English Key Vocabulary - Glossary of phonics, handwriting, spelling, punctuation and grammar terms

Oct 1, 2026

Uploaded by Jiven

English Key Vocabulary provides a structured glossary of core terms used in phonics, handwriting, spelling, punctuation and grammar. Entries define foundational concepts such as phonemes, grapheme-phoneme correspondence (GPC), digraphs, trigraphs, blending, segmenting, sentences, syllables, letters, and word spacing. It also explains punctuation marks (full stop, question mark, exclamation mark) and handwriting features like ascenders and descenders, supporting consistent terminology progression across settings such as Nursery and Year 1.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

EYFS Key Vocabulary

Phonics terms and decoding concepts

Punctuation and sentence structure

Year 1 Key Vocabulary

Spelling, handwriting and letter formation

English Key Vocabulary Glossary of terms used in phonics, handwriting, spelling, punctuation and grammar Nursery vocabulary is highlighted in pink. | EYFS | | | --- | --- | | Alien words | Made up words that children are asked to read to ensure they are applying their phonic knowledge in the first instance to decode words. | | Blend / blending | Also referred to as sounding out or sound talking. Saying aloud the letter sounds before putting them together to read the whole word. | | Capital letter | An upper-case letter used at the beginning of a sentence and for proper nouns. | | Common exception word (CEW) | A word which does not follow the common phonetic spelling rules of the language, or where the usual rules act in an unusual way. Pupils have a list of these words which they are expected to learn by the end of each year in primary school. | | Digraph | A sound represented by two letters. For example,‘ee’ or ‘th’. | | Exclamation mark (!) | A punctuation mark used at the end of an exclamation. For example,‘What a fantastic day we have had!’ It can also be used at the end of a statement or command to show something has been said with feeling oremotion, for example,‘That was a really scary film!’ or ‘Stop hitting your brother!’ | | Finger space | A space left between each word in a sentence. | | Full stop (.) | A punctuation mark used to demarcate the end of a statement or command. | | High Frequency Word (HFW) | A word which occurs most frequently in texts. For example, and, the, as, and, it. | | Letter | A character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. | | Phoneme | A sound which makes up all or part of a word. For example, the word‘light’ is made up of the phonemes:‘l‘,‘igh’ and‘t’. | | Phonics | A way of teaching reading and writing which focuses on hearing and learning the sounds in words, and how these are written down. Pupils are taught to blend sounds together to read words and to segment sounds to spell. | | --- | --- | | Punctuation mark | A symbol used to create and support meaning within a sentence or within a word, for example full stop, comma, question mark. | | Question mark (?) | A punctuation mark which indicates a question and comes atthe end of the sentence in place of the full stop. | | Segment / segmenting | Breaking a spoken word into letter sounds to help with writing. For example, dog, d-o-g. | | Sentence | One word or a group of words that makes sense by itself. Beginswith a capitalletterand endswith afullstop,questionmark or exclamation mark. | | Syllable | A sequence of speech sounds in a word. The number of syllables in a word sounds like the ‘beats’ in the word and breaking a word into syllables can help with spelling. One-syllable words include words such as,‘dog’,‘cat’,‘walk’ and‘bath’; two-syllable words include,‘teacher’ and‘Christmas’; three-syllable words include,‘beautiful’,‘manager’. | | Trigraph | A string of three letters which make a single sound, for example ‘igh’. | | Word | A single, meaningful element of speech or writing. In punctuation, words are normally separated by word (finger) spaces. | English Key Vocabulary Glossary of terms used in phonics, handwriting, spelling, punctuation and grammar Terminology for pupils as provided in the National Curriculum is highlighted in yellow. | Year 1 | | | --- | --- | | Adjective | A word which describes a noun. For example, shiny, fragrant. | | Alien words | Made up words that children are asked to read to ensure they are applying their phonic knowledge in the first instance to decode words. | | Ascender | A part of a letter that extends above the level of the top of an x. Letters with ascenders are b, d, f, h, k, l, t. | | Blend / blending | Also referred to as sounding out or sound talking. Saying aloud the letter sounds before putting them together to read the whole word. | | Capital letter | An upper-case letter used at the beginning of a sentence and for proper no

FAQs

What does “blend / blending” mean in this vocabulary glossary?

It refers to sounding out by saying aloud the letter sounds first, then putting them together to read the whole word.

What is a “common exception word (CEW)”?

A word that does not follow common phonetic spelling rules, where usual rules act unusually, and that pupils are expected to learn by the end of each year in primary school.

How are “ascenders” and “descenders” used to describe handwriting letters?

Ascenders extend above the level of the top of an x, while descenders extend below the base of an x, with specific letter examples provided for each group.

Oct 1, 2026

Uploaded by Jiven