why is english spelling exceptionally irregular,

7/31/2019 Why is English Spelling Exceptionally Irregular,

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Guide to English Spelling

Why is English spelling exceptionally irregular?

It is well known that English words derive mainly from old German and Norman French, and that its alphabetof 26 letters makes it impossible to represent its 43 speech sounds with just one symbol. But that is not why

many English spellings, such as daughter, brought and people, are now irregular, while their German and

French relatives have much better spellings (Tochter, brachte, peuple).

The pronunciations of all three languages have changed since 1066. But only in English have numerous

spellings become highly unreliable guides to pronunciation (sound, southern, soup), and spellings for identical

sounds have ended up exceptionally varied (blue, shoe, flew, through, to, you, two, too, gnu).

The consistency of English spelling was first seriously corrupted during the reinstatement of English as the

nglish Spelling Society http://www.spellingsociety.org/spelling/irre

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official language of England in 15th

century. It suffered even more at the hands of foreign printers during the

bible wars of the 16th century. Sadly, there has never been a serious, co-ordinated attempt to remedy the

various accidental and deliberate corruptions of the alphabetic principle (of representing speech sounds in a

regular manner) in English.

The English spelling system

As explained by Masha Bell March 2011

English has 43.5 sounds: 43 as shown in bold letters in the words below

At, rain, air, car, sauce, bed, chip, dog,

egg, eel, herb, fish, garden, house,

ink, pie, jug, kite, lips, man, nose, ring,

pot, toe, coin, food, wood, order, out,

pin, rug, sun, shop, tap, this, thing,

up, cue, van, window, yak, zip, television

and an unstressed, often barely audible, variously spelt half-vowel

which occurs mainly in endings and prefixes (fatten, abandon, grammar; decide, divide).

If English had a completely regular spelling system, as Finnish and Korean do, it would have no more than 44

spellings, and learning to read and write English would be as easy as those two languages. Most alphabetic

writing systems, however, do not have a completely one to one relationship between their sounds andspellings, with a few more spellings than sounds.

The European average is around 50. Learning to read and write English is exceptionally difficult because it

has 185 spellings for 44 sounds.

The basic English spelling system has 91 patterns, as shown in bold letters below:

80 main spellings, 8 for unstressed endings, 2 prefixes and the consonants doubling rule:

Cat; plate, play; air; car; sauce, saw; bed;

c/at/ot/ut, crab/ clap, kite/kept, comic, pick, seek, risk; pocket;

chat, catch;

dog; end; eel, funny; herb; fish; garden; house;

ink; bite, by; jug, bridge, oblige;

lips; man; nose, ring;

pot, want, quarrel; bone, toe; old; coin, toy;


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food; good; order, wart, quarter, more; out, now;

pin; quick; rug;

sun, face, emergency;

shop, station, cautious, facial, musician;

tap, delicate; this; thing;

cup; cube, cue;

van, have, river; window;

fix; yes; zip, wise; vision, treasure.

8 unstressed endings (doable fatal, single, ordinary,

flatten, presence, present, other),

2 prefixes (decide, invite)

and the consonant doubling rule for keeping stressed vowels short

(bitter biter).

It can be seen that one reason why English has more spellings than sounds is because many sounds are spelt

differently in different positions of words (e.g. plate/ play; ship /station). The main reason for the great

number of spellings, however, is that English also has a further94 unpredictable alternative spellings (e.g.

plate wait, straight, eight, great).

Only 11 of the 91 main English spellings have no exceptions:

bed, jug/ jog/ jab, gorge, ring, single, pin, musician, this, thing, van, television.

80 English spelling patterns are undermined by one or more alternatives

Cat - plait meringue

plate - wait weight straight great vein reign table

dahlia champagne fete

play - they weighballetcafe matineeair - care bear aerial theirthere questionnaire

carare + (Southern Engl. bath)

sauce - caught bought always tall crawl

saw - (UK also: or, four, more)

C/at/ot/ut - character, kangaroo, queue

crab/ clap - chrome


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lilac - stomach, anorak

neck- cheque

Chat - picture

clutch much

Dad blonde

End - head any said Wednesday friend leisure leopard bury

her - turn bird learn word journey

Eel - eat even ceiling field police people me key skidebris quay

jolly - trolley movie corgi

Fish - photo stuffrough

Garden - ghastly guard

House who

Ink - mystery pretty sieve women busy build

bite - might style mild kind eider height climb island indict sign

my - high pie rye buy I eye

Jelly, jig gentle, ginger

fidget - digit

Kite/ kept - chemistry

seek- unique

risk- disc mosque

Lips - llama

Mum - dumb autumn

Nose - knot gonegnome mnemonic

On - cough sausage; want wont; quarrel - quod

mole - bowl roll soul oldmould boast most goes mauve

toe - go dough sew cocoa pharaoh oh depot

Oil oyster toy - buoy

food - rude shrewd move group fruit truth tomb manoeuvre

blue do shoe throughgood - would put woman courier

Order board court

wart, quart worn quorn

more - soardoorfourwarswore abhor

Out town; now - plough

Quick - acquire choir

Rug - rhubarb write


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Sun - centrescene

face - case

fancy - fantasy

Shop - chutesure moustache liquorice

ignition - mission pension suspicion fashion

ambitious - delicious luscious

facial- spatial

Tap, pet -pterodactyl two debt

delicate - democrat

Up - front some couple blood

cute - you newt neutral suit beauty Tuesday nuclear

cue - few view menu

have - spiv

river - chivvy

Window - whichfix - accept except exhibit

Yak - use

Zip xylophone, rose - froze

measure - azure

Endings and prefixes:

loveable - credible

vertical - novel anvilpetrol

ordinary - machinery inventory century carpentry

fasten - abandon truncheon orphan goblin certain

absence - balanceabsent - pleasant

father - authorarmournectarcentre injure quota

decide - divide

indulge - endure

Consonant doubling:

merry very - serrated

(regular missing - surplus)

372 - 384 158)

The listing above gives just one example of the different ways in which each spelling pattern is undermined;

and a few patterns have no other exceptions (e.g. cat - plait meringue), but some have very many. The

ee-sound of beef, for example, is not spelt ee in at least 320 words (e.g. leaf, grief, even). Between them, all

the different exceptions create a rote-learning list of at least 3700 common words. They are the reason

why speakers of English take an average of 10 years to become proficient spellers. Some manage it in less

time, but many also get totally defeated by this learning burden.


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English spelling makes learning to read harder too

This is partly because children have to learn to pronounce 185 spellings, instead of just around 50. The

greatest English reading difficulties, however, are caused by the 69 spellings which have more than one

pronunciation, shown in the next table. They make at least 2000 English words not completely decodable.

69 English spellings have more than one pronunciation

a: and apron, any, father

a-e: came camera

ai: wait plait, said

al: always algebra

all: tall - shall

are: care - are

au: autumn - laugh, mauve

-ate: to deliberate - a deliberate act

ay: stays - says

cc: success - soccer

ce: centre - celtic

ch: chop chorus, choir, chute

cqu: acquire - lacquer

e: end english

-e: he - the

ea: mean - meant, break

ear: ear early, heart, bear

-ee: tree - matinee

e-e: even seven, fete

ei: veil - ceiling, eider, their, leisure

eigh: weight - height

ost: lost - post

-o: go - do

oa: road - broad

o-e: bone done, gone

-oes: toes does, shoes

-oll: roll - doll

omb: tombola - bomb, comb, tomb

oo: boot - foot, brooch

-ot: despot - depot

ou: sound - soup, couple

ough: bough - rough, through, trough

ought: bought - drought

oul: should - shoulder

our: sour - four, journey

ow: how - low

qu: queen bouquet

s: sun sure

sc: scent - luscious, molusc

-se: rose - dose

ss: possible - possession

th: this - thing


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eo: people - leopard, leotard

ere: here there, were

-et: tablet - chalet

eau: beauty beau

-ew: few - sew

-ey: they - monkey

ge: gem - get

gi: ginger - girl

gy: gym gynaecologist

ho: house - hour

i: ink kind

-ine: define engine, machine

ie: field - friend, sieve

imb: limb climb

ign: signature - sign

mn: amnesia - mnemonic

-ture: picture - mature

u: cup push

ui: build fruit, ruin

wa: was wag

wh: what - who

wo: won - woman, women, womb

wor: word worn

x: box - xylophone, anxious

-y-: type - typical

--y: daddy - apply

z: zip azure.

All common English words with phonically unreliable letters

can be seen below, listed in alphabetical order of the spellings with variable sounds.

At the very end is a list of the 103 English words which have different pronunciations in different contexts,

followed by 190 high frequency words which most impede the reading progress of beginners.

Some spellings, a for example, have so many exceptional pronunciations that all the words with them really

have to be learnt as sight words (rather than by decoding). Such words are therefore listed together with thecommon words in which they have a regular pronunciation.

* Words marked with an asterisk have variable pronunciation.

A is particularly tricky for learners ofstandard UK English because in this accent it is often

pronounced ah/ar; other pronunciation problems of the lettera, when it is pronounced like ai in aim, au

in haul, o in not, e in bed, affect all readers.


