These Grade 3 spelling words are grouped into themed weekly lists. This will help make spelling a little more fun for your third grader.
Themed Spelling Lists
In an effort to make learning to spell a more enjoyable experience for children, I’ve created these themed spelling lists.
As each week has a different theme, no spelling week will feel the same, helping alleviate boredom.
They also allow for more opportunities to use the words in its correct context which helps build vocabulary connections.
For example, the theme of one week is “Baseball”. You might decide to incorporate different baseball learning activities during that week. The words will then be very familiar to the child and have meaning to them, as opposed to just random words they have to learn.
Another weeks theme is “Fairy Tales”. This might be a good week to focus on reading a few fairy tales. When the child is having a lot of exposure seeing and reading the same words, it will make learning to spell them that much easier.
There are 36 weekly spelling themes for these grade 3 spelling words. They are listed below.
Some themes below are linked to the weekly spelling list or spelling worksheets or activities (like word searches) that go along with the words of the week.
- Back to School
- Silent Consonants
- Y as a Vowel
- Plural Nouns
- Animals
- Disney Movies
- Dogs
- Contractions: To Be
- Mixed Bag of Words
- Numbers
- Shopping & Money
- Fairy Tales
- Music
- Today & Tomorrow
- Winter
- Human Body
- Medical
- Contractions: Not
- Contractions
- Clocks
- Clothes
- Vacation
- House
- Family & Chores
- Manners & Greetings
- Baseball
- Outer Space
- Shapes
- Math
- Trees & Nature
- Colors
- Gardening
- Fruit
- Fruit Adjectives
- Homophones
- Summer
About these Grade 3 Spelling Words
- 36 weeks of words
- 12 words per week
- Of the 432 words, 180 of them are Fry words. 52 of the words are Dolch words.
- So by the end of third grade, including the first and second grade words, your child will have learned the spellings of 589 Fry words + 563 additional words. 286 of the words learned will have been Dolch words.
- spelling lists are secular
The themed lists of grade 3 spelling words can be downloaded free below. It’s a 6 page printable pdf.
Not yet ready for third grade spelling words? Here are the spelling word lists for other elementary grade levels:
Carolee
Monday 3rd of August 2020
Hello Melanie, thank you for this resource. Is there a way to download all 30 weeks of these lists, and puzzles?
Melanie Thomas
Saturday 8th of August 2020
Not yet, sorry. I'm working on it, but there aren't puzzles made yet for every list in grade 3. It's a big project (212 weeks of elementary puzzles). I'm constantly working on this project and adding more puzzles all the time. Once I get a grade complete, I will add that option.
At this time, all 36 3rd grade spelling lists can be downloaded free on this page, but the available puzzles are only available for download individually on their pages.
Monday 8th of June 2020
Hi, this is helpful for my kids wish I can get a copy from week 1. Thank you so much
Melanie Thomas
Saturday 8th of August 2020
The pdf of all 36 spelling weeks is available for free download on this page.
Dan Schneiderjohn
Wednesday 6th of May 2020
Hi Melanie, I run a summer camp for kids with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. We are not able to meet in person this year so I am trying to compile some fun activities for the kids to do and print at home. Is there a fee to use your worksheets in this way? Thank you for your help!
Melanie Thomas
Wednesday 6th of May 2020
Hi Dan, no there is no fee. My free printables are free for use with kids, so they can download and print whatever worksheets they wish. Thanks for asking :)