in the middle keeps the word together.’
7. peculiar
Success rate: 48% of pupils spelled it correctly first time.
Year group: 3/4
Main misconceptions: The understandable error was ‘perculiar’, made by 9% of pupils. The common pronunciation of the word makes the first syllable sound like per, leading to this mistake.
Strategy to learn: The fix is in the pronunciation. Exaggerate the first syllable when sounding it out: focus on the /pec/ sound to ensure the correct e is used at the beginning.
8. convenience
Success rate: Half of all pupils (50%) spelled this word correctly on their first attempt.
Year group: 5/6
Main misconceptions: The most common error, seen in 7% of responses, was ‘convinience’, which incorrectly swaps the second e for an i.
Strategy to learn: The most effective strategy is to link it to its word family. Connect convenience to related words like convene and conventional. Seeing the e in the root words reinforces the correct spelling.
9. mischievous
Success rate: Exactly 50% of pupils were successful on their first try.
Year group: 5/6
Main misconceptions: This word is so often mispronounced that the spelling error is a direct result. A full 11% of pupils wrote ‘mischievious’, adding an extra i before the -ous suffix because that's how it's frequently said.
Strategy to learn: The first step is always correcting the pronunciation to three syllables: /mis-chie-vous/. If the error persists, point to its root word, mischief, and show how the f changes to a v when adding a suffix, just like in thief and thieves.
10. existence
Success rate: 51% of pupils got this right on the first attempt.
Year group: 5/6
Main misconceptions: This was another very common error. A substantial 35% of pupils wrote ‘existance’, incorrectly using the suffix -ance because that's how the ending sounds.
Strategy to learn: A simple visual trick can help. Highlight every letter e in the word: existence. This draws attention to the three es and reinforces the correct -ence ending.
11. disastrous
Success rate: 51% of pupils were correct on their first attempt.
Year group: 5/6
Main misconceptions: This is a logical error, made by 30% of pupils who wrote ‘disasterous’. They correctly identified the noun disaster and then added the -ous suffix, which is a good rule but doesn't apply here.
Strategy to learn: The key is syllable count. Emphasise that the word has only three syllables, not four: /dis-as-trous/. Dropping the extra syllable helps remove the erroneous e from the spelling.
12. marvellous
Success rate: 52% of pupils spelled this word correctly first time.
Year group: 5/6
Main misconceptions: While 13% of pupils wrote the American English variant marvelous (with one l), the SATs spelling test requires the British spelling. The misconception is applying the wrong spelling convention.
Strategy to learn: Reinforce the British English pattern by linking it to other words with a similar double l before a suffix: marvellous, cancelling, travelling. Seeing the pattern helps solidify the correct rule.
13. definite
Success rate: 54% of pupils were correct on their first attempt.
Year group: 5/6
Main misconceptions: The most frequent error, made by 17% of pupils, was ‘definate’. This swaps the second i for an a; a very common trap for this word.
Strategy to learn: A simple, memorable rule is best: ‘There is definitely no a in definite.’ For pupils ready for a challenge, you can also point out the smaller word finite hidden inside, which means limited, a good description for something that is definite.
14. embarrass
Success rate: 57% of pupils spelled this word correctly first time.
Year group: 5/6
Main misconceptions: 20% of pupils wrote ‘embarass’, correctly identifying one double letter (the s) but missing the double r.
Strategy to learn: Learning that there is both a double r and a double s should help avoid any embarrassment when spelling this tricky word: embarrass.
15. environment
Success rate: 57% of pupils were successful on their first attempt.
Year group: 5/6
Main misconceptions: The common error, made by 27% of pupils, was ‘enviroment’, which drops the all-important n after the -iron.
Strategy to learn: Knowledge of the word's origin helps here. Explain that the root word is environs (meaning surroundings), which clearly shows the n. If pupils have understood government, drawing a parallel between the two -nment words can also be a powerful memory aid.
16. twelfth
Success rate: 58% of pupils spelled this word correctly on their first try.
Year group: 5/6
Main misconceptions: The most common mistake, seen in 14% of responses, was ‘twelvth’. Pupils correctly start with twelve but forget to change the -ve to f before adding the -th suffix.’
Strategy to learn: A fun visualisation can crack this one. Ask pupils to ‘imagine a small elf holding a sign for the 12th (ordinal number)’. This helps them remember the elf is hiding inside the correct spelling: twelfth.
17. wandered
Success rate: 58% of pupils were correct on their first attempt.
Year group: 2 (wander)
Main misconceptions: This is a fascinating case of a commonly confused word. A huge 38% of pupils wrote wondered instead of wandered, revealing a confusion between the verbs ‘to wander’ (to walk) and ‘to wonder’ (to think).
Strategy to learn: A semantic link is the best approach. Explain that wandered is similar in meaning to walked. Crucially, both words start with wa. Connecting the meaning to the spelling pattern helps distinguish it from wondered.