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A, able, advance, after, aghast, ah, almond, almost, also, altar, alter, alternative, always, amble, ample,

an, and, angle, answer, ant, antler, any, apple, April, apron, armada, ask, at, await, awake, award, aware,

away, awe, awful, awkward, awning, axle, baffle, bag, bald, ban, banana, band, bang, bash, bask,

bastard, bat, bath,battle, black, blank, blast, bra,brag, bramble, branch, brand, cable, cackle, calf, calm,

camp, can, canal, candle, cap, cash, cask, cast, caste, castle, cat, catch, cattle, chalk, chance, chant,

chasten, chastity, chat, clam, clamp, clan, clang, clank, clap, clash, clasp, crab, crackle, craft, cramp,

crank, crash, dab, dabble, daft, dahlia, dam, damp, dance, dangle, dank, dappled, dazzle, disaster, drab,

draft, drag, drama, drank, dwarf, enhance, example, expanse, fable, fact, fad, falter, fan, fang, fast,

fasten, fat, father, flabbergast, flag, flan, flank, flap, flash, flask, flat, frank, gabble, gable, gag, gala, gang,

gash, gasp, ghastly, glad, glance, grab, graft, gram, gran, grand, graph, grapple, grasp, hack, had, half,

halfpenny, halt, halve, ham, hand, handle, hang, hank, has, haste, hat, hatch, instalment, jab, jack, jam,

jangle, khaki, la, lab, lack, lag, lamp, lance, land, lap, lash, last, latch, lather, ma, mad, mama, man,

mangle, many, map, mash, mask, mass*, mast, mat, match, maths, pa, pack, pact, pad, paddle, palm,

paltry, pan, panorama,pants, papa, past, paste, pasty x 2 [paisty, pasty], pastry, pat, patch, path,patrol,

piano, plan, plank, plant, pram, prance, prank, prattle, psalm, pyjamas, quack, quadrangle, qualify,

quality, quantity, quarrel, quarry, quarter, quartz, quay, rack, raffle, raft, ramble, ran, rang, rank,

rascal, rash, rat, rather, rattle, reward, sack, sad, saddle, sag, salami, salt, sand, sang, sank, sap, sat, scald,

scalp, scan, scramble, scrap, scratch, shaft, shah, shambles, shrank, slack, slam, slang, slant, slap, slash,smack, smash, snack, snap, snatch, soprano, spa, span, spangle, spank, spat, sprang, sprat, squabble,

squad, squander, squash, squat, stab, stable, stack, stag, stalk, stamp, stance, stand, straggle, strangle,

strap, strata, swag, swagger, swallow, swam, swamp, swan, swap, table, tack, tackle, tag, talk, tan, tangle,

tank, tap, task, tax, than, thank, that, thatch, thrash, track, tract, tram, tramp, trample, trance, trap, twang,

van, vast, waddle, waft, wag, wagon, walk, wallow, walnut, walrus, waltz, wan, wand, wander, wangle,

want, wanton, war, warble, ward, warm, warn, warp, warrant, warren, warrior, wart, was, wash,

wasp, watch, water, wattle, wax, yap, zap.

Au A few words do not have the main sound of au, as in daub, gaudy, autum.

Assault, aunt, Australia, because, cauliflower, chauffeur, draught, fault, gauge, hydraulic, laugh, laureate,

laurel, mauve, restaurant, sausages, vault;

Ch is not always as in chat. It can spell k, sh and a few other sounds.

Ache, anchor, archaeology, architect, architecture, avalanche, bronchial, bronchitis, chalet,

chameleon, chamois, champagne, chaos, character, charade, chasm, chef, chemical, chemistry,

chivalrous, choir [quier], cholesterol, chorus, christen, Christmas, chrysalis, chute, crochet, echo,

lichen* [litchen or liken], machine, mechanical, mechanism, microfiche, monarch, orchestra, orchid,

parachute, psychology, richochet, schedule, scheme, spinach [spinnage], stomach, technique, yacht


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[yot].

Ea spells mostly ee. The other sound for it is mainly a short e, with a few exceptions,

the ai of air or train, silent in beauty, the a in art, eeya in linear and eea in theatre

Already, appeal, appear, area, beach, beacon, bead, beak, beam, bean, bear, beard, beast, beat,

beauty, beaver, beneath, bleach, bleak, bleat, bread, breadth, break, breakfast, breast, breath,

breathe, cease, cheap, cheat, clean, cleanliness, cleanse, clear, colleague, conceal, congeal, creak,

cream, crease, create, creature, dead, deaf, deal, dealt, dean, dear, death, decrease, defeat,

disease, dread, dream, dreamt, dreary, each, eager, eagle, ear, earl, early, earn, earnest, earth,

ease, Easter, east, eat, eaves, endeavour, fear, feast, feat, feather, feature, flea, freak, gear,

gleam, glean, grease, great, head, heal, health, heap, hear, heard, heart, hearth, heat, heath,

heathen, heather, heave, heaven, heavy, hydrangea, increase, instead, jealous, jeans, knead,

laureate, leach, lead x 2 [leed, led], leaf, league, leak, lean, leant, leap, leapt, learn, lease, leash,least, leather, leave, linear, meadow, meagre, meal, mean, meant, measles, measure, meat, near,

neat, nuclear, ordeal, pageant, peace, peach, peak, peal, peanut, pear, pearl, peas, peasant, peat,

pheasant, plea, plead, pleasant, please, pleasure, pleat, preach, queasy, reach, read x 2 [leed, led],

ready, real, reality, really, realm, reap, rear, reason, rehearse, release, repeat, retreat, reveal,

scream, sea, seal, seam, sear, search, season, seat, sheaf, shear, sheath, smear, sneak, speak, spear,

spread, squeak, squeal, squeamish, steady, steak, steal, stealthy, steam, streak, stream, swear,

sweat, tea, teach, teak, team, tears x 2 [teers, tairs], tease, theatre, thread, threat, treacherous,

treacle, treadmill, treason, treasure, treat, treaty, veal, weak, wealth, wean, weapon, wear,

weary, weasel, weather, weave, wheat, wreak, wreath, year, yearn, yeast, zeal, zealous.

Ge, gi and gy mostly have the sounds je and ji, as in gentle,gingerandgym.

In the words below the g is hard, as ingap andgot.

Anger, bogey, eager, finger, fishmonger, forget, gear, geese, get, geyser, hamburger, hunger,

linger, target, tiger, together;

begin, corgi, giddy, gift, giggle, gild, gills, gilt, girder, girdle, girl, give, given, forgive,

longevity, longitude; gymkhana.

Ie spells the ee sound, but several other sounds too:

ie oftie, e ofend, -ye ofdryer, ee-ye, i ofsitand je.

The phonic overlap with ei (shown next) adds to the reading problems caused by this


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spelling.

Achieve, alien, amplifier, ancient, anxiety, barrier,belief, believe, brief, carrier, cavalier, chandelier,

chief, client, conscience, convenient, crier, die, diesel, diet, field, fiend, fierce, friend, frontier, glacier,

glockenspiel, grief, grieve, handkerchief, hygiene, ingredient, interview, lenient, lie, lieutenant

[leftennant], medieval, mischief, movie, niece, obedient, oriental,pannier, patient, pie, piece, pier,

pierce, pliers, premier, priest, proprietor, quiet, relief, relieve, review, science, series, shield, shriek,

siege, sieve, society, soldier, soviet, spaniel, species, thief, thieve, tie, tier, twentieth, variety, vie, view,wheelie, wield, yield.

Ei can also spell the ee sound and several others: ai of rain, e ofbed, ie oftie, iofbit.

Ceiling, conceit, conceive, deceit, deceive, deign, eight, either*, Fahrenheit, feign, foreign, forfeit,

freight, heifer, height, heir, kaleidoscope, leisure*, neigh, neither*, protein, receipt, receive, reign,

reindeer, reinforce, reins, seize, sheikh, skein, sleigh, sleight, sovereign, their, veil, vein, weigh,

weight, weir, weird.

Eo The few word with eo have highly variable sounds.

Geography, geology, theology, jeopardy, leopard, people, leotard.

I followed by two consonants is normally short (mint), but in words listed below it has a long sound as in

line.

Align, behind, benign, bible biblical, bind, blind, child, climb, consign, design, find, grind, idle,

indict, kind - kindle, kindred, mild, mind, ninth, pint, resign, rind, sign; rifle, stifle, title, trifle -

triple, whilst, wild - wilderness.

Missing or misleading doubled consonants

Vowels followed by one consonant and another vowel are supposed to be long,

e.g. game, legal, time, bone, tune,

Short vowels, in words of more than one syllable, should be followed by doubled consonants,

e.g.grammar, beggar, imminent, bonny, button,


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or ck and dge, as in chicken and badger;

but manny words with a short vowel do not have a doubled consonant,

have irregular spellings for their consonants (e.g. acid - cf. massive) and

sometimes have irregular spellings for their short vowels too (e.g. any).

These irregularities help to obscure vowel length and make learning to read English harder.

Cabinet, cabaret, cabin, elaborate, fabulous, habit, nebula, liberal, liberty, tribute, probable, robin.

Vacuum, decade, executive, recognise, record (noun), second, secular, liquor, liquorice, crocodile,

documents.

Academy, adequate, radical, radish, already credit, dedicated, edible, edit, educate, federal,

medal, medical, meadow, pedal, pedigree, ready, steady, hideous, video, body, modern, modest,

produce (noun), study.

Caf, refuge, refuse (noun), heifer, magnificent, significant, profit,

Agony, dragon, flagon, hexagonal, wagon, negative, brigand, frigate;

magic, tragic, legend, legislate, regiment, register, vegetable, pigeon, religion, rigid, logic;

Analysis, balance, calendar, chalet, galaxy, italic, morality, palace, palate, palette, reality, salad,

salary, salon, talent, talon, valentine, valiant, valid, value, vitality, celery, delegate, delicacy,

deluge, develop, element, eligible, helicopter, jealous, melody, melon, pelican, relevant, relic,

skeleton, telescope, zealous, ability, bilious, military, ventriloquist, polythene, cylinder, abolish,colony, column, demolish, holiday, olive, knowledge, policy, politics, quality , solemn, solid,

tolerate, volume , voluntary, colour.

