Grade 3 Spelling Words

These 3rd grade spelling words are grouped into weekly themes instead of random word lists.

Themes like baseball, fairy tales, animals, and outer space keep each week’s spelling practice feeling fresh and fun while connecting new spelling words to topics children already know and enjoy.

Browse all 36 weekly spelling lists below, or download a free printable PDF to use at home or in the classroom.

There is also a growing collection of spelling worksheets, word puzzles, and activities that go along with the words of each week.

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⬇ Jump to:

• Download & Print
• How to Use These Spelling Words
• Weekly Spelling Lists: (Weeks 1-9); (Weeks 10-18); (Weeks 19-27); (Weeks 28-36)
• Spelling Worksheets
• More Grade-Level Spelling Lists

Why Use Themed 3rd Grade Spelling Words?

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.

Download and Print

The themed lists of grade 3 spelling words can be downloaded for free using any of the forms below.

The PDF will be emailed directly to your inbox and includes all 36 weekly spelling lists organized into an easy-to-use printable format.

The printable includes:

• 36 themed weekly spelling lists
• 12 spelling words each week
• 432 total spelling words
• 6 black-and-white printable pages

Print the pages on standard letter-size paper (8.5″ × 11″). Keep the full packet together for a complete year of spelling practice, or print only the pages you need for the current week.

How to Use These 3rd Grade Spelling Words

These themed spelling lists are designed to be used over the course of one week. Each weekly list includes 12 spelling words, and many weeks have matching printable worksheets to reinforce the words and build additional language arts skills.

If worksheets are available for your week’s spelling list, simply give your child the worksheet for that day:

• Day 1: Introduce the weekly spelling words and complete the Day 1 worksheet.
• Day 2: Complete the Day 2 worksheet to continue practicing the weekly words and related language arts skills.
• Day 3: Complete the Day 3 worksheet for additional spelling and vocabulary practice.
• Day 4: Use the dictation sentences to practice spelling the weekly words in context.
• Day 5: Complete the final dictation sentences or use the words for a weekly spelling test.

The dictation sentences include the week’s spelling words while also reviewing words learned in previous weeks. Many sentences include homophones, encouraging children to use context clues to choose the correct spelling. This helps reinforce spelling, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and grammar all at the same time.

For weeks that don’t yet have worksheets, many themes include printable word puzzles for extra practice. The weekly spelling lists can also be used for writing sentences, spelling games, independent practice, or a traditional weekly spelling test.

36 Weekly 3rd Grade Spelling Lists

Here are the grade 3 spelling words for each week.

Week 1 – Back to School

1. teacher
2. taught
3. third
4. grade
5. class
6. lesson
7. passed
8. mark
9. exam
10. pencil
11. paper
12. quiz

Week 2 – Silent Consonants

1. calm
2. fight
3. knew
4. knife
5. lamb
6. listen
7. might
8. right
9. sign
10. tight
11. wrap
12. wrong

Week 3 – Y as a Vowel

1. carry
2. easy
3. energy
4. every
5. funny
6. happy
7. heavy
8. jury
9. myself
10. ready
11. tiny
12. type

Week 4 – Plural Nouns

1. army
2. boxes
3. copy
4. country
5. guess
6. key
7. knives
8. match
9. party
10. person
11. woman
12. women

Week 5 – Animals

1. animal
2. deer
3. geese
4. goose
5. horse
6. kitten
7. kitty
8. mouse
9. rabbit
10. toad
11. vet
12. zoo

Week 6 – Human Body

1. chest
2. arms
3. hand
4. fingers
5. thumb
6. back
7. spine
8. bones
9. legs
10. foot
11. feet
12. skin

Week 7 – Dogs

1. puppy
2. tail
3. canine
4. collar
5. howl
6. growl
7. barking
8. walk
9. doghouse
10. trick
11. hound
12. wagged

Week 8 – Disney Movies

1. brave
2. story
3. great
4. fox
5. detective
6. dwarf
7. sleep
8. beauty
9. beast
10. high
11. school
12. musical

Week 9 – Contractions (To Be)

1. I’m
2. you’re
3. he’s
4. she’s
5. it’s
6. who’s
7. that’s
8. there’s
9. where’s
10. what’s
11. we’re
12. they’re

Week 10 – Mixed Bag of Words

1. loud
2. around
3. himself
4. think
5. does
6. open
7. mean
8. also
9. doll
10. off
11. those
12. being

Week 11 – Numbers

1. eleven
2. twelve
3. thirteen
4. fourteen
5. fifteen
6. sixteen
7. seventeen
8. eighteen
9. nineteen
10. twenty
11. both
12. whole

Week 12 – Shopping

1. buy
2. bought
3. trade
4. shopping
5. sale
6. fair
7. worth
8. price
9. found
10. pennies
11. raised
12. round

Week 13 – Fairy Tales

1. once
2. upon
3. fairy
4. royal
5. crown
6. puppet
7. magic
8. giant
9. elf
10. ogre
11. witch
12. forest

Week 14 – Music

1. music
2. drum
3. voice
4. tone
5. vocal
6. piano
7. tune
8. solo
9. duet
10. trio
11. violin
12. sound

Week 15 – Time

1. today
2. yesterday
3. tomorrow
4. morning
5. afternoon
6. evening
7. dawn
8. sunset
9. early
10. late
11. next
12. daytime

Week 16 – Winter

1. scarf
2. snowman
3. snowball
4. ski
5. skates
6. freeze
7. winter
8. boots
9. coat
10. slip
11. ice
12. gloves

