18 words · ages 12–13
7th Grade spelling words with definitions
What should a 7th grade child be able to spell?
By the end of 7th grade (ages 12–13), most children can spell words like telescope, audible and photograph — that is, words built on tele + scope, bio + graph, micro + scope, trans + port and related patterns. Spelling develops at very different speeds, and a child a year either side of this is ordinary rather than behind.
- tele + scope
- bio + graph
- micro + scope
- trans + port
- demo + cracy
- geo + logy
- con + struct
- spect
- chron
- aud
- manu + script
- port + able
- tele + vis
- auto + graph
- thermo + meter
- pre + dict
- ex + port
- photo + graph
Root and Branch
Old Greek and Latin roots hiding inside new words.
- telescope
- A tube that makes far things look near.tele + scope
- biography
- The story of a real person's life.bio + graph
- microscope
- A tool that makes tiny things look big.micro + scope
- transport
- To carry something from place to place.trans + port
- democracy
- A country where people vote for their leaders.demo + cracy
- geology
- The study of rocks and the earth.geo + logy
- construct
- To build something.con + struct
- spectator
- Someone who watches an event.spect
- chronicle
- A record of events in the order they happened.chron
- audible
- Loud enough to be heard.aud
- manuscript
- A book or paper written by hand.manu + script
- portable
- Easy to carry around.port + able
- television
- A screen that shows programmes from far away.tele + vis
- autograph
- A famous person's name, written by them.auto + graph
- thermometer
- A tool that measures how hot something is.thermo + meter
- predict
- To say what will happen before it does.pre + dict
- export
- To send goods out to another country.ex + port
- photograph
- A picture taken with a camera.photo + graph
Practising 7th grade spelling words at home
Read the word aloud and have your child write it from sound rather than copy it. The Friday test asks for the harder of those two, and only one of them is practice for it.
When a word goes wrong, say what the pattern is rather than just the letters — “that’s a tele + scope word” gives them something to reuse. Then come back to it tomorrow rather than immediately.
Count a word as learned when it has been spelled correctly on three separate days. That is the rule SpellChirp uses, and it is roughly where a word stops needing to be looked up.
Turn this list into ten minutes a night
SpellChirp reads every word aloud, checks the spelling, and writes these 7th grade words into an adventure story your child chooses — dragons, detectives, deep sea or a dozen more. Free, with no advertising and no account required to start.