Amateur, camel, camera, damage, dynamic, enamel, famine, famished, laminate, cemetery,

chemical, democrat, emerald, epidemic, memory, remedy, lemon, feminine, premise, semi, criminal,

eliminate, limit, timid, image, abominable, comet, comic, dominate, domino, economic, prominent,

promise, vomit.

Animal, anorak, banish, banister, canopy, manage, manor, organic, panel, panic, spaniel, vanish,

manual, benefit, any, enemy, energy, menace, many, penetrate, venison, lieutenant, aluminium,

cinema, clinical, cynical, synagogue, synonym, continue, finish, linear, minimal, minister,

minute*, opinion, sinister, spinach, vinegar, anonymous, astonish, conifer, economy, electronic,

mnemonic, monastery, monarch, monument, supersonic, tonic, honey, money, onion.

Capital, capitol, chapel, rapid, tapestry, epic, leper, tepid, separate, typical, copy, opera,

operate, proper, property, topic, popular, tropics;


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Arab, arable, arid, asparagus, baron, caramel, caravan, caricature, carol, chariot, charity,

clarity, comparison, garage, parasol, parish, transparent, America, beret, bury, ceremony, cherish,

derelict, herald, heritage, heroine, heron, merit, peril, perish, sincerity, sterilise, therapist, very,

,conspiracy, empirical, lyric, miracle,pyramid, spirit, syrup, tyranny, authority, coral, florist,

forest, historic, horoscope, laurel, majority, minority, moral, orange, priority, quarantine,

thorough, courage, nourish;

Acid (cf. massive) capacity, pacifist, recipe, specify, specimen, decimal, chrysalis, electricity,explicit, municipal, participate, precipice, publicity, simplicity, solicitor, velocity, sausage;

Atom, baton, catalogue, catapult, category, compatible, lateral, latitude, matinee, platinum,

platypus, satin, strategy, athletic, magnetic, metal, petal, tetanus, veteran, yeti, competitive,

analytic, British, citizen, city, critical, literally, obliterate, pity, botany;

Hazard, hesitate, desert, designate, desolate, hesitate, present, president, resident, lizard,

miserable, prison, risen, scissors, visible, visit, wizard, wizened, closet, deposit, lozenge, positive.

Some words have doubled consonants which do not follow a short , stressed vowel

They make words longer (and thereby automatically more difficult for beginners) and they undermine the

reliability of doubled consonants that serve a phonic function, as in

accurate, daffodil, rebellious, comment, annual, opposite, tomorrow, professor, forgotten.

They also mislead inexperienced readers to place stress on the wrong syllable, instead of the vowel which

carries it (underlined):

Accommodate, accommodation, accompany, accomplish, accord, accordion, account, accumulate, accuse,

accustom, occasion, occupation, occurrence, succumb;

affection, afford, paraffin, affair, affect, effect, efficient, differential, diffusion, offend, official, sufficient,

chauffeur;

llama, parallel, really, excellent, hello, jewellery, marvellous, satellite, constellation, caterpillar, illegible,

illiterate, illusion, illustration, illuminate, pastille, tonsillitis, collage, collapse, collect, collide;

ammunition, programme, immediate, immense, immortal, immune, command, commemorate, commence,

commercial, commit, commodities, commotion, communication, communion, community, commuter,committee, recommend;

anniversary, announce, annoy, connect, personnel, mayonnaise, questionnaire;

appal, apparatus, apparent, appeal, appear, appendix, applaud, apply, appoint, appreciate, apprentice,

approach, appropriate, approve, approximate, hippopotamus, opportunity, oppose, supply, support,

suppose;

arrange, array, arrest, arrive, barricade, erratic, interrupt, serrated, terrific, irregular, irrigation,

torrential, correspond, correct, correlation, hurrah, curriculum, surrender, surround;


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assail, assassin, assault , assemble, assert, assessment, assign, assist, associate, assort, assume, cassette,

embassy, dessert, essential, necessary, possess, possibility;

battalion, tattoo, mattress, attach, attain, attempt, attend, attention, attorney, attract, attributed, omelette,

palette, settee.

O is often not as in spot.

It can sound like the u in cup, oa in toast, oo as in bookor oo in boot and e as in herb

Among, block, blond, blot, bob, bog, bomb, bond, boss, both, bottle, box, brother, clock, cobble, cock,

cod, comfort, control, cop, cot, crop, cross, dock, dodge, dog, doll, don, dot, drop, enrol, fishmonger,

flock, flog, flop, fog, folk, fond, fox, frog, from, front, ghost, gloss, gobble, god, goggle, golf, gong, got,

gross, hobble, hog, hop, host, hot, job, jog, jostle, jot, lob, lock, loft, log, long, lop, lot, mob, mock,

Monday, mongrel, monk, monkey, month, mop, moss, most, mother, nod, not, nothing, nozzle, off, on,

once [wunce], only, other, ox, patrol, plot, pod, pond, post, poster, pot, prod, prop, rob, rock, rod, roll,

romp, rot, scroll, slog, slot, smock, smother, snob, sob, sock, soft, solve, son, song, sponge, spot, stock,

stop, stroll, strong, sword, sworn, throttle, to*, today, tomb, ton, tongs, tongue, top, topple, toss, tot, trod,

troll, trot, whom, wobble, wolf, womb, won, wonder, word, work, world, worm, worn, worry, worse,

worship, worst, worth.

O-e is often not as in bone, solo orso, but like u ofcup, o ofhot, short oo ofwood,

long oo ofsoon, er ofher, i ofbit)


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Above, adolescence, alcove, alone, altogether, anemone [anemmony], antelope, approve, arose,

beloved, benevolent, bone, broke, choke, chose, chosen, close*, closet, clover, code, colonel,

colour, come, comedian, comedy, comet, component, compose, composer, cone, cope, cove,

covenant, cover, covet, covey, devote, discover, discovery, dispose, doe, does, dole, dome,

domestic, done, dose, dove, doze, dozen, drone, drove, elope, envelope, expose, froze, frozen,

globe, glove, goes, gone, govern, grocer, grope, grovel, gruesome, handsome, hole, holey, home,

honest, honey, hope, hose, hover, impose, improve, insolence, insolent, joke, Joseph, lone, lonely,

lose, love, lozenge, mode, model, moderate*, modern, modest, mole, moment, monetary, money,move, node, none, nose, note, novel, November, October, omelette, omen, one [wun], open,

opera, operate, operation, oven, over, phone, poke, pole, pope, pose, postpone, poverty, primrose,

process, procession, profession, professor, promenade, promote, proper, property, propose, protein,

prove, proven, proverb, pullover, purpose, quote, recover, remote, rhinoceros, robe, rode, role,

rope, rose, scone, scope, shone, shove, shovel, slope, slovenly, smoke, sober, sole, solemn, some,

somersault, sovereign, spoke, spoken, stoke, stole, stolen, stone, stove, strode, stroke, suppose,

syndrome, tadpole, those, throne, together, tomorrow, token, tolerate, tone, trombone, vote,

whole, whose, woke, woman, women, wove, wrote, yodel, yoke, zone,

do, to, two, who.

OO is short, notlong as inspoon, in:

Book, brook, cook, cookie, foot, good, hood, hook, look, rook, shook, stood, took, understood, whoosh,

wood, wooden, wool, woollen.

In blood, floodand brooch oo has other sounds [blud, flud, broach].

Ou is often not as in out - but with long oo ofboot, aw of saw, o-e ofsole,

short oo ofwood, u ofcup, o of for, e ofher.

Abound, about, account, acoustic, aloud , amount, announce, around, arouse, astound, bivouac,

blouse, bough*, bought, boulder, bounced, bound, boundary, bouquet, boutique, brought,

camouflage, choux, cloud, compound, couch, cough, could, council, counsel, count, counter,

country, county, coup [coo], couple, coupon, courage, courier, course, court, courtesy, cousin,crouch, double, doubt, dough, douse, drought, encounter, encourage, enough, favourite, flounder,

flour, fought, foul, found, foundation, fountain, four, fourth, ghoulish, ground, group, hiccough

[hickup],

honour [onnor], hound, hour [our], house, journal, journey, loud, lounge, lout, mould, moult,

mound, mount, mountain, mourn, mouse, mousse, moustache, mouth, neighbour, nought, nourish,

ought, ounce, our, out, outer, plough, pouch, poultry, pounce, pound, pour, pout, profound,

pronounce, proud, rebound, resource, rough, round, rouse, route, routine, savour, scoundrel,

scout, should, shoulder, shout, silhouette, slouch, slough x2 [sluf, slou], smoulder, snout, sought,


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soul, sound, soup, sour, source, south, southern, souvenir, spout, sprout, stout, surround,

tambourine, thorough, thou, though, thought, thousand, through, toucan, touch, tough, tour,

tourist, tournament, trouble, trough, trousers, trout, voucher, would, wound x2 [wound/ woond],

you, young, your.

Ow can sound like o in so or ou in thou

Blow, blown, bow x 2 [bo/bou], bowl, brow, brown, brownie, browse, clown, cow, coward, crow,

crowd, crown, down, drown, drowse, eider-down, flow, flower, flown, frown, glow, gown, grow, growl,

grown, growth, how, howl, know, knowledge [nollege], known, low, mow, mown, now, owe, owl, own,

powder, power, prowl, row x 2 [ro/rou], rowan, rowdy, scowl, show, shower, shown, slow, snow,

sow x 2 [so, sou], sown, stow, throw, thrown, tow, toward [tuward], towel, tower, town, vow, vowel,

wow;

and allow is not like shallow orwindow [shallo, windo].

