The written form of English includes the spelling patterns of five languages: Old English, Old Norse, Norman, Classical Latin and Greek – all superimposed upon one another.
Words in English are not always spelled the way they are pronounced. The result is that English spelling is highly irregular.
However, there are some general rules students learning to spell can follow (although some of these rules have exceptions):
Rule 1: i before e except after c
For example: receive and believe
The exception is: i before e except after a long c (with the ‘sh” sound) – as in ancient
and not when sounded like ‘a’ – as in weigh.
Rule 2: the soft ‘c’ and ‘g’
C before e, i or y says ‘s’.
For example: cent, city
G before e, i or y says ‘j’.
For example: giant, gentle
Rule 3: prefixes
We don’t add or take away letters when there is a prefix.
For example: dis + obey – disobey, re + new – renew
Rule 4: prefixes il-, im-, ir-
When the first letter of a word is l, m, p or r, the prefix in – changes to il-, im-, or ir-.
For example:
in- becomes il- before l: illegal, illusive
in- become im- before m or p: impossible, immediate
in- becomes ir- before r: irregular, irritable
Rule 5: double consonants
The final consonant of a word is often doubled when a suffix beginning with a vowel is added.
For example: rub + ed – rubbed, thin + er – thinner
We add a double consonant only when the word ends in a stressed syllable.
For example: upset + ing - upsetting, prefer + ed – preferred
When the spoken stress in on the first syllable, we don’t add a double consonant.
For example: visit + ing – visiting
Rule 6: drop the ‘e’
The final ‘e’ is often dropped when we add vowel suffix endings.
For example: write + ing – writing, opposite + ion – opposition
There is an exception to the rule: we keep the -e in dyeing (from dye) and singeing (from singe) to differentiate them from similar words e.g. dying (from die) and singing (from sing).
Another exception is: we keep the ‘e’ if the word ends in –ce or -ge with the suffixes able/ous.
For example: courage + ous – courageous, notice + able – noticeable
Rule 7: changing –y to –i
When adding a suffix to a word ending in a consonant and –y, we normally change –y to –i.
For example: angry + er – angrier, dry + ed – dried
Rule 8: words ending in –ful
The suffix – ful is often spelled with one l.
For example: grate + ful – grateful, hope + ful
Rule 9: adding –ly
When adding –ly to words ending in –ful, then the consonants double.
For example: grateful + ly – gratefully, hopeful + ly – hopefully
For words ending in e, we don’t drop the ‘e’ when adding – ly.
For example: love + ly – lovely, live + ly – lively
There is an exception to this rule: true. True + ly – truly.
K5 Learning provides a series of spelling words lists by grades at the bottom of our K5 Spelling page.
