• 120 words

9th Grade Spelling Words From French, Greek, Latin and Italian

Spelling words for 9th grade by source language: pick a list, press Start test and type what you hear.

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List 1: French age, said ahzh

Words to learn. Read each word, cover it, write it, then check it.

  1. 1.camouflageThe moth's wings are good camouflage.
  2. 2.sabotageThe team suspected sabotage of the engine.
  3. 3.espionageThe novel is a story of espionage.
  4. 4.entourageThe singer arrived with a large entourage.
  5. 5.montageThe film opens with a montage of city scenes.
  6. 6.mirageThe lake ahead was only a mirage.
  7. 7.collageShe made a collage from old magazines.
  8. 8.barrageThe speaker faced a barrage of questions.
  9. 9.massageA gentle massage eased the sore muscle.
  10. 10.fuselageThe fuselage is the body of an airplane.

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Each word is read aloud, then used in a sentence. Type what you hear. The marks come at the end.

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Accents do not count: café may be typed as cafe, and the marks show how it is written.

Only voices built into this device are used, so the words are not sent to a speech service to be read. With no voice, a person reads the words from the last page of the test sheet.

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The words are mixed from the lists you tick, so a review test needs a read-aloud voice.

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All 120 words

List 1: French age, said ahzh 10

  • barrage The speaker faced a barrage of questions.
  • camouflage The moth's wings are good camouflage.
  • collage She made a collage from old magazines.
  • entourage The singer arrived with a large entourage.
  • espionage The novel is a story of espionage.
  • fuselage The fuselage is the body of an airplane.
  • massage A gentle massage eased the sore muscle.
  • mirage The lake ahead was only a mirage.
  • montage The film opens with a montage of city scenes.
  • sabotage The team suspected sabotage of the engine.

List 2: French eur and eau 10

  • amateur The race is open to any amateur runner.
  • bureau The travel bureau closes at five.
  • chauffeur A chauffeur drove the guests to the hotel.
  • connoisseur A connoisseur can judge a painting quickly.
  • entrepreneur The young entrepreneur opened a second shop.
  • grandeur Visitors admired the grandeur of the canyon.
  • plateau A plateau is high, flat land.
  • portmanteau Brunch is a portmanteau of breakfast and lunch.
  • restaurateur The restaurateur greeted guests at the door.
  • tableau The actors froze in a silent tableau.

List 3: French words with a silent ending 10

  • ballet The ballet opens on Friday night.
  • bouquet She carried a bouquet of roses.
  • buffet We filled our plates at the buffet.
  • corps The press corps waited outside the court.
  • crochet My aunt taught me to crochet a scarf.
  • debris Workers cleared debris from the road.
  • debut The band made its debut last spring.
  • depot The bus waits at the depot.
  • gourmet The chef cooked a gourmet meal.
  • rapport The coach built a good rapport with the team.

List 4: que and ette 10

  • critique The teacher wrote a critique of my essay.
  • etiquette Table etiquette differs from country to country.
  • gazette The notice ran in the local gazette.
  • grotesque A grotesque mask hung over the door.
  • mystique The old lighthouse has a certain mystique.
  • opaque Light cannot pass through an opaque wall.
  • physique Swimming gave him a strong physique.
  • picturesque We stopped in a picturesque fishing village.
  • technique Good technique matters more than strength.
  • vinaigrette Toss the salad with a lemon vinaigrette.

List 5: French vowel strings 10

  • liaison She is the liaison between the two offices.
  • maneuver The pilot made a sharp maneuver to the left.
  • memoir The retired pilot wrote a memoir.
  • reconnaissance A drone flew a reconnaissance mission at dawn.
  • renaissance The old downtown is enjoying a renaissance.
  • repertoire The choir added two songs to its repertoire.
  • reservoir The reservoir supplies water to the city.
  • souvenir I bought a souvenir at the airport.
  • surveillance A surveillance camera watches the front entrance.
  • turquoise The ring has a turquoise stone.

List 6: sc with a silent c 10

  • acquiesce The council will acquiesce to the request.
  • adolescent The clinic treats adolescent patients.
  • condescend Do not condescend to younger students.
  • convalesce He went home to convalesce after surgery.
  • effervescent Drop the effervescent tablet into water.
  • fluorescent A fluorescent light flickered in the hallway.
  • incandescent An incandescent bulb gets hot quickly.
  • miscellaneous Put the miscellaneous items in this drawer.
  • resuscitate Paramedics worked to resuscitate the swimmer.
  • transcend Great music can transcend language.

List 7: Greek ch that sounds like k 10

  • anarchy Without a referee, the game fell into anarchy.
  • archive The library keeps an archive of old newspapers.
  • bronchitis The doctor said the cough was bronchitis.
  • chameleon A chameleon can change its color.
  • charisma The candidate has charisma but little experience.
  • chlorophyll Chlorophyll makes leaves green.
  • choreography The dancers practiced the choreography for weeks.
  • chronological List the events in chronological order.
  • hierarchy A general ranks high in the army hierarchy.
  • melancholy The slow song has a melancholy tune.