-qu In the following words qu does not spell its main sound(quickquestion),

but the k sound. A few pose other pronunciation dif ficulties as well.

Cheque, conquer, liquor, liquorice, marquee, mosque, opaque, picturesque, quoit, turquoise. Antique,

croquet, parquet, queue, unique.

Sce/ sci Sc has mainly an s sound (scene, scenery, scent, science, convalesce, crescent,

descend, disciple, discipline, fascinating, muscle)

but sh in conscience, conscientious andfascism and skin mollusc.

se When -se follows a vowel, it is pronounced mainly z (erase, cheese, rise, rose, fuse),

but in the following words it has a s-sound:

Base, case, chase, purchase, cease, crease, grease, increase, release, geese, these, practise, precise,

premise, promise, tortoise, dose, goose, loose, noose, purpose, douse, mouse.


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Silentletters make learning to read English more difficult too.

Acquaint, acquire, acquit, adjacent, adjoin, adjust, aisle, anaesthetic, apostle, are, blue, board, bogey, bristle

, bruise, build, built, bustle, buy, bye, campaign, caught, clue, coarse, composite, conscious, controlled,

copse, corps, creosote, cruise, cupboard, daughter, debris, debt, definite, dense, depot, determine, devalue,

dialogue, diaphragm, doctrine, dumb, dungeon, dye, eclipse, elapse, else, empty, engine, epilogue, examine,exceed, excel, except, excite, exhaust, exhibit , expense, exquisite, forehead, forgive, geese, genuine *,

geyser*, ghastly, ghost, give, given, glimpse, glisten, glue, gnarled,gnash,gnat,gnaw,gnu, gorse, granite,

gristle, guarantee, guard, haughty, hoarse, hustle, imagine, impulse, infinite, intense, island, isle , jostle,

juice, knack, knacker, knave, knee, knew, knickers, knife, knight, knit, knob, knock, knot, knuckle, lapse,

listen, live*, luncheon, luscious, masculine, medicine, meringue, midday, mnemonic, mortgage, naughty,

nestle , nuisance , nurse, often , parliament, pharaoh, phlegm,pneumatic, proboscis,pseudonym,

pterodactyl, purchase, raspberry, response, reverse, rheumatism, rhubarb, rhyme , rhythm , rinse, roller,

rustle , rye, salmon, scholar, school, schooner, scissors, seven, several, shepherd, slaughter, straight, subtle,

suggest, suicide, suitable, surgeon, suspense, swollen, scythe, taught, tense, thistle, tortoise , trestle ,

truncheon, verse, vineyard, Wednesday, were, whack, whale, wharf, what, wheedle, wheel, wheeze, whelk,

when, whether, whey, which, while, whimper, whine, whip, whir, whirl, whisk, whiskers, whiskey, whisky,whisper, whistle, white, whiz, why, wore, wrangle, wrap, wreck, wren, wrench, wrestle, wretch, wriggle,

wring, wrinkle, wrist, writ, write, writhe, written, wrong, wrote, wrung, wry, yoghurt.

U In the following words u does nothave the short u sound ofcup, but

short oo sound ofbook, i ofbig and long oo ofspoon

Bush, busy, butcher, cushion, pudding, push, put, shush, sugar, truth.

Ui has several unpredictable pronunciations: short i, i-e, yoo, yoo-i/oo-i, oo, wi, wee.

Anguish, biscuit, bruise, build, built, circuit, cruise, disguise, distinguish, fluid, fruit, genuine,

guidance, guide, guillotine, guilt, guinea-pig, guitar, intuition, juice, nuisance, penguin, pursuit,recruit, ruined, sluice, suicide, suit, suitable, suite, tuition.

Words ending inture

are usually stressed on the first syllable (fracture, furniture, nature), apart from:


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adventure, departure, expenditure, manufacture, mature.

Words ending inure have variable stress and pronunciation.

Assure, conjure, cure, endure, exposure, failure, figure, fissure, injure, insure, lure, manure, measure,

obscure, pleasure, pressure, procedure, procure, pure, secure, sure, treasure.

Words with v nearly all pose problems in learning to read English, because this letter is usually not doubled

after a short vowel (e.g. never) and a finalv is usually followed by e, making it difficult to tell if a vowel

before a v is long orshort (gave have) or which vowel is stressed (severe several). Words with o before v

are especially tricky.

Above, alcove, alive, approve, arrive, avenue, average, aviary, aviation, avoid,behave , beloved,brave,

cavalry, cave, cavern, cavity, chivalrous, civic, civil, civilian, clever, clover, cove, covenant, cover,

covet, covey, crave, crevice, deliver, derive, devil, devise, devote, discover, divan, dive, dove, drive,

drivel, driven, driver, drove, eleven, eve, even, event, ever , every, evict, evidence, evident, evil,

evolution, evolve, fever, five, flavour, gave, give, given, glove, govern, governor, grave, gravel, gravity,

gravy, grovel, have, havoc, hive, hover, improve, ivory,javelin,jive, jovial, juvenile, knave, lava,

lavender, level, lever, live, lively, love, move, movie, naval, nave, navigate, navy, never, novel,November,

novice, olive, oval, oven, over, pavement, pavilion, poverty, previous, private, privilege, prove, proverb,

provide, quiver, rave, raven, ravenous, revive, rival, river, rivet, savage, save, scavenge, seven, several,

severe, severity, shave, shiver, shove, shovel, shrivel, slave, slovenly, snivel, sovereign, soviet, stove,

survive, swivel, thrive, travel, wave, waver, wives, wove.

A few more letters have reading problems in a small number of words.

Said, plait; says; here, there, were; hi, hi-fi - prix, kiwi, ski; board, broad;

clerk, poignant, wrath,

103 English words which have

different pronunciations in different contexts.

Most just change stress; but those withate endings change their vowel length too.

Lead, read, tear; bow, row, sow; abuse, excuse, use, close, house; mass bass;


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buffet, live, minute, mouth, pasty, Polish/ polish, pussy, second, slough, wind, wound;

content, frequent, invalid, perfect, attribute, commune, compact, compound, concert, conduct,

conflict, conscript, console, consort, construct, contest, contract, contrast, converse, convert,

convict, defect, desert, digest, discharge, entrance, escort, export, extract, fragment, impact, incense,

insert, object, permit, present, produce, progress, project, prospect, protest, rebel, rebound, recall,

record, refund, refuse, reject, relay, subject, survey, suspect, torment, transfer, transport;

advocate, alternate, appropriate, approximate, articulate, associate, co-ordinate, degenerate, delegate,

deliberate, designate, desolate, dictate, duplicate, elaborate, estimate, graduate, intimate, laminate,

moderate, separate, subordinate, syndicate, triplicate.

Young childrens reading progress is most impeded by 190 very common words in which the which the

spellings a, ea, o, o-e, ou, ow and oo are not pronounced in their usual way, as shown below. Allcommon words with reading problems are listed after them.

A after all an and answer any anyway asked at bad bag bananas band basket bath call calm

camp can can't cash castle cat catch change chap chat clamp clap class crab crash dad dancing

danger drag fall family fast father flag flap flat glad grab had half hand happy hat lamp lap last

many mash match nasty pass past pat path quack rash sand sat scratch slam snatch splash stamp

stranger strap tall than thank that trap wall wander want was wash watch water

Already beach beard beast beat beautiful bread breakbreakfast breath breathe clean cream

creature dead deaf dear dream dreamt each ear early earn earth easy eat great head healthy

hear heard heave heavy instead jealous jeans leap leapt learned learnt least leave meadow mean

meant measure meat near peach peanut please reach read/read ready real scream sea seal search

seat speak spread steady tea teach tear / tear thread treasure wear year

Anotherblockboth box brother clock clop colour cot dog don't dot flop fog fox front got hot

job jog jot lock lost lots Monday most mother nod not nothing oh once only otherplop pop pot

pots programme sock somersault son spots stop strong tongue won wont worried worry

do go no so to into onto two who

Alone above broke bone choke come cone covered done drove gone home joke love loved lovely

money move over poke pole prove one rode rope some stone today tomorrow

About blouse bought bounce brought cloud could country couple crouch double enough famous

fought found ground group house loud mountain mouse moustache mouth ouch out pouch rough

round should shouldershout snout sound soup spout thought thousand through touch tough trouble

trousers without would you young course court four favourite flour our souryour

Blow blown bow / bow brown clown cow crow crown down flown frown glow grow growl grown

how know known low mow mown now owl own row / row show shown slow snow town wow

Balloon blood boo bookboot coo cook door droopy flood floor food foot good hook hoop hoot


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kangaroo look mood roof room root school shampoo shook soon spoon too took tooth wood wool

zoo

English spellings A-Z and their exceptions

Listed below are all English spelling patterns in alphabetical order, accompanied by the words which disobey

them. When words with irregular spellings almost equal or outnumber those with regular ones, all common

words are listed.

Words marked withx2 have two pronunciations,

e.g. tearx2 [teer/tair].

A - (bad, cat, rang) - except:

plaid, plait, meringue, have (cf. gave).

-able /-ible (notable, audible) - (27 able, 17 ible):

Abominable, adorable, amiable, arable, available, capable, comparable, constable, desirable, doable,

formidable, inevitable, inflammable, irritable, liable, miserable, notable, portable, probable, reliable,

remarkable, respectable, suitable, syllable, valuable, variable, vulnerable.

