Lesson 1: How to Study Spelling
3 Types of Spelling Questions on TEAS
English is weird and spelling is too. In fact, two similar-sounding words can go on to have completely different meanings or spellings.
Just look at too, two, and to. In the pronoun unit, you already saw how it’s and its have different meanings as well.
You might see one or two spelling questions on TEAS. One question might be about homographs or homophones.
| Homographs | Homophones | Words with the same spelling but different meanings | Words with the same sound but different spellings and meanings |
To help you study various homographs and homophones, I have printable handouts prepared for you in the next lesson.
There, you’ll find lists of similar-sounding or spelled words. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to predict what you will see on your actual exam. Nevertheless, you can review the list and note any words that are unclear for you.
To help them stick in your mind, I’m leaving the definitions up to you. 😊 You are welcome to shoot me an email with a question to check your answers. But make sure you can explain the differences yourself!
Looking
at the answers and saying, “Ah yes, that makes sense” won’t help the
material stick in your head. Doing a little work will.
On the TEAS, the questions you’ll see might be selecting the correct meaning based on context (the noise a dog makes vs. the outside layer of a tree), or selecting the correct spelling based on context (whole pie 😛 vs. pie with hole 😞)
We’ve talked about the two types of spelling question you might see on the TEAS:
1. Homographs = questions where you select the correct meaning
2. Homophones = questions where you select the correct spelling
…What’s the third type of question?
3. Spelling rules and exceptions
Spelling rules like “change an ending y to an i,” as in ready –> readiness. Of course, there are exceptions to this, like busyness describes being busy and business being a commercial organization.
For these types of questions, you’ll be asked to identify which word is spelled correctly or incorrectly.
In
my opinion, studying everything that’s possible for spelling might be
an exercise in frustration. It’s a lot of work for not a huge reward. Of
course, I’m also comfortable with the fact that I’m a terrible speller,
so I might be biased here. 😝
In the printable handouts, you’ll also find some of the “Greatest Hits” words. These are the words that have been emphasized by the TEAS in the past. (Sssshh.)
My advice to you would be to start with what is in the handouts. Memorize these. Then, you if like, you can start adding more.
You can find free online resources to find spelling words that are likely to appear on standardized tests. Search for terms like “SAT Vocabulary” or “ACT Vocabulary.” Just be warned that might find some really complicated words in this list! Words like gavotte and gnomon will 99.9% NOT be on the TEAS!
Check out the next lesson to get your spelling lists…
