3rd Grade spelling
3rd Grade Words Ending in Ly
Spelling words ending in ly, like quickly, slowly, finally and friendly. Play hangman with the list or print a worksheet with an answer key.
Read the spelling list
The pattern: Adding ly to a describing word tells how something is done: quick becomes quickly. Base words ending in y change to i (happily).
The suffix ly is added to a describing word to make an adverb, which says how, when or how often something happens. Quick becomes quickly, slow becomes slowly, and final becomes finally. Ly also turns some nouns into adjectives, such as friend into friendly and week into weekly, which is why the list includes both types.
Every word on the list is a base word plus ly, checked so that the base word is real and the pronunciation matches. You will find quickly, slowly, clearly, easily, certainly, suddenly, exactly, recently and honestly. Easy, happy and lucky change their y to i before the ending, giving easily, happily and luckily. Words that already end in l, such as final and total, keep it and add ly, which creates a double l: finally, totally. The result is a list where the spelling changes are easy to see.
30 entries. Our solver needed 2.0 wrong guesses on average: 13 easy, 14 medium and 3 hard. The toughest is daily (6 misses), the quickest currently (0).
- likely Medium · 4
- finally Medium · 2
- exactly Easy · 1
- currently Easy · 0
- daily Hard · 6
- recently Easy · 1
- certainly Easy · 0
- completely Easy · 0
- nearly Easy · 1
- quickly Medium · 4
- clearly Easy · 0
- easily Easy · 1
- directly Easy · 1
- highly Medium · 3
- truly Hard · 6
- mostly Hard · 5
- totally Medium · 3
- extremely Easy · 0
- slightly Medium · 2
- lovely Medium · 4
- honestly Medium · 2
- suddenly Medium · 2
- friendly Easy · 0
- properly Easy · 1
- slowly Medium · 3
- largely Medium · 2
- mainly Medium · 2
- normally Medium · 2
- weekly Medium · 2
- frequently Easy · 0
Words worth a closer look
- trulyTrue loses its e before ly, an exception to the keep-the-base rule. Students often write truely.
- easilyEasy changes to easi before ly. The y to i change is the most tested rule in this pattern.
- totallyTotal ends in l, so adding ly makes two l's. Meaning and spelling both follow the pieces.
- lovelyThis is an adjective, not an adverb: love plus ly. The e is kept.
- friendlyFriend plus ly. Another adjective, and the i-before-e in friend is the part students miss.
Teaching it
Two rules cover most ly spelling problems. If the base word ends in y, change the y to i first. If the base word ends in l, keep the l and add ly, giving two l's. Students also forget the ly entirely and write quick for quickly, which is a grammar problem as much as a spelling one: ask if the word tells how.
Hangman is a natural fit with ly words, because the ending gives players the last two letters. Reveal ly after the first round and ask the class to work out the rest. You can then ask the class to turn five describing words into ly words on the printable and say which letters changed.
Print a 3rd Grade Words Ending in Ly worksheet
Eight puzzles on one US Letter page, with a clue, letter blanks, an empty frame to draw in, an alphabet strip to cross off and circles to count misses. Page two is the answer key.
Need another sheet?
Draw eight different words from this list, right here. Same layout, new answer key.
Keep going
- 3rd Grade Words With the Prefix UnSpelling words that start with the prefix un, meaning not, like unhappy, unfair, unsafe and unlucky. Play hangman or print a worksheet with an answer key.
- 3rd Grade Words With the Prefix ReSpelling words that start with the prefix re, usually meaning again, like rebuild, restart, replace and remove. Play hangman or print a worksheet.
- 3rd Grade Words With the Prefix DisSpelling words starting with the prefix dis, meaning not or the opposite of, like disagree, dislike, disappear and discount. Play hangman or print a list.
- 3rd Grade Words Ending in Ful and LessSpelling words ending in ful and less, like helpful, hopeful, careless and homeless. Play hangman with the list or print a worksheet with an answer key.
- 3rd Grade Words Ending in NessSpelling words ending in ness, like kindness, sadness, darkness and happiness. Play hangman with the list or print a worksheet with an answer key.
- 3rd Grade Double Consonant WordsSpelling words with a doubled consonant in the middle, like rabbit, happy, little and funny. Play hangman with the list or print a worksheet.