Audible, compatible, edible, eligible, feasible, f lexible, horrible, illegible, incredible, invisible,permissible, possible, responsible, sensible, terrible, visible, tangible.

a-e / ai - (late, lain)

The main spelling for this sound inside words is a-e (made),

but before l and n it is more often ai (rail, rain),

or both (male/mail):

Ail/ale, bale/bail, male/mail, pale/pail,

sale/sail, tale/tail, whale/wail,dale, female, gale, inhale, scale, stale,

assail, cocktail, detail, fail, hail, jail, nail, prevail, rail, retail, snail, trail.

Main/mane, pain/pane, plain/plane,

rain/reins(reindeer)/reign, vain/vein,

abstain, again, ascertain, attain, brain, chain, chilblain, complain, contain, detain, drain, explain, gain, grain,

obtain, refrain, remain, retain, slain, sprain, stain, strain, sustain, train;

acquaint, aint, faint, paint, quaint, saint;


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Crane, lane, sane, membrane.

Skein; deign, feign; campaign; champagne.

There are also 55 other unpredictable spellings

for the a-e/ai sound:

Made/maid, aid, braid, laid, paid, raid, afraid.

Brake/break, stake/steak.

Aim, claim, exclaim, maim, proclaim.

Place/plaice. Haste, paste, taste, waste/waist;

Daisy, praise, raise, raisin. Traitor, waiter.

Ate/eight, bate/bait, grate/great, straight/straits, wait/weight. Fte, freight.

Faith. Halfpenny, neighbour. Able, cable, cradle, fable, gable, ladle, sabre, stable, table (cf. label).

Air / are / ear (hair, care, swear...)

Fairly unpredictable:

Air/heir, fair/fare, flair/flare, hair/hare,

pair/pare/pear, stair/stare,

chair, hair, lair, stairs, dairy, prairie, affair, despair, clair, repair, questionnaire.

Bare/bear, blare, care, dare, glare, mare, rare, scare, share, snare, spare, square, area,

aware, compare, declare, parent, prepare;

canary, hilarious, malaria, Mary, various, vegetarian, wary.

Swear, tearx2[tair / teer],

Aerial, aeroplane, aerobatics.

There/their, ware/where/wear.

-al - (actual, admiral, animal ...) - in at least 200 words,

but -el/ -il/ -ol in 31 others:

Caramel, cockerel, colonel, cruel, diesel, drivel, duel, easel, fuel, gravel, hazel, hostel, jewel, label, novel,

spaniel, towel, vowel, weasel.

Civil, devil, evil, pupil.

Capitol, carol, cholesterol, idol, parasol, petrol, pistol, symbol.

-ar - (far) - has just one exception: are.

For speakers of standard British English,

the following have an ar/ah sound too:

Ask, bask, blast, cask, cast, caste, clasp, contrast*, fast, flabbergast, flask, gasp, ghastly, grasp, last, mask,

mast, past, rascal, task, vast, brass, class, glass, grass, pass, mass*.

Advance, avalanche, banana, branch, chance, dance, chant, enhance, glance, lance, plant, prance, slant,


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soprano, stance, trance.

After, craft, daft, draft, giraffe, graft, raft, shaft, staff.

Almond, calf, calm, half, halve, palm, gala.

Drama, example, panorama, salami.

Bath, path, father, lather, rather.

Bra, la, ma, pa, spa, ah, hurrah, shah, baa,

armada, fuselage, promenade, strata, vase.

Graph, draught, laugh. Aunt. Clerk.

-ard - (coward, forward) - only one exception: shepherd.

-ary / -ery / -ory / -ry - unpredictable:

(37 ary / 58 others):

Adversary, anniversary, arbitrary, aviary, boundary, burglary, commentary, contemporary, contrary, diary,

dictionary, elementary, estuary, February, January, library, literary, military, monetary, necessary, ordinary,

planetary, preliminary, primary, pulmonary, reactionary, revolutionary, salary, secondary, secretary, solitary,

stationary, summary, temporary, veterinary, vocabulary, voluntary.

Archery, artery, artillery, blustery, celery, cemetery, colliery, crockery, delivery, discovery, drudgery,

every, gallery, jewellery, lottery, machinery, monastery, mystery, nursery, pottery, recovery, robbery,

scenery, stationery, surgery.

Category, dormitory, factory, history, inventory, ivory, laboratory, memory, observatory, satisfactory,

territory, theory.

Carpentry, chemistry, country, entry, gantry, industry, infantry, paltry, pantry, pastry, poetry, poultry,

symmetry, tapestry.

Century, injury, luxury, Mercury, mercury, treasury.

Savoury.

Au / aw /...(autumn, awful, all, alter) - unpredictable:

Auburn, auction, audible, August, authentic, author, authorise, automatic, autonomy, autumn, daub, gaudy,

sauce, saucer, haul, maul, Paul, assault, cauldron, fault, tarpaulin, somersault, vault,haunt, jaunt, launch, launder, staunch, taunt,

applause, cause, pause, Santa-Claus, exhaust,

astronaut, cosmonaut, nautical, taut, caution.

Awe,

awful, awkward, awning, bawdy, dawdle, hawk, squawk.

Bawl, brawl, crawl, drawl, scrawl, shawl, sprawl, trawl.

All, almost, already, also, altogether, always,


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ball, call, recall, fall, gall, hall, pall, small, squall, stall,

install, tall, wall, instalment,

appal, bald, scald, chalk stalk, talk,

altar, alter, (alternate, alternative), falter, halt, salt;

poultry.

Brawn, dawn, drawn, fawn, lawn, pawn, prawn, sawn, spawn, yawn .

Caught, daughter, haughty, naughty, slaughter, taught.

Bought, brought, fought, nought, ought, sought, thought.

Broad.

Walnut, walrus, waltz; water.

War/wore, warble, ward (award, reward), wardrobe, warm, warn/worn, warp, wart, dwarf.

ay /-ey /-eigh - (say, they, weigh) - (30 ay, 19 others):

Bay, bray, clay,

day (Monday Sunday, midday, today, yesterday),

fray, gay, hay, lay, may, okay, pay, play, pray, ray, say, slay, spray, stay, stray, sway, tray;

array, astray, away, betray, decay, delay, dismay, display.

They, grey, hey, convey, obey, survey.

Neigh, sleigh, way/whey/weigh.

Ballet, beret, bouquet, buffet, duvet, chalet, crochet.

Caf, matine.

B - (bib, bob) no exceptions, but sometimessilent

(bomb, crumb, dumb, lamb, limb, numb, thumb, succumb,

debt, doubt, subtle)

or put to other use

(climb [clime], tomb [toom], womb [woom]).

- bb- / -b- - (bobbin robin) - unpredictable.

See Doubled Consonants.

Ca-, co-, cu- - (cat, cot, cut) - with 19 exceptions:

Chameleon, chaos, character, chasm, mechanical;

kaleidoscope, kangaroo, karate, kayak, skate;

Anchor, cholesterol, chorus, psychological, school;

Bouquet[bookay], quoit, turquoise; queue [cue].


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-cc- / -c- / -ck- (occupy document- rocket) - unpredictable.


cl-, cr-... - (clip, crib, picnic, doctor)

for k-sound before consonants except:

Chlorine, chocolate.

Christmas, chrome, chrysalis, chrysanthemum; mackerel.

Technical, cockney, cocktail.

-c- - (cancel) -Inside words c is the main spelling

for an s-sound before e and i,

but with exceptions.

Absent, advertisement, arsenic, consent, consequence, conservative, insect, insert, morsel, persevere,

prosecute.

Analysis, basic, basin, consider, consist, crisis, emphasis, insist, oasis, persistent, responsible, tonsil,

university, utensil. Capsize, prehensile.

Abscess, ascend, ascertain, descend, descent, condescension, crescent, disciple, discipline, fascinating,

proboscis.

Ancestors, cancel, cancer, concentrate, concept, conception, concern, concert, December, decent, grocer,

innocent, license, licentious, magnificent, necessity, parcel, percent, perception, pincer, porcelain, princess,

process, procession, reception, recent, recess, rhinoceros, saucer.

Conceal. Conceit, conceive, deceit, deceive, receipt, receive.

Facetious, precede, procedure. Proceed, proceedings, proceeds. Plasticine.

Council/counsel, criticism, deciduous, decision, facilities, hyacinth, incident, medicine, narcissus, Pacific,

participation, pencil, precision, principal, principle, specific, stencil.

Coincide, decide, decisive, decipher, docile, exercise, precise, recite, suicide; society,

-c - (lilac) - for k-sound at the end of longer words,

except:

Anorak, kayak; attack, barrack, ransack; stomach.

-ce / -se - (face /case) - for final s-sound after long vowels,

38 ce , 21 se:

Ace, brace, embrace, face, grace, lace, pace, place/plaice, race, space, trace. Peace/piece, fleece, niece,

police.

Dice, ice, mice, nice, price, rice, slice, twice, vice, advice, device, sacrifice. Choice, rejoice, voice.

Introduce, juice, reduce, truce, sluice. Sauce.


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Base, case, chase.

Cease, crease, grease, increase, release, geese, these.

Concise, precise. Dose. Goose, loose, noose, mouse.

Close x2, house x2, excuse x2, use x2.

[too cloce to cloze; too good a houce to houze...,

no uce, to uze]

-ce - (practice, promise, fortress) - In unstressed endings,

the spelling of the final s-sound and the vowel before it

are both unpredictable:

A practice/to practise(in UK), apprentice, armistice, coppice, crevice, justice, notice, novice, office,

precipice, service.

Menace, necklace, palace, surface, terrace.Lettuce.

Premise, promise.

Analysis, axis, basis, bronchitis, chrysalis, crisis, emphasis, hypothesis, iris, oasis, pelvis, proboscis,

synthesis, tennis, tonsillitis, trellis.

Purchase.