Week 17 – Medical

1. doctor
2. nurse
3. sick
4. check
5. cast
6. pain
7. fever
8. catch
9. caught
10. cough
11. rest
12. home

Week 18 – Contractions (Not)

1. isn’t
2. aren’t
3. wasn’t
4. won’t
5. wouldn’t
6. doesn’t
7. don’t
8. didn’t
9. haven’t
10. can’t
11. couldn’t
12. weren’t

Week 19 – Contractions

1. I’ll
2. you’ll
3. he’ll
4. she’ll
5. we’ll
6. they’ll
7. I’d
8. she’d
9. we’d
10. I’ve
11. you’ve
12. they’ve

Week 20 – Clocks

1. clock
2. hours
3. minutes
4. second
5. half
6. past
7. watch
8. precise
9. o’clock
10. alarm
11. start
12. begin

Week 21 – Clothes

1. shirt
2. tie
3. pants
4. belt
5. jacket
6. suit
7. jeans
8. running
9. shoes
10. socks
11. dress
12. skirt

Week 22 – Vacation

1. airport
2. airplane
3. ticket
4. passport
5. travel
6. flight
7. window
8. holiday
9. motel
10. hotel
11. vacation
12. relax

Week 23 – Family & Chores

1. family
2. children
3. parent
4. aunt
5. uncle
6. clean
7. room
8. sweep
9. floor
10. clear
11. table
12. chart

Week 24 – House

1. bedroom
2. bath
3. stairs
4. hallway
5. dining
6. chair
7. front
8. yard
9. move
10. own
11. step
12. goes

Week 25 – Manners & Greetings

1. please
2. thank
3. welcome
4. pardon
5. excuse
6. sorry
7. polite
8. rude
9. hello
10. ask
11. help
12. good-bye

Week 26 – Baseball

1. baseball
2. center
3. field
4. left
5. mitt
6. pitcher
7. plate
8. safe
9. score
10. steal
11. strike
12. team

Week 27 – Space

1. outer
2. space
3. station
4. solar
5. system
6. eclipse
7. lunar
8. telescope
9. orbit
10. phase
11. Earth
12. discover

Week 28 – Shapes

1. shape
2. circle
3. square
4. rectangle
5. oval
6. heart
7. triangle
8. cube
9. sphere
10. cone
11. cylinder
12. pyramid

Week 29 – Math

1. measure
2. length
3. width
4. thick
5. thin
6. perimeter
7. area
8. inches
9. equal
10. mile
11. divided
12. group

Week 30 – Trees & Nature

1. branches
2. maple
3. willow
4. oak
5. palm
6. pine
7. stump
8. rock
9. stone
10. canyon
11. valley
12. mountain

Week 31 – Colors

1. violet
2. orange
3. pastel
4. gold
5. purple
6. scarlet
7. bright
8. gray
9. navy
10. silver
11. favorite
12. colorful

Week 32 – Fruit

1. grape
2. plum
3. cherry
4. peaches
5. banana
6. melon
7. pear
8. lemon
9. pineapple
10. strawberry
11. fruit
12. juice

Week 33 – Fruit Adjectives

1. crunchy
2. dried
3. firm
4. fresh
5. fruit
6. hard
7. juicy
8. ripe
9. rotten
10. soft
11. sour
12. sweet

Week 34 – Homophones

1. here
2. hear
3. meet
4. meat
5. bear
6. bare
7. flower
8. flour
9. pair
10. sea
11. weak
12. knot

Week 35 – Gardening

1. garden
2. plant
3. soil
4. leaf
5. root
6. grow
7. dirt
8. rose
9. wilt
10. dead
11. cactus
12. bushes

Week 36 – Summer

1. sunny
2. warm
3. ice cream
4. cabin
5. kite
6. swim
7. pail
8. bubbles
9. fountain
10. diving
11. swimming
12. bikini

About these 3rd Grade Spelling Words

These themed 3rd grade spelling words include a combination of Fry words, Dolch words, and everyday vocabulary organized into manageable weekly spelling lists.

• 36 weekly spelling lists
• 12 spelling words each week
• 432 total spelling words
• 180 Fry high-frequency words
• 52 Dolch sight words
• Secular word lists suitable for homeschool and classroom use

By the end of third grade, students who have completed the Grade 1, Grade 2, and Grade 3 spelling lists will have learned the spelling of 589 Fry words, 286 Dolch words, and 563 additional words.

3rd Grade Spelling Words Worksheets

Worksheets are currently being added for each weekly spelling list.

The worksheets go beyond simply practicing the weekly spelling words. Children also work on related language arts skills such as plural nouns, synonyms, antonyms, homophones, rhyming words, etc., and using words in context to help strengthen both spelling and vocabulary.

Here are the available worksheets so far:

• Week 4 – Plural Nouns Worksheets
• Week 28 – Shapes Spelling Worksheets (Detective theme)
• Week 29 – Math words spelling worksheets (Under the Sea theme)
• Week 31 – Color words spelling worksheets (Insects theme)

Many other weeks have word puzzles to go along with them.

New spelling games, word puzzles, and worksheets are continually being added. Here is the link where you can see a list of all the 3rd grade spelling activities to date.

These weekly spelling themes are also part of a growing 3rd grade homeschool curriculum. The same weekly themes are used across subjects, making it easy for homeschool families to plan a week of cohesive, theme-based learning.

More Elementary Spelling Lists

Not yet ready for third grade spelling words? Here are the spelling word lists for other elementary grade levels:

• grade 1
• grade 2
• grade 4
• grade 5
• grade 6