How to use this dictionary

How to use this dictionary

How to use this dictionary

This dictionary helps with spelling tricky words. The words have been
chosen by looking at the national curriculum and the findings from the
Oxford Children’s Corpus. It includes the words children often misspell
and which they need to know for school.

ê The words at
ê The word you
the top are the
are looking up is
first and last Dictionary fresh to grow
in black.
words on the A
B
fresh adjective fresher, freshest
1 Something that is fresh is clean and new.
2 Fresh food has been made or picked only a
gnat noun gnats
a tiny fly that bites

short time ago. 3 Fresh air is clean and cool. gnaw verb gnaws, gnawing, gnawed
page. They will C
D
Friday noun Fridays
the day after Thursday
When an animal gnaws on something,
it keeps biting it.

go verb goes, going, went, gone

guide you to E
F
friend noun friends
Your friends are the people you like and know
well.
1 When you go somewhere, you move or
travel so that you are there. 2 If a machine is

ê Other forms of
going, it is working.

find your word.

frisky adjective friskier, friskiest goal noun goals
G playful or lively
1 the net where you must kick or throw the ball
H
the word are
fudge noun to score a point in a game such as football or
a soft sweet made with milk, sugar and butter netball 2 something that you want to achieve
I gold noun
full adjective fuller, fullest
J
given so you
If something is full, it has as much inside it as a shiny, yellow metal that is very valuable
it can hold.
K fun noun
good adjective better, best
1 Something that is good is nice, pleasant or
L
can see how to
When you have fun, you enjoy yourself. enjoyable. 2 Someone who is good is kind and
honest. 3 When you are good, you behave
M
ê The alphabet
funny adjective funnier, funniest well and do not do anything naughty. 4 If you
1 Something that is funny makes you laugh or are good at something, you can do it well.
N
spell the word
smile. 2 Something that is funny is strange or
surprising. grand adjective grander, grandest
O
is on every P Gg
Something that is grand is very big and
important.

Q
grass noun grasses with different
page. The letter R
garden noun gardens
a piece of ground where people grow flowers,
a green plant that covers the ground and is
used for lawns and parks

endings.
fruit or vegetables
great adjective greater, greatest
S
you are in is
gem noun gems 1 Something that is great is very big and
a precious stone or jewel
T giant noun giants
impressive. 2 A great person is very clever
and important. 3 Something that is great is

U
highlighted so
a very big person, especially in stories very good.

giraffe noun giraffes green adjective greener, greenest

V A giraffe is a very tall African animal with a Something that is green is the colour of grass.
W
that you can
very long neck.
grey adjective greyer, greyest
X girl noun girls Grey is the colour of the sky on a cloudy day.
a female child
grow verb grows, growing, grew, grown
Y
find your way Z
give verb gives, giving, gave, given
If you give something to someone, you let
them have it.
1 To grow means to become bigger. 2 When
you grow plants, you put them in the ground
and look after them.
ê The word class
around quickly 80 for each word
and easily. is given too, for
example, noun
or verb.
ê The words are
in alphabetical
order.

72

274569_OXF_FIRST_GRAM_PUNC_SP_DIC_72-96.indd 72 19/11/2015 10:04

 Grammar

Word
Word

A word is made up of one or more letters.

one-letter word
How many
letters are in
red your name?

three-letter word

bird

four-letter word

Basics
A word must have a space
before and after it.

10

274569_OXF_FIRST_GRAM_PUNC_SP_DIC_01-71.indd 10 02/11/2015 08:34

 Grammar

Word class

Word class
Different types of words can do different jobs in a sentence.
We say they belong to different word classes.

Adjectives, nouns and verbs are all different word classes.

nouns

That green bird took my apple!

adjective verb

Challenge!
Some words can belong to more than one word class.
You have to look carefully at the job the word does in the sentence
to decide its word class.

The walk was long and muddy.

‘Walk’ is a noun in this sentence.

I walk to school every day.

‘Walk’ is a verb in this sentence.

11

274569_OXF_FIRST_GRAM_PUNC_SP_DIC_01-71.indd 11 02/11/2015 08:34

 Spelling

Adding -ing, -ed and -er

Adding -ing, -ed and -er

If a word ends with two consonant letters (the same or different),

then the endings -ing, -ed or -er are just added on.
See page 47
for more about
consonants.
Challenge!
A word that can make sense
on its own is called a root
word. Suffixes and prefixes
can be added to root words.

help + ing = helping jump + ing = jumping

help + ed = helped jump + ed = jumped

help + er = helper jump + er = jumper

Add the same

endings to the
word ‘buzz’.

58

274569_OXF_FIRST_GRAM_PUNC_SP_DIC_01-71.indd 58 02/11/2015 08:35

 Spelling

Adding -er and -est to adjectives

Adding -er and -est to adjectives

I am taller. I am tallest.

I am tall.
3
2
1

If an adjective ends with two consonant letters (the same or

different), then the endings -er and -est are just added on.