Atlas, canvas, Christmas, pampas, pyjamas.

Carcass, compass, embarrass, trespass.

Abscess, access, congress, cypress, fortress, mattress, process, progress, recess, harness, witness.

Purpose, tortoise.

-ce - (fence, force, else)

- final s-sound after consonants.

After -n- mainly -ce (mince), except:

Dense, expanse, expense, immense, intense, license,

nonsense, response, rinse, sense, suspense, tense.

Afterl orp, always -se:

Else, pulse, impulse.

Collapse, copse, corpse, eclipse, elapse, glimpse, lapse.Afterr - 13 se, 8-ce:

Coarse, course, curse, gorse, hoarse, horse, nurse, purse, rehearse, reverse, universe, verse, worse.

Commerce, divorce, enforce, fierce, force, pierce, reinforce, source.

Ch - (chip) regular,

with tch (catch) after short vowels:

Catch, hatch, latch, match, patch, scratch, snatch, thatch, dispatch; sketch, stretch, wretch; ditch, hitch, itch,


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pitch, stitch, switch, twitch, witch; notch, watch; hutch, Dutch.

Except: which, much, such, touch, attach, detach.

-cian - (musician) regular ending

for adjectives formed

from nouns ending with ic (music - musician)

-ck- (back, pocket) - for a k-sound after short vowels,

except:

Mac, sac, rec (short for recreation ground). Yak.

Crocodile, decade, documents, executive, recognise, record, second, secular, vacuum.

Accurate, occupy, piccolo, soccer, succulent, tobacco.

Cheque, chequered, lacquer, liquor.

Echo, mechanism. - (See also Doubled consonants).

-cy - (fancy) - main spelling for a see-sound in word endings:

Accuracy, delicacy, aristocracy, conspiracy, democracy, diplomacy, policy, juicy.

Agency, emergency, fancy, frequency, vacancy, tendency, urgency. Mercy.

Except:

Controversy, courtesy, fantasy, gypsy, topsy-turvy. Embassy.

D - (dad) completely regular

-dd- / -d- - (shoddy body) - unpredictable.


De- / di- - (devise, divide) - as unstressed prefix,

56 de-, 28 di-:

Decay, deceive, December, decide, (decision, decisive), deciduous, decipher, declare, decline, deduct, defeat,

defect, defend, defiant, define, definite, degree, delay, delicious, delight, deliver, demand, democratic,demolish, deny, depart, department, depend, deport, deposit, depress, derive, descend, describe, deserve,

design, despair, despatch, despise, despite, destination, destiny, destroy, detach, detain, detect, detention,

detergent, determine, detest, devalue, develop, devise, devote, devour.

Dictate, diffusion, dilapidated, dilemma, diploma, diplomatic, disappear, disaster, discharge, disciple,

discover, discuss, disease, disguise, disgust, dismantle, dismay, displace, display, dispose, dispute, distinct,

distribute, disturb, divide, (division), divine, divorce.


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-dge - (bridge) for thej-sound in short words,

after a short vowel, to differentiate from long vowels,

(e.g. badge cage) - regular:

Badge, bridge, cadge, dodge, dredge, edge, fridge, grudge, hedge, judge, ledge, lodge, nudge, ridge, sledge,

smudge, trudge.

In longer words dg / g is less predictable

(e.g. fidget digit)

Badger, budgie, budget, fledgeling, fidget, midget, dodgems, dodgy, podgy, drudgery.

Digit, legend, legislate, logic, pigeon, regiment, register, religion, rigid, vegetable ;

Exaggerate; suggest(can be [sugjest] in US).

Doubled Consonants

Schoolchildren learn to double the final consonant of one-syllable words before the suffixes -ing, -ed,

-en, -er, -y or-ish

(e.g. bat - batting, batted, batty, batter) to show that the preceding stressed vowel is short, rather than long,

as in

bate - bated, bating.

With one-syllable words this rule is used consistently, but some longer verbs have doubled consonants

before -ed and -ing, even when the preceding vowel is not stressed:

benefitted, travelled (cf. preferred, permitted).

In longer root words, English consonant doubling

aftershort, stressedvowels is very inconsistent:

373 words (e.g. mellow) obey the doubling rule

384 words (e.g. melon) disobey it and

158 words (e.g. satellite) have needlessly doubled

consonants after unstressed vowels.

The lists below show, consonant by consonant, and vowel by vowel, the words with regularly doubled

consonants after short vowels, with undoubledconsonants (or other letters, e.g. 'dizzy prison') and with

needlessly doubled letters.

Abbey, cabbage, jabber, rabbit, Sabbath, shabby; ribbon; hobby, lobby; chubby, rubber, rubbish, stubborn,

stubby.

Cabinet, cabaret, cabin, elaborate, fabulous, habit; nebula, treble; liberal, liberty, tribute; probable,

robin.

Abbreviate.

Bracken (ckis the main spelling for a k-sound after a short vowel), bracket, jacket, packet, package, racket;


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beckon, reckon, bicker, chicken, cricket, flicker, rickety, sticky, ticket, wicked, wicker, wicket, cockerel,

crockery, hockey, jockey, locket, pocket, rocket, rocky, socket, stocking, bucket, sucker, cuckoo.

Vacuum, decade, executive, recognise, record (noun), second, secular; crocodile, documents.

Accurate, tobacco; piccolo; occupy, succulent.

Echo, mechanism;

chequered, liquor, liquorice; lacquer.

Accommodate, accommodation, accompany, accomplish, accord, accordion, account, accumulate,

accuse, accustom, occasion, occupation, occurrence, succumb.

Adder, caddie, caddy, daddy, ladder, eddy, teddy, wedding, giddy, hidden, ridden, shoddy, sodden, rudder,

shudder, sudden, pudding.

Academy, adequate, radical, radish, credit, dedicated, edible, edit, educate, federal, medical, pedal,

pedigree, meadow, ready, already, steady, hideous, video, body, modern, modest, produce (noun),study.

Add, odd.

Daffodil, scaffold, traffic, effigy, effort, different, difficult, jiffy, coffee, coffin, offer, office, buffalo, buffer,

buffet, chuffed, ruffian, suffer, suffocate.

Caf, refuge, refuse (noun), heifer, magnificent, significant, profit.

Affair, affect, affection, afford, paraffin, effect, efficient, differential, diffusion, offend, official, sufficient,

chauffeur.

Baggage, jagged, maggot, scraggy, stagger, swagger, beggar, snigger, trigger, soggy, luggage, nugget, rugged.

Agony, dragon, f lagon, hexagonal, negative, brigand, frigate.

Aggressive. Egg.

Alley, alligator, ally, ballast, ballet, ballot, challenge, gallant, gallery, gallon, gallop, gallows, mallet, rally,

shallow, stallion, valley, bellow, belly, cellar, cello, cellophane, fellow, intelligent, jelly, pellet, rebellion,

sellotape, trellis, umbrella, yellow, armadillo, artillery, billiard, billion, billow, billy, brilliant, frilly, gorilla,

guerrillas, guillotine, illustrate, milligrams, million, pillar, pillow, silly, syllable, vanilla, villa, village, villain,

collar, colleague, collie, colliery, dollar, follow, hollow, holly, jolly, lollipop, lolly, mollusc, pollen, pollinate,trolley, volley, college, swallow, wallaby, wallet, wallop, wallow, lullaby, sullen, bullet, bulletin, bullion,

bullock, bully, pulley, pullover.

Analysis, balance, battalion, calendar, chalet, galaxy, italic, morality, palace, palate, palette, reality,

salad, salary, salon, talent, talon, valentine, valiant, valid, value, vitality, celery, delegate, delicacy, deluge,

develop, element, eligible, helicopter, jealous, melody, melon, pelican, relevant, relic, skeleton, telescope,

zealous, ability, bilious, military, ventriloquist, cylinder, abolish, colony, column, demolish, holiday, olive,

policy, politics, polythene, solemn, solid, tolerate, volume, voluntary, knowledge, quality, colour.


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With long, instead of short vowels: controlled, roller, swollen.

Parallel, excellent, hello, jewellery, marvellous, satellite, constellation, caterpillar, illegible, illiterate,

illusion, illustration, illuminate, pastille, tonsillitis, collage, collapse, collect, collide.

Ammonite, clammy, hammer, inflammable, mammal, mammoth, stammer, dilemma, glimmer, simmer,

symmetry, comment, commentary, commerce, common, communism, communist, dummy, mummy, rummage,

summary, summer, summit, summon, tummy.

Amateur, camel, camera, damage, dynamic, enamel, famished, laminate, cemetery, chemical, democrat,

emerald, epidemic, memory, remedy, lemon, feminine, premise, semi, criminal, eliminate, image, limit,

timid, women, abominable, comet, comic, dominate, domino, economic, prominent, promise, vomit, stomach,

plumber.

Ammunition, programme, immediate, immense, immortal, immune, command, commemorate, commence,

commercial, commit, commodities, commotion, communication, communion, community, commuter,

committee, recommend.

Annual, banner, cannot, granny, manner, nanny, pannier, savannah, spanner, uncanny, antenna, pennant,

tennis, penny, dinner, inner, innocence, innocent, spinnaker, bonnet, sonnet, bunny.

Animal, anorak, banish, banister, canopy, granary, manage, manor, manual, organic, panel, panic,

spaniel, vanish, benefit, enemy, energy, menace, penetrate, venison, lieutenant, any, many, aluminium,

clinical, continue, finish, linear, minimal, minister, opinion, sinister, spinach, vinegar, cinema, cynical,

synagogue, synonym, minute [minnit], astonish, conifer, economy, electronic, monastery, monarch,

monument, supersonic, tonic, honey, money, onion, punish.

