Word sort activities — Year 1
Year group: 1
Source: DfE, English Appendix 1: Spelling (2013)
Purpose: Printable word sort activities for Y1 spelling patterns.
How to run a word sort
- Print and cut the word card grid below, or write words on small slips of paper
- Give pupils the column headers only — not the completed sort
- Pupils sort in pairs — they must say why each word goes where it does
- Discuss as a class — focus on reasoning, not just the answer
Sort 1: End patterns — double letters and -ck
Column headers: -ff · -ll · -ss · -zz · -ck
Word cards — print and cut:
| cliff | well | miss | buzz | back |
| off | ball | hiss | fizz | lock |
| stiff | bell | fuss | jazz | duck |
| bluff | hill | mess | fuzz | neck |
| gruff | tall | dress | whizz | check |
Column header cards:
| -ff | -ll | -ss | -zz | -ck |
|---|
(Why these endings? In a one-syllable word with a short vowel, f, l, s, z are usually doubled. c is never doubled — we write -ck instead.)
Sort 2: Short vowel or long vowel? (the split digraph)
Column headers: Short vowel (no magic e) · Long vowel (magic e at the end)
Word cards — print and cut:
| cap | cape | hop | hope | bit |
| bite | pin | pine | cut | cute |
| hat | hate | fin | fine | not |
| note | kit | kite | rod | rode |
| mad | made | dim | dime | cub |
| cube | tap | tape | Tim | time |
Column header cards:
| Short vowel | Long vowel (magic e) |
|---|
(Adding a silent e at the end changes the vowel sound. The e 'reaches across' to make the vowel say its name.)
Sort 3: Plurals — -s or -es?
Column headers: Add -s · Add -es (after -s, -x, -ch, -sh, -z)
Word cards — print and cut:
| cat | fox | dog | bus | church |
| king | box | wish | cup | bench |
| hat | dish | book | match | brush |
| bag | tax | frog | class | lunch |
| bird | mix | tree | patch | flash |
Column header cards:
| Add -s | Add -es |
|---|
(Add -es after the letters -s, -x, -ch, -sh, -z. You can hear the extra syllable: church → church-es, not churchs.)
Sort 4: Exception words — which part is tricky?
Column headers: Tricky vowel · Strange letter pattern · Looks different from how it sounds
All words are from the Y1 statutory common exception word list.
Word cards — print and cut:
| said | where | love | come |
| was | friend | some | once |
| are | school | your | push |
| they | our | house | full |
| here | there | put | pull |
Column header cards:
| Tricky vowel | Strange letter pattern | Looks different from how it sounds |
|---|
(Exception words cannot be decoded from phonics alone. Discuss why each word is tricky — pupils who articulate the problem learn it faster.)
Blank sort template
Use to create your own sort for any Y1 pattern.
Pattern I am sorting: _______________________________________________
Column header cards:
| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 |
|---|
My word cards:
Extension: Can pupils add one more word to each column from memory?
Source: DfE English Appendix 1: Spelling (2013). Word sort pedagogy: Dymock & Nicholson (2017), Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties.