Children's spelling errors were examined to determine the relationships between linguistic cues used (phonetic, graphemic, and morphophonemic), grade level, reading proficiency, and spelling proficiency. The standardized reading and spelling test scores of 180 second, third, and fourth grade students were used to randomly select 22 good reader/good spellers, 22 good reader/poor spellers, and 22 poor reader/poor spellers. These subjects took a 45-item spelling test containing 15 chances at each of the three linguistic levels. A group of 62 fifth grade students also took a modified version of the experimental spelling test. Within each grade, morphophonemic structures yielded significantly more errors than graphemic structures. Graphemic structures yielded significantly more errors than phonetic structures for grades three and four, but not grade two. Across-grade comparisons were not significant, with only second grade means significantly greater than third/fourth grade means on phonetic and morphophonemic structures. Although phonetic, graphemic, and morphophonemic scores did not differ significantly across groups, the scores for the latter two linguistic levels approached significance and suggested replication in fifth grade subjects. These results indicated that linguistic cue systems comprised meaningful levels of processing for spellers, and that their use was relatively consistent. The findings also suggested that morphophonemic awareness may relate more to reading achievement than to spelling achievement. (RL)