Anniversary, announce, annoy, connect, personnel, mayonnaise, questionnaire.

Appetite, happen, happy, nappy, pepper, flipper, kipper, skipper, slipper, copper, coppice, opposite, poppy,

sloppy, puppet, puppy, supper, upper.

Capital, capitol, rapid, tapestry, capita, epic, jeopardy, leper, leopard, tepid, separate, weapon, copy,

opera, operate, proper, property, topic, popular, tropics.

Appal, apparatus, apparent, appeal, appear, appendix, applaud, apply, appoint, appreciate, apprentice,

approach, appropriate, approve, approximate, hippopotamus, opportunity, oppose, suppose, supply, support.

Arrow, barren, barrier, barrister, barrow, carrot, carry, garret, marrow, marry, narrative, narrow, parrot,

sparrow, merry, sherry, terrace, terrible, territory, terror, irritable, mirror, squirrel, stirrup, borrow, corridor,

horrible, lorry, porridge, sorrow, sorry, tomorrow, torrent, quarry, warrant, warren, burrow, current, furrowed,

hurricane, hurry, scurry, turret, worry, furry.

Arab, arable, arid, asparagus, baron, caramel, caravan, caricature, carol, chariot, charity, clarity,

comparison, parasol, parish, transparent, America, beret, ceremony, cherish, derelict, herald, heritage,


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heroine, heron, merit, peril, perish, sincerity, sterilise, therapist, very, bury, conspiracy, empirical, lyric,

miracle, spirit, syrup, tyranny, authority, coral, florist, forest, historic, horoscope, majority, minority,

moral, orange, priority, laurel, quarantine, thorough, courage, nourish.

Arrange, array, arrest, arrive, barricade, erratic, interrupt, serrated, terrific, irregular, irrigation,

torrential, correspond, correct, correlation, curriculum, surrender, surround, hurrah.

Asset, ambassador, casserole, classic, massacre, massive, passage, passenger, delicatessen, essay, essence,

lesson, message, necessity, professor, missile, narcissus, rissole, blossom, colossal, fossil, gossip, possible.

Acid, capacity, pacifist, glacier (US glaishier), decimal, precipice, necessary, recipe, specify, specimen, ,

electricity, explicit, municipal, participate, publicity, simplicity, solicitor, velocity. Chrysalis, sausage.

Fascinate, adolescent, convalescent, crescent, discipline.

Assail, assassin, embassy, assault, assemble, assert, assessment, assign, assist, associate, assort, assume,

cassette, dessert, essential, possess, possibility.

Attic, attitude, batter, battery, chatter, clatter, fatty, matter, patter, pattern, regatta, scatter, shatter, tatter,

latter, better, confetti, jettison, jetty, letter, lettuce, spaghetti, bitten, bitter, glitter, kitten, litter, mitten, pretty,

sitter, titter, twitter, written, bottom, cottage, cotton, forgotten, lottery, motto, otter, potter, butter, button,

clutter, gutter, mutter, mutton, putty, shutter, splutter, stutter, utter.

Atom, baton, catalogue, catapult, category, compatible, lateral, latitude, platinum, platypus, satin,

strategy, athletic, magnetic, metal, petal, tetanus, veteran, yeti, competitive, Brit ish, citizen, city, critical,

pity, literally, obliterate, botany .

Attach, attain, attempt, attend, attention, attorney, attract, attributed, battalion, tattoo, mattress, omelette,

palette, settee.

Blizzard, dizzy, buzzard.

Hazard, lizard, wizard, wizened, lozenge.

Desert, designate, desolate, hesitate, peasant, pheasant, pleasant, present, president, resident, miserable,

prison, risen, visible, visit, closet, deposit, positive .

Scissors.

Doubled consonants in word endings

(pebble, muddle, ruffle..., cliff, well, fuss)

Several dozen words with a short vowel end with a doubled consonant, followed by -le (apple) or ckle

(tickle), but many others do not use this pattern; mm, nn and rr are always followed by -el instead (channel)

and -ssle is spelt mainly -stle (bristle) The basic patterns also have several exceptions.

Bubble. -Double, treble, trouble .

Toddle. Model.


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Tickle. -Nickel.

Apple. - Chapel, triple, couple.

Scuttle. - Subtle.

Fizzle. Chisel.

Trammel. - Camel.

Channel. -Panel.

Barrel. -Laurel.

Hassle. - tassel,

vessel - trestle, wrestle, bristle, gristle, thistle, whistle,

apostle, jostle,

bustle, hustle, rustle. -Muscle/mussel.

-ff, -ll, -ss - (cliff, well, fuss) are used at the end of

many short words, except:

Chef, clef, if, of. Cough, rough, slough, tough, trough;

graph, laugh; bus, gas, plus, us, yes.

E - (bed, bend) - has 64 exceptions, mainly ea:

Bread/bred, breadth, breast, breath, dead, deaf, dealt, death, dread, dreamt, head, health, lead

x2[leed/led], leant, leapt, meant, readx2[reed/red], realm, spread, sweat, thread, threat, wealth. Breakfast,

cleanliness, cleanse, endeavour, feather, heather, heaven, heavy, instead, leather, measure, stealthy,

treacherous, treadmill, treasure, weather.

Friend. Leisure, lieutenant[lesure, leftennant in UK].

Against, said, says, every, Wednesday.

The following are also without a doubled consonant after their short e-sound (as in 'jelly, teddy, penny'):

Jealous, meadow, peasant, pheasant, pleasant, ready, (already), steady, weapon, zealous.

Any, many. Jeopardy, leopard. Berry/bury. Heifer.

Ee / ea / e-e ... (deed, lead, concede, siege, conceive, police,

people, key, ski)

Spelling of the ee-sound ispredictable only when it is

a stressed ending (agree, chimpanzee).

In other words the spellings for it are highly unpredictable,

and 48 words have two spellings.

Bee/be, beech/beach, been/bean, beet/beat, breech/breach, cheep/cheap, creek/creak, deer/dear,

discreet/discrete, eerie/eyrie, eve/eaves, feet/feat, flee/flea, freeze/frieze, jeans/genes, Greece/grease,

heel/heal, hear/here, key/quay, leech/leach, leek/leak, meet/meat, need/knead, pee/pea, peace/piece,


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peek/peak, peel/peal, peer/pier, reed/readx2[reed/red], reek/wreak, reel/real, sealing/ceiling,

seamen/semen, see/sea, seem/seam, seen/scene, serial/cereal, sheer/shear, sheikh/chic, steel/steal,

sweet/suite, tee/tea, teem/team, wee/we, week/weak, wheel/weal.

In UK English also: geezer/geyser, leaver/lever.

The other 360 words with an ee-sound are spelt as follows.

Beef, beer, beetle, between, bleed, bleep, breed, breeze, career, cheek, cheer, cheese, cheetah, creep,

deed, deep, eel, exceed, feeble, feed, feel, fleece, fleet, geese, greed, green, greet, indeed, jeep, jeer, keel,

keen, keep, kneel, meek, needle, peep, pioneer, preen, proceed, proceedings, proceeds, queen, queer, reef,

screech, screen, seed, seek, seep, seesaw, sheep, sheet, sleek, sleep, sleet, sleeve, smithereens, sneer, sneeze,

speech, speed, squeeze, steep, steeple, steer, street, succeed, sweep, sweet, teeth, teetotal, thirteen, tweed,

tweezers, weed, weep, wheedle, wheeze, wildebeest.

Appeal, beacon, bead, beak, beam, beard, beast, beaver, beneath, bleach, bleak, bleat, breathe, cease,

cheat, clean, clear, colleague, conceal, congeal, cream, crease, creature, deal, dean, decrease, defeat,

disease, dream, dreary, each, eager, eagle, ear, ease, east, Easter, eat, fear, feast, feature, freak, gear,

gleam, glean, heap, heat, heath, heathen, heave, increase, leadx2, leaf, league, lean, leap, lease, leash,

least, leave, meagre, meal, mean, measles, near, neat, ordeal, peach, peat, plead, please, pleat, preach,

queasy, reach, really, reap, rear, reason, release, repeat, retreat, reveal, scream, seal, sear, season, seat,

sheaf, sheath, smear, sneak, speak, spear, squeak, squeal, squeamish, steam, streak, stream, teach, teak,

tearx2, tease, theatre, treacle, treason, treat, treaty, veal, wean, weary, weasel, weave, wheat, wreath, year,

yeast, zeal.

Open e (eve, evil, zero): Adhesive, arena, cafeteria, cedar, chameleon, Chinese, comedian, compete,

complete, concrete, convene, convenient, decent, demon, equal, era, even, evil, experience, exterior,

extreme, female, fever, frequent, genie, genius, hero, hyena, imperial, inferior, ingredient, intermediate,

legal, legion, lenient, material, medium, mere, meteor, meter, millipede, mysterious, obedient, period, peter,

polythene, precede, previous, query, recent, recess, region, relay, scheme, sequence, sequin, series, serious,

serum, species, sphere, stampede, strategic, superior, supreme, swede, tedious, theme, theory, these, torpedo,

trapeze, vehicle, Venus, zero.

He, me, she.

Open i:Albino, antique, aubergine, bikini, clementine, fatigue, guillotine, machine, magazine, margarine,

marine, mosquito, plasticine, police, prestige, ravine, regime, routine, sardine, suite, tambourine, tangerine,

trampoline, unique, vaseline, pizza.

Achieve, belief, believe, brief , chief, diesel, field, fiend, fierce, grief, grieve, hygienic, medieval, niece,

pierce, priest, relief , relieve, shield, shriek, siege, thief , thieve, tier, wield, yield.

