7th Grade spelling
7th Grade Words Ending in Cial and Tial
Sort words ending in cial and tial: special, social, official, potential, essential. Play hangman with the list or print a worksheet.
Read the spelling list
The pattern: Two spellings of the /shul/ ending. Cial often follows a vowel (special, social); tial often follows a consonant (partial, essential).
Cial and tial are two spellings of the same ending, pronounced /shul/, and they mean relating to. Special relates to a species or kind, social relates to society, partial relates to a part. Both come from Latin, and both are used in adjectives. The sound is the same, so the spelling has to be learned or deduced from the family.
The list is split into the two groups. The cial group includes social, special, official, financial, commercial, artificial, facial, beneficial and provincial. The tial group includes potential, initial, essential, presidential, residential, partial, influential, confidential and spatial. A useful pattern: cial often follows a vowel (social, special, official) and tial often follows a consonant (essential, potential, partial). It is a tendency with exceptions, but it covers many of these words.
28 entries. Our solver needed 1.5 wrong guesses on average: 15 easy, 13 medium and 0 hard. The toughest is judicial (4 misses), the quickest beneficial (0).
-cial
- social Medium · 2
- special Easy · 1
- official Medium · 3
- financial Easy · 1
- commercial Medium · 2
- crucial Medium · 3
- artificial Easy · 1
- judicial Medium · 4
- facial Medium · 3
- beneficial Easy · 0
- provincial Easy · 1
- unofficial Easy · 1
- glacial Medium · 3
- sacrificial Medium · 2
-tial
- potential Easy · 0
- initial Easy · 1
- essential Easy · 0
- presidential Easy · 0
- residential Easy · 0
- partial Medium · 4
- influential Easy · 0
- martial Medium · 3
- confidential Easy · 0
- differential Easy · 0
- spatial Medium · 2
- celestial Medium · 2
- existential Easy · 0
- impartial Medium · 2
Words worth a closer look
- specialAfter a vowel, so cial. One of the first words students learn in this group.
- officialContains the double f from office. Cial follows the i.
- essentialEssence leads to essential, so tial. Often misspelled with a single s.
- potentialEnds in tial after n. Compare with partial, which follows r.
- presidentialPresident plus ial: the t of the base is the t of the ending.
Teaching it
Teach the pattern with the letter before the ending: after a vowel, usually cial; after a consonant, usually tial. Another help is the word family. President leads to presidential and resident to residential, and the t of the base stays in the ending. Mistakes are often about swapping the groups: specal for special, or commercal for commercial.
In hangman, ask players to say the ending as soon as they can, then check against the pattern. Print the worksheet as a sort into two columns and have students circle the letter before the ending.
Print a 7th Grade Words Ending in Cial and Tial 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
- 7th Grade Words Ending in Ship and HoodWords ending in ship and hood: friendship, leadership, partnership, childhood, parenthood. Play hangman or print a spelling worksheet.
- 7th Grade Words With the Prefix ExWords with the prefix ex, meaning out or away: export, expand, explain, extend, exposure. Play hangman or print a spelling worksheet.
- 7th Grade Words Ending in IfyWords ending in ify: identify, justify, simplify, classify, modify, clarify. Play hangman with the list or print a spelling worksheet with answers.
- 7th Grade Words Ending in IzeWords ending in ize: realize, recognize, organize, apologize, summarize, memorize. Play hangman with the list or print a spelling worksheet.
- 7th Grade Words Ending in IstWords ending in ist: artist, scientist, tourist, dentist, chemist, journalist. Play hangman with the list or print a spelling worksheet with answers.
- 7th Grade Words Ending in CianWords ending in cian: musician, magician, electrician, technician, mathematician, physician. Play hangman or print a spelling worksheet.