Sceptical asks: is this true? Wary asks: could this hurt me?
Both words describe someone who is not rushing in, so children often use them as a pair. But they hold back for completely different reasons.
Sceptical is about believing. If your friend says he scored ten goals in one match, and you want to see the video first, you are sceptical. Nothing bad can happen to you; you just doubt the story.
Wary is about danger. A cat is wary of a new dog in the house, keeping its distance and watching every move. It is not doubting anything; it is being careful in case it gets hurt. You can be wary of a slippery path or a wasp, but you cannot be sceptical of them, because they are not claims.
Not sure something is true and needing proof before you believe it.
Similar: doubtful, suspicious, wary
Careful because you sense there might be danger.
Similar: careful, watchful, alert
Questions about how a character reacts often turn on this. A character who is sceptical doubts what they have been told; a character who is wary senses a threat. If a child mixes them up, they can misread what the character is actually thinking in the passage.
Definitions and example sentences on this page are the ones a child sees inside Wordrealm, taken from our list of over 1,100 words. It is free to browse, with nothing to sign up for.
Plain-English guides to each test, from the councils’ own pages: Kent Test · Medway Test · Bucks Secondary Transfer Test