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4th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 12 of 13

Spelling Rules

Endings, plurals and tricky words

What your child practices

Children practice US spelling rules for adding endings (doubling, dropping e, changing y to i), plurals and common tricky words.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 4.2.1.2 · spelling patterns and rules

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Short vowel plus one consonant: double it before -ing or -ed (hop → hopping).
  2. Silent e: drop it before -ing (make → making).
  3. Consonant plus y: change y to i before -ed or -es (carry → carried).

Example: Add -ed to “carry.” Which spelling is correct? “Carry” ends in a consonant plus y. Change the y to i, then add -ed. Answer: carried

Spelling Rules in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 12 of 13 in 4th grade English Language Arts, after Media and Sources and before Firsthand or Secondhand?.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which word has a silent k?

    • kite
    • keep
    • kangaroo
    • knock

  2. Question 2

    Which word is spelled correctly?

    • again
    • agen
    • agian
    • aggain

  3. Question 3

    Which word is spelled correctly?

    • ryte
    • wriet
    • write
    • writte

  4. Question 4

    Which word is spelled correctly?

    • Wednesday
    • Wensday
    • Wedensday
    • Wednsday

  5. Question 5

    Which word is spelled correctly?

    • tommorow
    • tomorow
    • tommorrow
    • tomorrow

  6. Question 6

    Add -est to “funny.” Which spelling is correct?

    • funnest
    • funiest
    • funnyest
    • funniest

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