Year 5 & 6 Spelling Pack — Dyslexia-Friendly

A complete spelling pack covering all 65 statutory Year 5 & 6 DfE words — the foundation for both KS2 SATs spelling and the 11+ English papers. Designed for dyslexic learners, and just as effective for any child who finds spelling hard.

I made this for my own daughter.

She's dyslexic, and the spelling resources we found online were either generic worksheets in a slightly different font, or expensive subscription bundles full of things we didn't need. So I built her something better — and now I'm sharing it with other families and teachers who might find it useful too.

Two audiences, one foundation:

The Year 5 & 6 statutory word list is the bedrock of both the KS2 SATs Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling paper and the spelling sections of all major 11+ English papers (CEM, GL Assessment, ISEB, and most independent school papers). Whichever you're preparing for, mastering these 65 words is non-negotiable.

This pack does the heavy lifting in a way generic worksheets don't: it teaches why a word is spelled the way it is, so children can transfer the learning to words they've never seen before.

What's inside (21 pages, A4, instant-download PDF):

• All 65 statutory Year 5 & 6 spelling words from the DfE National Curriculum
• 17 word-card pages with 4 cards per page — print and use as a workbook, or cut into flashcards
• Cover page with the full colour key
• "How to Use" guide — a simple 10-minute daily routine
• "Why This Approach Works" page explaining the six design choices
• FAQ for parents and teachers

What makes this different:

Real OpenDyslexic font throughout — not just a generic sans-serif relabelled as "dyslexia-friendly". The weighted bottoms on each letter anchor them to the baseline and reduce the visual flipping many dyslexic readers experience.

A prefix · root · suffix colour system on every word. Children learn word structure, not random letter strings. They see depend hiding inside independent, and aster (Latin for star) inside disaster. This transfers — once they get the system, they unlock words they've never seen before. For 11+ candidates, this is exactly the kind of vocabulary reasoning that paper-setters reward.

A memory hint on every single card. Silly mnemonics, hidden words, sentence tricks. Research backs this up: elaborate encoding sticks far better than repetitive copying.

Bubble letters for every double pair. Double letters are the single most common KS2 spelling error, so they get chunky, unmissable bubble treatment.

Syllable breakdown on every word, with dot separators (e.g. ag · gres · sive).

Low-ink, printer-friendly design — predominantly black-on-white with thin coloured accents. Designed to print at home without burning through colour cartridges.

Who it's for:

• Parents preparing children for the 11+ (grammar school or independent school)
• Year 5 and Year 6 SATs prep
• Tutors working with 11+ candidates or neurodivergent learners
• Year 5 and Year 6 teachers, SENCOs, learning support staff
• Homeschooling families

A note on use:

Single-purchase covers one household or one teacher's classroom. For whole-school, year-group, or tutoring-business printing, please get in touch about a site licence.

You'll receive the PDF instantly after purchase, and you can re-download it from your Payhip account at any time.

If you find it helpful, please don't share the file — share the shop link instead. It's how we keep making resources like this one. Thank you.

Credits: OpenDyslexic typeface by Abelardo Gonzalez (SIL Open Font Licence). Word list: DfE National Curriculum (2014), Crown copyright. Resource design © Plain Page Press 2025.