We use the ending -er when two things are being compared.
This is called the comparative.

quick + er = quicker tall + er = taller

fast + er = faster short + er = shorter

We use the ending -est when more than two things are being
compared. This is called the superlative.

quick + est = quickest tall + est = tallest

fast + est = fastest short + est = shortest

!
Watch out!
Some adjectives use more and most to make the comparative
and superlative.

interesting more interesting most interesting

beautiful more beautiful most beautiful
59

274569_OXF_FIRST_GRAM_PUNC_SP_DIC_01-71.indd 59 02/11/2015 08:35

 Dictionary fresh to grow
fresh adjective fresher, freshest gnat noun gnats
A 1 Something that is fresh is clean and new. a tiny fly that bites
B 2 Fresh food has been made or picked only a
short time ago. 3 Fresh air is clean and cool. gnaw verb gnaws, gnawing, gnawed
C Friday noun Fridays
When an animal gnaws on something,
it keeps biting it.
D the day after Thursday
go verb goes, going, went, gone
friend noun friends
E Your friends are the people you like and know
1 When you go somewhere, you move or
travel so that you are there. 2 If a machine is
F well. going, it is working.
frisky adjective friskier, friskiest goal noun goals
G playful or lively
1 the net where you must kick or throw the ball
H fudge noun to score a point in a game such as football or
netball 2 something that you want to achieve
a soft sweet made with milk, sugar and butter
I gold noun
full adjective fuller, fullest
J If something is full, it has as much inside it as a shiny, yellow metal that is very valuable
it can hold.
K fun noun
good adjective better, best
1 Something that is good is nice, pleasant or
L When you have fun, you enjoy yourself. enjoyable. 2 Someone who is good is kind and
honest. 3 When you are good, you behave
M funny adjective funnier, funniest
1 Something that is funny makes you laugh or
well and do not do anything naughty. 4 If you
are good at something, you can do it well.
N smile. 2 Something that is funny is strange or
surprising. grand adjective grander, grandest
O
Gg
Something that is grand is very big and
important.
P
grass noun grasses
Q garden noun gardens a green plant that covers the ground and is
a piece of ground where people grow flowers,
R
used for lawns and parks
fruit or vegetables
great adjective greater, greatest
S gem noun gems
a precious stone or jewel
1 Something that is great is very big and

T giant noun giants

impressive. 2 A great person is very clever
and important. 3 Something that is great is

U a very big person, especially in stories very good.

giraffe noun giraffes green adjective greener, greenest

V A giraffe is a very tall African animal with a Something that is green is the colour of grass.
W very long neck.
grey adjective greyer, greyest
X girl noun girls Grey is the colour of the sky on a cloudy day.
a female child
grow verb grows, growing, grew, grown
Y give verb gives, giving, gave, given 1 To grow means to become bigger. 2 When
Z If you give something to someone, you let
them have it.
you grow plants, you put them in the ground
and look after them.

80

274569_OXF_FIRST_GRAM_PUNC_SP_DIC_72-96.indd 80 04/11/2015 09:28

 hair to huge Dictionary
Hh hike verb hikes, hiking, hiked
To hike is to go for a long walk in the
a
hair noun hairs
countryside.
b
Your hair is the long, soft stuff that grows on hiker noun c
your head. An animal's hair is the soft stuff someone who goes for long walks in the
that grows all over its body. countryside
d
half noun halves hold verb holds, holding, held e
One half of something is one of two equal 1 When you hold something, you have it in
parts that the thing is divided into. It can your hands. 2 The amount that something
f
g
also be written as 1/2. holds is the amount that you can put inside it.

happily adverb hole noun holes

To do something happily is to do it in a a gap or an empty space in something h
happy way.
home noun homes i
happiness noun Your home is the place where you live.
being happy j
hope verb hopes, hoping, hoped
happy adjective happier, happiest If you hope that something will happen,
you want it to happen.
k
l
When you are happy, you feel pleased and
you are enjoying yourself.
hopeless adjective
have verb has, having, had 1 You say that something is hopeless when m
you think that it is never going to work.
1 If you have something, you own it. 2 If you
have an illness, you are suffering from it.
2 If you are hopeless at something, you are n
3 If you have to do something, you must do it.
very bad at it.
o
horse noun horses
head noun heads a big animal that people can ride on or use to p
1 Your head is the part at the top of your body
that contains your brain, eyes and mouth.
pull carts
q
2 The head is the person in charge of hospital noun hospitals
something. a place where people who are ill or hurt are r
hear verb hears, hearing, heard looked after until they are better
s
When you hear something, you notice it hour noun hours
through your ears. We measure time in hours. There are sixty t
here adverb
minutes in one hour and 24 hours in one day.
u
in this place house noun houses v
a building where people live
high adjective higher, highest
1 Something that is high is very tall. how adverb w
2 Something that is high up is a long way
above the ground. 3 A high voice or sound is
1 a word that you use to ask questions
2 a word that you use to explain the way
x
not deep or low. something works or happens y
hike noun hikes huge adjective z
a long walk in the countryside Something that is huge is very big.

81

274569_OXF_FIRST_GRAM_PUNC_SP_DIC_72-96.indd 81 04/11/2015 09:28