Consonant

A letter from the alphabet, other than a, e, i, o or u. Consonants need to go with a vowel in order to make a sound. Y can act as a vowel too, e.g. sky.

Homophone

A word which sounds the same as another, but which has a different spelling and meaning. E.g. hear/here.

Mnemonic

This is a memory aid: a rhyme, image, phrase etc. which jogs the memory. For example, 'a piece of pie' helps you to remember how to spell the word 'piece'.

Noun

A naming word, which can be the name of a person, place, thing or quality.

Plural

Refers to more than one person or item.

Prefix

A group of letters added to the start of a root word which change its meaning. E.g. 'un' of 'uncomfortable'.

Singular

One person or thing.

Suffix

A group of letters added to the end of a root word. E.g. 'ly' of 'sickly'.

Syllable

A unit of sound within a word, e.g. 'sun' has one syllable; 'sunny' has two syllables.

Verb

An 'action' or 'doing' word.

Vowel

One of the letters: a, e, i, o, u. These letters make the sounds within words. A short vowel makes a short, clipped sound as in 'pin' and 'hat'. A long vowel makes a long sound, as in 'pine' and 'hate'.

Word root

The part of a word to which prefixes or suffixes would be added to make longer words. For example in 'unkindness' the word root is 'kind'. In 'pining' the word root is 'pin' from the word 'pine'. The root of a word is also called a stem.