18. immediately
Success rate: 59% of pupils were correct on their first attempt.
Year group: 5/6
Main misconceptions: The most common error, made by 10% of pupils, was ‘imediately’, which drops one of the required double ms.
Strategy to learn: For a longer word like this, break it into its constituent parts. Understanding the three-part structure will solve the spelling: the prefix im, the root mediate, and the suffix ly. /im-mediate-ly/.
19. recommended
Success rate: 59% of pupils spelled this word correctly first time.
Year group: 5/6
Main misconceptions: Mirroring the issue with immediately, 12% of pupils wrote ‘reccomended’, incorrectly doubling the c instead of the m.
Strategy to learn: Again, breaking the word down into its clear components is the most effective strategy. It is formed from the prefix re, the root word commend, and the suffix ed: /re-commend-ed./ This clearly shows where the double m belongs.
20. relevant
Success rate: 60% of pupils got this right on their first attempt.
Year group: 3/4
Main misconceptions: The most frequent error, made by 15% of pupils, was ‘relavant’, which incorrectly swaps the second e for an a.
Strategy to learn: A quirky rhyme can make the correct spelling unforgettable. Ask pupils to imagine a 'relevant elephant'. The strong visual and the rhyme (relevant elephant) help lock in the ele part of the word.
What does the spelling data from Learning by Questions tell us?
Looking across the top 20 misspellings, three clear patterns emerge. The most common category of error is suffix confusion, particularly whether a word ends in -ance or -ence, as seen with existence (35% error rate). Almost as prevalent are double letter mistakes, where pupils either miss a double consonant or put it in the wrong place. The third major category is phonetic spelling, where pupils write words exactly as they're mispronounced, like ‘disasterous’ for disastrous.
Have a go with a Learning by Questions resource to see where the pupils went wrong with the suffix -ance...
Words ending in -ance Y5-6
Interestingly, the single most common misconception in the entire list wandered misspelled as wondered (38%) is a meaning-based error, reminding us that spelling and vocabulary knowledge are deeply connected.
Interested in data for your own pupils? You can try out all our spelling resources, as well as some GPS diagnostics that provide you with the data and the personalised follow-up resources. Target the misconceptions your children have. Find out more and trial SATs Springboard.
Frequently Asked Questions: Using spelling data in the classroom
You've seen the data and the strategies, but you might be wondering how to translate this into meaningful classroom practice. Here are answers to some common questions from teachers who are using diagnostic data to inform their spelling instruction.
This data is fascinating, but how do I use it without overwhelming my class?
You're right—presenting all 20 words at once would be counterproductive. The key is to use this data diagnostically, not as one big list.
What helps:
Teach in patterns, not in isolation: Group the words by misconception type. Teach existence, relevant, and definite together when you're covering the /schwa/ sound in unstressed syllables. Teach accommodate, embarrass, and immediately together when reviewing double letter rules.
Pre-empt errors: Before introducing a word like separate, explicitly say: "The most common mistake with this word is writing it as 'seperate'. Let's look at why that happens and how to avoid it." This heads off the error before it becomes embedded.
Spaced repetition: Revisit the trickiest words (like separate and existence) every few weeks rather than teaching them once and moving on.
The strategies you've suggested are great, but how do I fit them into an already packed timetable?
Spelling instruction doesn't always need a dedicated 30-minute slot. Short, focused interventions often get better results than longer, less frequent sessions.
Practical approaches:
Morning starters: Put one of the words on the board with its misconception revealed. Ask pupils to discuss in pairs why the error happens and what strategy might help. This takes 5 minutes. Learning by Questions is the perfect resource to help here, with: pre-loaded resources that tackle these exact spellings, zero marking, and follow-up resources to fill individualised gaps.
Teaching assistants: Share this list with your support staff. When they're working with small groups, they can proactively look out for these specific errors in children's writing
Some of my pupils struggle with all 20. Others have already got most of them. How do I differentiate?
This is where your data becomes a powerful tool for personalisation. Not every child needs the same input.
Differentiation strategies:
Diagnostic pre-test: Give your class the 20 words in a dictation sentence at the start of your spelling unit. Use the results to create personalised lists. A child who misspells accommodate but spells privilege correctly doesn't need to practise privilege. SATs Springboard by Learning by Questions has SATs diagnostics for spelling, as well as grammar, maths and reading!
Challenge by depth, not just by more words: For confident spellers, move beyond the word itself. Can they explain the etymology? Can they find other words that follow the same pattern? For convenience, can they find other words with the root ven (like intervene, prevent)?
Turn this spelling data into impact
These 20 words represent thousands of real pupil responses and real moments of confusion. But with the right strategies, each one is teachable. Whether you're using mnemonics, syllable breakdowns, or visual aids, the key is targeting the misconception, not just the word.
Ready to see this data in action? Trial SATs Springboard to get diagnostic insights into your own pupils' spelling gaps, plus personalised follow-up resources that do the differentiation for you.