List 8: Greek ph 10

  • amphibian A frog is an amphibian.
  • euphemism Let go is a euphemism for fired.
  • metamorphosis A caterpillar goes through metamorphosis.
  • phenomenon A rainbow is a natural phenomenon.
  • philosophy He reads philosophy for fun.
  • phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element.
  • photosynthesis Plants make food by photosynthesis.
  • physician The physician checked my blood pressure.
  • sapphire A sapphire is usually blue.
  • symphony The orchestra played a symphony in four movements.

List 9: Greek y that sounds like i 10

  • anonymous The gift came from an anonymous donor.
  • cynical He is cynical about every promise.
  • hypocrite Only a hypocrite breaks his own rule.
  • hypothesis We tested the hypothesis with an experiment.
  • labyrinth The old town is a labyrinth of narrow streets.
  • paralysis The injury caused paralysis in one leg.
  • symmetry A butterfly's wings show symmetry.
  • synchronize Synchronize your watches before the hike.
  • synthesis The essay is a synthesis of three sources.
  • tyranny The colonists rebelled against tyranny.

List 10: Latin prefixes that double a letter 10

  • accumulate Snow began to accumulate on the roof.
  • annihilate One hard frost can annihilate the crop.
  • assimilate It takes time to assimilate new information.
  • collaborate Two classes will collaborate on the mural.
  • commemorate The statue will commemorate the town's founders.
  • corroborate A second witness can corroborate the story.
  • illiterate A person who cannot read is illiterate.
  • irrelevant The judge called the question irrelevant.
  • succumb Do not succumb to the pressure.
  • suppress She tried to suppress a laugh.

List 11: eous and uous 10

  • ambiguous The last line of the poem is ambiguous.
  • conspicuous A red coat is conspicuous in the snow.
  • courteous The clerk gave a courteous reply.
  • erroneous The report was based on erroneous data.
  • extraneous Cut the extraneous details from your essay.
  • homogeneous Stir until the mixture is homogeneous.
  • instantaneous The reply was almost instantaneous.
  • simultaneous The two goals were almost simultaneous.
  • spontaneous The crowd broke into spontaneous applause.
  • strenuous Avoid strenuous exercise for a week.

List 12: Italian double letters 10

  • broccoli Steam the broccoli for five minutes.
  • cappuccino A cappuccino is topped with milk foam.
  • confetti Confetti fell as the clock struck midnight.
  • espresso Espresso is served in a small cup.
  • graffiti Volunteers painted over the graffiti.
  • mozzarella Fresh mozzarella melts easily.
  • paparazzi The paparazzi waited outside the hotel.
  • piccolo A piccolo is a small flute.
  • spaghetti We had spaghetti with tomato sauce.
  • zucchini Slice the zucchini into thin rounds.

How it works

Camouflage, hierarchy and cappuccino are hard for one reason: English borrowed the word with most of its spelling. These 9th grade spelling words come in 12 lists of 10, nine by source language (French, Greek, Italian) and three by pattern.

Read the full guide

How these ninth grade spelling words are sorted

Lists 1 to 5 are French: age said ahzh (camouflage), eur and eau (entrepreneur, plateau), silent endings (ballet, debris, corps), que and ette, and vowel strings such as the iai in liaison. List 6 is the silent c of acquiesce. Lists 7 to 9 are Greek: ch (hierarchy), ph (metamorphosis) and y (hypocrite). List 10 doubles a letter after a Latin prefix, List 11 is eous and uous, and List 12 is Italian.

Why a borrowed word keeps its odd spelling

Connoisseur arrived from French in the early 1700s. French has since respelled it connaisseur, and English still writes the old form. List 10's doubles have a cause: Latin in turned into il in front of literate, which gives illiterate its two l's.

  • Restaurateur has no n, although restaurant does. It is the older form, borrowed whole from French.
  • Graffiti, paparazzi and confetti end in i because they are Italian plurals. One is a graffito, a paparazzo, a confetto.
  • Outside the United States, maneuver is spelled manoeuvre and synchronize is often synchronise. Swap them under Edit this list.

Questions and answers

What happens with words that sound like another word?

Two words here have a twin: corps and core, phosphorus and phosphorous (the adjective). A sentence follows every word, so type the twin and the results say so. Fluorescent and florescent (flowering) only come close, so that slip is a plain miss.

Do accents count in words such as debut and debris?

No. Every word is listed without an accent, and an answer typed with one, such as début, still counts. The results only point it out. No word on this page has a capital, so Capitals count changes nothing here.

Why are so many of these words French?

Fifty of the 120 sit in the five French lists, and English kept their French spelling: the silent t of ballet, the eau of plateau. Thirty are Greek and ten Italian. The grade is only our suggestion, so a strong 8th grader can start here.

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