KS1 Common Exception Words Resources

Common exception words are exactly what they sound like! They’re everyday (‘common’) words that we use all the time, but they are pronounced or spelt differently to how children in Key Stage 1 are taught to read and write in their Phonics lessons — they are ‘exceptions’.

The fancy, technical way to say this is ‘common exception words are words that are not decodable using normal Phonics rules.’
(Check out our handy ‘Essential Primary Phonics Terms’ blog for a crash-course on Phonics lingo)
 

Examples of Common Exception Words

The curriculum has a different set of common exception words for Year 1 and Year 2. 
It’s expected that by Year 2, pupils are comfortable with most of the Year 1 common exception words.

Year 1 common exception words include:

a, to, do, of, the, said, says, are, were, was, is, his, I, you, your, they, be, he, me, she, we, no, go, where, love, come, once, ask, friend, school, push, pull, house
(and others depending on the teaching programme used)

Year 2 common exception words include:

door, floor, because, kind, child, climb, most, both, old, cold, gold, every, even, great, break, pretty, beautiful, father, hour, move, would, could, should, clothes, people, water, money, parents
(and others depending on the teaching programme used)
 

Common Exception Word Resources for Year 1 & Year 2

Because common exception words are just so darn common, it’s important for children to become familiar with them as soon as they can.

Never fear though — CGP+ is here, and we’ve carefully curated a list of our favourite common exception word resources for Year 1 and Year 2 pupils to get stuck into.
 

Roll & Race — Egg-ception Words Game (Year 1)

For a fun take on learning new words, check out this cracking game. Players move to the centre of the board, reading words out loud and spelling them with their eyes closed.  There’s even a Stretch version of the game with more challenging words.
 

Common Exception Words — Wordsearch 1, 2, 3 & 4 (Year 1)

This is a bumper set of resources to increase familiarity with common exception words.  With not one, not two, not three, but four different wordsearches, your children will know their ‘you’ from ‘your’ and ‘one’ from ‘once’ in no time.

Spelling Test — Common Exception Words (Year 1)

Ready?  Set.  Spell!  With these dictated spelling tests, you can really see how much pupils have taken on board.  Both Test 1 and Test 2 come with word lists to cut out and send home too, so children can prepare for the test or stick the spellings in their books.
 

Magical Exception Words (Year 1)

Pupils will help Max unjumble his spellings in this nifty worksheet.  Then, they choose some of the words to use in a sentence of their own.
 

Rhyming Match (Year 2)

Use this worksheet to reinforce that spelling doesn’t always help with how words sound.  There’s also a Stretch version for more confident pupils.
 

Lemmy the Gnome (Year 2)

Dust off the deerstalkers — it’s time to sniff out some spelling mistakes!  This worksheet challenges children to find and correct 25 mistakes.  They are then encouraged to carry on the story using some more common exception words.  The Foundation version eases pupils in more gently but will still improve familiarity with common exception words.

Word of the Day Mat (Year 2)

This word mat resource is a fantastic way to come to terms with common exception words.  It’s packed with different activities to do that will reinforce learning, every day.  It even comes with a list of common exception words to use.
 

Spelling Test — Common Exception Words (Year 2)

If you were worried that we’d only made common exception word spelling tests for Year 1, you can rest easily now — we’ve got you covered.  As with the Year 1 versions, both Test 1 and Test 2 are dictated and come with handy word lists that can be cut out and sent home.

And there you have it — a list of common exception word resources for KS1 that is anything but common.

Thirst for Knowledge Not Quenched?

You can find even more common exception word resources for KS1 and KS2 on the CGP+ website.

If you’d like to learn a bit more about Phonics teaching instead, click on over to our ‘Intro to Phonics’ blog.
 

Remember — you’ll always be exceptional with CGP+ ✨