The short answer
Spelling is assessed twice, in two different ways. Once in the Conventions of Language test, and again inside the Writing test.
In the Writing test, spelling is scored 0–6 on accuracy and the difficulty of the words your child chose to use.
Markers use four word tiers: Simple, Common, Difficult, Challenging.
The surprise: spelling everything correctly is not enough for the top score. Your child also has to attempt hard words.
The two places spelling is marked
Almost every guide treats "NAPLAN spelling" as one thing. It isn't, and the difference changes how you'd help at home.
| Conventions of Language test | Spelling in the Writing test | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | A separate 45-minute test | Marked on your child's own writing |
| Task | Spot and correct a misspelled word | Nothing extra — it's judged from what they wrote |
| Measures | Whether they recognise correct spelling | Accuracy and the difficulty of words used |
| To improve | Rule-based practice and word patterns | Encourage braver word choices |
The four word-difficulty tiers
ACARA gives its writing markers a reference list of roughly 1,000 words, sorted into four difficulty levels. The list itself is a marking tool rather than a study list, but the patterns behind each tier are described in the public marking guide — and the patterns are far more useful to a child than a list to memorise.
Simple Tier 1
Two-letter words, single-syllable words with short vowel sounds, common consonant blends and digraphs, double final consonants, and high-frequency everyday words.
Patterns: two letters (up, it, an) · short vowels (bed, fun, tap) · digraphs (ship, chin, thin) · blends (clap, must, help) · double endings (egg, tell, hiss) · high-frequency (day, our, them, good)
Common Tier 2
Single-syllable words carrying two consonant blends or digraphs, and everyday two-syllable words. Still familiar, but with more letters to get in the right order.
Patterns: double blends (crack, stump, splash) · digraph + blend (speech, thrust) · common two-syllable (garden, morning, sister, window)
Difficult Tier 3
Longer words, less common letter patterns, and words where the spelling doesn't follow the sound. This is the tier that starts earning higher marks.
Patterns: multi-syllable (suddenly, important, describe) · silent letters (knight, wrestle, castle) · unusual patterns (enough, beautiful, journey)
Challenging Tier 4
Ambitious vocabulary a Year 3 writer would not be expected to use — the words that signal a child is reaching beyond their comfort zone.
Patterns: sophisticated word choice (magnificent, disappeared, ancient, curious, exhausted)
The example words above are our own, chosen to illustrate each pattern. ACARA's reference list is copyright and is not reproduced here.
⚠️ The bit that surprises parents
To reach the top spelling score of 6 in the Writing test, a child must spell every word correctly and include a number of Difficult words plus some Challenging ones — or a larger number of Difficult words on their own.
This means a perfectly spelled piece using only simple words cannot score 6. Playing it safe has a ceiling.
There's a matching floor: a piece of fewer than about 20 words can't score above 1, no matter how accurate it is.
What this changes at home: the usual advice — "only use words you can spell" — actively caps your child's score. Better advice: have a go at the bigger word, then check it. A brave attempt that's slightly wrong often scores better than a safe word that's right.
The Conventions of Language test
This is the separate 45-minute test covering spelling, grammar and punctuation. Year 3 sits it online, and it's usually the test children find most manageable — the questions are short and self-contained.
Spelling questions
Your child is shown a sentence containing one misspelled word and asked to identify and correct it. The words are ones a Year 3 student would reasonably be expected to spell.
Example
Which word is spelled incorrectly?
My freind came to the party on Saturday.
Answer: freind → friend. The ie/ei pattern is one of the most common Year 3 errors.
Grammar questions
These cover word types, verb tense and subject–verb agreement.
Example
Which word correctly completes the sentence?
The dogs ______ in the park every morning.
a) runs b) run c) running d) ran
Answer: b) run. The subject is plural (dogs), so the verb is plural too. Saying it aloud usually settles it.
Punctuation questions
Capital letters, full stops, question marks, commas, apostrophes and speech marks.
Example
Which sentence is punctuated correctly?
a) "hello," said Ben. b) "Hello," said Ben. c) "Hello" said Ben.
Answer: b. Speech starts with a capital letter, and a comma sits inside the closing speech marks before said.
Common Year 3 spelling traps
| Trap | What helps |
|---|---|
| their / there / they're | There has here inside it — it's about place. Their shows ownership. They're is they are squashed together. |
| because | Say it in chunks: be-cause. Most errors come from guessing the middle. |
| friend | Remember: a fri-end is there to the end. |
| said | No spelling rule fits it. It just has to be learnt by sight. |
| Double letters (running, stopped) | Short vowel before the ending usually means double the last letter. |
| Silent letters (knee, write, lamb) | Group them by pattern — all the kn- words together — rather than one at a time. |
Why this is the domain worth practising: spelling, grammar and punctuation are rule-based and finite. Ten minutes a few times a week produces visible improvement within weeks. Reading comprehension improves far more slowly, because it depends on vocabulary and background knowledge built over years.
How to practise at home
- Group words by pattern, not by list. Learning knee, knock, knife, knot together teaches a rule. Learning ten unrelated words teaches ten words.
- Encourage the brave word. When your child asks how to spell something ambitious, help them attempt it rather than steering them to an easier word.
- Read aloud to check. Children hear a missing full stop or a wrong verb far more easily than they see it.
- Fix errors from their own writing. Words they actually misspell are worth more than any generic list.
- Little and often. Ten minutes three times a week beats an hour on Sunday.
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Start free practice →Frequently asked questions
Is there an official Year 3 NAPLAN spelling word list?
ACARA gives its writing markers a reference list of about 1,000 words classified as Simple, Common, Difficult or Challenging. It's a marking tool, not a published study list. What you can use is the pattern behind each tier, which the public marking guide describes — and patterns transfer to words the list never covered.
How is spelling marked in NAPLAN?
In two separate ways. The Conventions of Language test asks students to find and correct errors. The Writing test scores spelling 0–6 based on accuracy and the difficulty of the words the child chose to use.
Can my child get full marks if everything is spelled correctly?
Not necessarily. The top score also requires using a number of Difficult and Challenging words. Perfect spelling with only simple vocabulary has a ceiling below 6.
Should my child memorise long spelling lists?
Patterns beat lists. A child who understands the kn- pattern can spell words they've never been taught. A child who memorised twenty words knows twenty words.
Does handwriting affect the spelling mark?
Handwriting isn't a marking criterion, but Year 3 writes on paper and a marker must be able to read the word to credit it. Comfortable, legible handwriting matters practically, even though it isn't scored.
What if my child is a strong reader but a weak speller?
That's very common — reading and spelling use different skills. Reading lets you recognise a word; spelling requires producing it from memory. Targeted spelling practice helps, and it's one of the fastest areas to improve.