Week 21 of 36 · 10 words · ages 16–17

11th Grade spelling words, week 21: Literary terms

English classes use these words to talk about stories and poems. Many come from Greek or French, so spelling needs care.
verisimilitude
The look of being true to life.
denouement
The closing part of a story where loose ends are settled.
elegy
A poem of sorrow for someone who has died.
epistolary
Told through letters.
picaresque
Describing the adventures of a lovable rogue.
catharsis
A release of strong emotion through art.
hubris
Excessive pride that leads to downfall.
nemesis
An enemy who is hard to defeat.
vernacular
The everyday language of ordinary people.
dystopia
An imagined society in which life is miserable.

Ten minutes a day this week

Short and daily beats long and once. A word met on five separate days is remembered; a word met five times on Thursday night mostly is not.

  1. Monday

    Read the list together. Say each word, clap its syllables and find the pattern in it.

  2. Tuesday

    Look, say, cover, write, check — each word once from memory, then check the letters.

  3. Wednesday

    Use every word in a sentence, out loud or on paper, so each one means something.

  4. Thursday

    Practice test: a grown-up reads each word aloud. Circle the misses for tomorrow.

  5. Friday

    The test. One try per word, no letters given. The circled words go first.

Practise these 10 words, free

One tap puts this week’s list in SpellChirp. It reads each word aloud, checks the spelling, brings back the ones that went wrong, and can write them into a story your child stars in. No account needed to start, and no advertising.

Add week 21’s words