These 146 spellings can be used to make thousands of words, including long and complex ones. Includes duplicates of high-use spellings, Click here for a simpler version containing only 100 spellings, which is more suitable for building one-syllable words.

Each piece includes example words for the sounds it represents e.g. the spelling “ea” has the small words “seat”, “head”, “great” and “Sean” on it. The spelling “oo” has the words “look”, “boot”, “flood” and “brooch”.

Use this alphabet to practice building and changing words e.g. use “f”, “r”, “i” and “dge” to make “fridge”, then change it to “ridge”, change that into “bridge”, or use “n”, “igh” and “t” to make “night”, then change it to “light”, then “flight, then “fright”, then “right”, then “sight”, then “slight”.

This set is also a useful way to demonstrate that there are multiple ways to spell many sounds, for example the sound “ay” spelt “ay” as in “day”, “a…e” as in “make”, “ai” as in “rain”, “eigh” as in “eight”, “ey” as in “they”, “ei” as in “veins” and “ea” as in “break”.

Learners can also try different combinations of spellings and see what words they can build e.g. build “take” then change it to “tame”, “tape”, “tale”, “male”, “sale”, “bale”, “kale” and “pale”.

To help learners work on the spellings of multi-syllable words by giving them all the spellings of a long word, and assisting them to assemble it, syllable by syllable, saying each syllable as it is spelt in their “spelling” voice, then copying and finally independently writing it.

The colour-coding of this alphabet is based on the colours of a traffic light: green means go (beginning spellings), orange means caution (vowel spellings, the hardest thing about English spelling), red means stop (ending spellings). Yellow spellings can be used as either beginning or ending spellings.

Download this seven-page pdf, print it in colour, laminate it, cut it up and use magnetic tape to create a moveable alphabet that will stick to your fridge or whiteboard, or adhesive hook velcro to attach it to noticeboard fabric, or keep it in a zip-closure folder.

To make a larger set for classroom or group use, print at 200% on A3 paper.

Supplied with 10 pages of word sequences (e.g. make ‘cup’ into ‘cap’ into ‘clap’), which match the Spelfabet Level 1 version 3 workbook. Note that this alphabet doesn’t currently include the blue basic suffixes page depicted at right, which you need for the Level 3 sequences, but you can download it for free here.

Please note that this alphabet is supplied as a pdf file which you download from this website, and print yourself.