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      Spelling words of Greek origin that use 'ph' to make a /f/ sound

      Lesson details

      Learning outcome

      I can spell words that use the letters 'ph' to make a /f/ sound.

      Key learning points

      1. In words of Greek origin, the letter string 'ph' makes the /f/ sound
      2. How to spell the curriculum words: vegetable, language, library and vehicle
      3. Knowing which words have Greek etymology can help us to choose the correct spelling
      4. Most words with the 'ph' spelling are nouns

      Keywords

      • Etymology - the study of the origin of words and the ways their meanings have changed over time

      • Spelling - the act of forming words by arranging letters in the correct order

      • Greek origin - refers to words that come from the Greek language

      Common misconception

      Pupils will be familiar with the 'ff' and 'gh' digraph so may spell words contain 'ph' making the /f/ sound incorrectly.

      Talk about the origin of words and draw links between spellings containing the 'ph' spelling sounding like the /f/ sound and where it's most likely to go in the word.

      Teacher tip

      Celebrate languages spoken in class to start to understand derivatives, origins and etymology.

      Licence

      This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0
      except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions
      (Collection 2).

      Lesson video

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      Prior knowledge starter quiz

      6 Questions

      Q1.
      Which word class is the word in bold in the following sentence? The villain in the story is a complicated character.

      verb
      adverb
      adjective
      Correct answer: noun

      Q2.
      Identify the adjective in the following sentence: An eerie echo bounced off the walls of the cave.

      Correct answer: eerie
      echo
      bounced
      cave

      Q3.
      Identify the words that contain the /k/ sound.

      Correct answer: kitten
      Correct answer: black
      chalet
      Correct answer: chaos

      Q4.
      The origin of a word tells us...

      what the word means.
      Correct answer: where the word originally came from.
      which word class the word belongs to.
      the number of syllables in the word.

      Q5.
      Identify the Greek derived spellings.

      screech
      machine
      Correct answer: chemist
      chips
      Correct answer: scheme

      Q6.
      Correct the spellings in bold in this sentence. We can learn a new languag in the libry.

      langauge, librery
      langage, libary
      Correct answer: language, library
      languge, libery

      6 Questions

      Q1.
      Words containing the 'ph' spelling of the /f/ sound come from...

      Hindi
      French
      Correct answer: Greek
      Germany

      Q2.
      Identify the Greek derived spellings.

      Correct answer: phobia
      rough
      fish
      Correct answer: telephone

      Q3.
      Choose the correct spelling for the word in bold in the following sentence. The climb to the top was tuph.

      touph
      tuff
      tuogh
      Correct answer: tough

      Q4.
      Choose the correct spelling for the word in bold in the following sentence: Can you come up with a catchy fraze for the poster?

      frase
      phraze
      Correct answer: phrase
      phraise

      Q5.
      Correct the spellings in bold in this sentence. The 'vearcle' sold a different 'vegeteable' every week.

      veicle, vegtible
      vehcle, vegetible
      Correct answer: vehicle, vegetable
      vehicel, vedgetable

      Q6.
      Correct the spelling in bold in this sentence. What langage does your Grandma speak?

      Correct Answer: language

      To help you plan your 5 English lesson on: Spelling words of Greek origin that use 'ph' to make a /f/ sound, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...