4th Grade Spelling Words: 100+ Vocab Words for Fourth Graders

Spelling in 4th grade takes a big leap forward as students explore more complex patterns, advanced vocabulary, and words with Greek and Latin roots.

In this post, we’ll break down key categories of fourth-grade spelling words and provide examples to make learning fun and effective.

4th Grade Spelling Word List

Silent Letters

• Knight

• Wrinkle

• Limb

• Doubt

• Design

Prefixes and Suffixes

• Disappear

• Unkind

• Joyful

• Movement

• Happiness

Homophones

• Their, there, they’re

• Your, you’re

• To, too, two

Commonly Misspelled Words

• Beautiful

• Believe

• Friend

• Necessary

• Tomorrow

Words with Prefixes

Fourth graders often encounter more advanced prefixes like mis-, pre-, and non-.

• mistake

• preview

• nonstick

• misplace

• precook

• nonstop

• mislead

• preschool

• nonfiction

• misunderstand

Words with Suffixes

Suffixes like -tion, -able, and -less add complexity to spelling practice.

• action

• celebration

• lovable

• valuable

• careless

• fearless

• solution

• information

• peaceful

• hopeless

Words with Silent Letters

Silent letters become more challenging in fourth grade.

• comb

• thumb

• answer

• castle

• island

• wrist

• listen

• half

• knee

• doubt

Homophones

Homophones expand into more nuanced examples for 4th grade.

• its/it's

• they're/their/there

• too/two/to

• steal/steel

• principal/principle

• weather/whether

• write/right

• weight/wait

• knew/new

• break/brake

Compound Words

Fourth graders learn longer and more complex compound words.

• basketball

• classroom

• notebook

• sunflower

• background

• earthquake

• snowflake

• pancake

• grandmother

• throughout

Words with Irregular Plurals

Words with tricky plural forms challenge 4th graders.

• children

• women

• teeth

• mice

• geese

• shelves

• leaves

• wolves

• oxen

• feet

Words with Advanced Blends

Blends become more challenging, often incorporating three consonants.

• spring

• splash

• string

• street

• stripe

• strong

• scratch

• splint

• strand

• stream

Words with Double Consonants

Double consonants occur frequently in advanced words.

• address

• balloon

• collect

• dinner

• grasshopper

• middle

• scissors

• success

• traffic

• slipper

Words with Vowel Teams

These include vowel pairs that make unique sounds.

• cause

• beach

• brain

• cheerful

• ceiling

• create

• rainbow

• peaceful

• believe

• poison

Words with Hard and Soft C and G

These patterns are explicitly taught in 4th grade.

Hard C/G

• cat

• candy

• goat

• garden

• game

Soft C/G

• center

• circus

• gem

• gentle

• gym

Commonly Misspelled Words

Words that students often struggle with.

• across

• because

• beautiful

• believe

• breathe

• build

• clothes

• doesn’t

• finally

• interesting

Words with Greek and Latin Roots

Root words start appearing more prominently in 4th grade.

Greek Roots

• photo (photograph, photocopy)

• tele (telephone, telescope)

• auto (autograph, automobile)

• graph (paragraph, biography)

Latin Roots

• aud (audio, audience)

• port (transport, portable)

• scrib/script (describe, subscription)

• dict (predict, dictionary)

Words with Advanced Patterns

-tion Words

• action

• vacation

• nation

• direction

• solution

-sion Words

• decision

• confusion

• explosion

• permission

• television

-ious/-ous Words

• delicious

• curious

• serious

• nervous

• gracious

Science Words

Science-related vocabulary expands in 4th grade.

• energy

• matter

• ecosystem

• evaporation

• precipitation

• organism

• gravity

• temperature

• oxygen

• habitat

Social Studies Words

Vocabulary from history and geography is introduced.

• government

• colony

• independence

• revolution

• explorer

• president

• boundary

• citizen

• capital

• civilization

Challenging Multisyllabic Words

These words test syllable recognition and spelling rules.

• education

• celebration

• imagination

• multiplication

• transportation

• experimentation

• determination

• appreciation

• participation

• organization

Tips for Teaching 4th Grade Spelling

1. Use Word Sorts: Organize words by patterns to help students spot similarities.

2. Encourage Reading: Exposure to words in books improves spelling naturally.

3. Create Context: Ask students to write stories or sentences using spelling words.

4. Practice Regularly: Break words into manageable groups for weekly practice.

Fourth grade is a critical time for developing a strong foundation in spelling and vocabulary. By practicing words in categories like prefixes, suffixes, and root words, students can not only improve their spelling but also enhance their reading comprehension and writing fluency.

Make spelling practice enjoyable by incorporating games, reading activities, and creative writing exercises. With consistent effort and the right tools, your fourth grader will become a confident and capable speller.