Caffeine, codeine, protein, seize, weir, weird,

conceive /coneit, deceive /deceit, receive /receipt.

Assorted other variants: People; cathedral, secret; pizza, ski, souvenir; debris.


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-en / -on / -an /-ain /-in - (fasten, certain, apron...)

The unstressed vowelin endings, beforen is spelt mainly e,

but with many exceptions:

Abdomen, alien, awaken, barren, batten/baton, bitten, bracken, brazen, brighten, chicken, children, chosen,

christen, citizen, delicatessen, dozen, driven, eleven, even, fallen, forgotten, frighten, frozen, garden, given,

glisten, golden, happen, heathen, heaven, hidden, hydrogen, kindergarten, kitchen, kitten, laden,

lessen/lesson, lichen, listen, loosen, madden, mitten, often, omen, open, oven, oxygen, pollen, raven, ridden,

ripen, risen, rotten, sadden, seven, sharpen*, sodden, specimen, spoken, stamen, stolen, strengthen, sudden,

sullen, swollen, taken, threaten, token, vixen, warren, women, wooden, woollen, written.

Abandon, apron, bacon, badminton, baron, beacon, beckon, bison, carbon, carton, cauldron, common,

comparison, cordon, cotton, coupon, crayon, crimson, damson, demon, dragon, electron, flagon, gallon,

heron, horizon, iron, jettison, lemon, mason, matron, melon, mutton, nylon, octagon, pardon, pentagon,

person, phenomenon, piston, poison, prison, pylon, python, reason, reckon, ribbon, salmon, salon, Saxon,

season, sermon, siphon, skeleton, summon, talon, treason, venison, wagon, wanton, weapon.

Chameleon, dungeon, luncheon, pigeon, surgeon, truncheon.

Alsatian, amphibian, cardigan, Christian, civilian, comedian, Dalmatian, historian, hooligan, Indonesian,

magician, metropolitan, musician, ocean, optician, organ, orphan, partisan, pedestrian, pelican, republican,

Roman, rowan, ruffian, slogan, suburban, tartan, toucan, turban, urban, utopian, vegetarian, veteran,

woman.

Hurricane.

Bargain, captain, certain, fountain, mountain, porcelain, villain.

Aspirin, basin, bulletin, cabin, catkin, coffin, cousin, dolphin, gherkin, goblin, javelin, origin, paraff in,

penguin, pumpkin, raisin, robin, satin, sequin, tarpaulin, urchin, vermin.

-ence/-ance (commence / ambulance) The spelling of this

unstressed endings is unpredictable:

Absence, adolescence, circumference, commence, competence, conference, confidence, consequence,

difference, essence, evidence, existence, experience, independence, indifference, influence, innocence,

insolence, intelligence, interference, licence, occurrence, offence, presence, providence, reference, science,

sentence, sequence, silence, violence, conscience, patience.Abundance, acceptance, accordance, alliance, allowance, ambulance, appearance, appliance, assurance,

balance, distance, endurance, finance, fragrance, guidance, ignorance, importance, instance, insurance,

maintenance, nuisance, performance, resistance, significance, substance, vengeance.

-ent / -ant - (competent/ protestant)

The main spelling for this unstressed ending is -ent,

in at least 107 words,


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with 35 exceptions:

Assistant, brilliant, covenant, defiant, distant, elephant, fragrant, gallant, giant, ignorant, important, infant,

instant, jubilant, lieutenant, merchant, pageant, peasant, pheasant, pleasant, protestant, relevant, remnant,

restaurant, sergeant, sextant, truant, tyrant, valiant, warrant.

Applicant, descant, signif icant, vacant. Extravagant.

er /ur / ir / ear ... - (berth, burst, bird, earn, worth)

The stressed er-sound is spelt very unpredictably.

Berth, fern, her, herb, herd, jerk, nerve, perch, serve, stern, swerve, term, verb, verge, verse, were.

Advertisement, alert, alternative, anniversary, assert, certain, commercial, concern, confer, conserve,

conversion, deserve, dessert, detergent, determine, emerge, eternal, exert, expert, external, fertile, germinate,

hermit, impertinent, insert, interpret, jersey, kernel, merchant, mercury, mercy, observe, perfect, perfume,

permanent, permit, person, pertinent, preserve, refer, reserve, reverse, sermon, serpent, terminate, termite,

thermal, transfer, universal, university, verdict, vermin, version, versus, vertical.

Blur, burden, burglar, burgle, burly, burn, burr, burst, church, churn, curfew, curl, curlew, curse, curt,

curve, disturb, excursion, fur, furnish, furry, further, gurgle, hurdle, hurl, hurt, hurtle, incursion, lurch,

lurk, murder, murmur, nasturtium, nurse, nursery, occur, purchase, purple, purpose, purr, purse, return, slur,

spur, spurn, spurt, sturdy, suburb, surf, surface, surge, surgeon, surgery, surname, surplus, survey, Thursday,

topsy-turvy, turban, turbine, turf, turkey, turmoil, turn, turnip, turquoise, turtle, urban, urchin, urge, urn,

yurt.

Birch, bird, birth, chirp, circle, circuit, circular, circumstances, circus, confirm, dirt, encircle, fir, firm,

first, flirt, girder, girdle, girl, mirth, shirk, shirt, sir, skirmish, skirt, smirk, squirm, squirt, stir, swirl, third,

thirst, thirteen, thirty, twirl, virtually, virtue, whirl, whirring.

Earl, early, earn, earnest, earth, heard, learn, pearl, rehearse, search, yearn.

Word, work, world, worm, worse, worship, worst, worth.

Attorney. Courtesy, journal, journey.

-er /-or /-our... - (after, actor, nectar, armour;

butcher, culture)

The unstressed -er ending is spelt -er in at least 315 commonwords, but over 200 words use other spellings:

The different endings sound very much alike in ordinary speech, but it helps to exaggerate their pronunciation

when learning to spell them. This leaves many people believing that they sound different too, but very few

really do.

Center, fiber, oger, saber, theater, kilometer are spelt

centre, fibre, ogre, sabre, theatre, kilometre

in UK English, where there is also differentiation between


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metre (measure of 100cm) and meter(measuring device).

Actor, advisor, alligator, ambassador, ancestor, anchor, assessor, author, boaconstrictor, calculator, castor,

conductor, conveyor, corridor, decorator, demonstrator, director, doctor, editor, elevator, emperor, equator,

error, escalator, factor, gladiator, governor, indicator, interior, inventor, investors, junior, juror, legislators,

liquor, major, manor, mayor, minor, mirror, monitor, motor, navigator, operator, orator, prior, professor,

proprietor, radiator, razor, rector, refrigerator, respirator, rotor, scissors, senator, senior, sensors, solicitor,

spectator, sponsor, successor, superior, supervisor, surveyor, survivor, tailor, tenor, terror, tractor, traitor,

tutor, victor, visitor, warrior.

In American English the following are also with or, but our in UK:

Armour, behaviour, colour, favour, flavour, glamour, harbour, honour, humour, labour, neighbour, odour,

parlour, rumour, saviour, savour, splendour, tumour.

Angular, burglar, caterpillar, cellar, circular, collar, dollar, familiar, grammar, jaguar, liar, lunar,

muscular, nectar, particular, peculiar, pillar, polar, poplar, popular, regular, scholar, secular, similar, solar,

spectacular, sugar, vicar, vulgar.

Answer, chauffeur, jodhpurs, martyr.

Badger, danger, endanger, ginger, manager, manger, merger, passenger, stranger, teenager.

Conjure, exposure, injure, leisure, measure, pleasure, treasure, procedure.

Butcher, catcher, pitcher.

Adventure, agriculture, architecture, capture, caricature, creature, culture, departure, expenditure,

feature, fracture, furniture, future, gesture, lecture, legislature, literature, manufacture, miniature, mixture,

nature, picture, puncture, scripture, signature, structure, temperature, torture, venture, vulture .

In UK English an unstresseda ending is pronounced much like aner one too:

Algebra, antenna, area, arena, armada, asthma, banana, cafeteria, camera, capita, china, cinema, cobra,

dahlia, data, dilemma, diploma, drama, era, extra, formula, gala, gondola, gorilla, gymkhana, hydrangea,

hyena, idea, larva, lava, llama, malaria, militia, nebula, opera, orchestra, panda, panorama, peninsula,

piazza, piranha, pizza, pneumonia, propaganda, pupa, quota, regatta, replica, soda, sofa, stigma, tarantula,

tiara, tuba, tundra, umbrella, utopia, vanilla, veranda, via, villa, yoga, zebra. Cheetah.

F (

fun; sni

ff),

but not in the following:

Phantom, pharaoh, phase, pheasant, phenomenon, philosophy, physics, physiological, phone, photograph,

phrase;

alphabet, amphibian, asphyxiate, apostrophe, catastrophe, cellophane, decipher, dolphin, elephant,

emphasise, nephew, orphan, pamphlet, prophet, sapphire, siphon, sophisticated, sphere, symphony, trophy,

typhoon;

Graph, Joseph, nymph, triumph.


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Laugh, draught.

Cough, trough, enough, rough, sloughx2 [slou/sluf], tough.

Chef, clef , if, of.

-ff- / -f- (offer profit) - unpredictable.


G - (garden; get, gift) - Some words have extra letters after g

to show that it should be pronounced as in

garden, and not with the j-sound, of gentle giant:

Gherkin; spaghetti. Guess, guest, guerrillas.

Guillotine, guilt, guinea-pig, guitar, disguise, guide; dinghy, guy.

Hard g before e, i and y without extra letters:

Gear, geese, get, geyser, anger, eager, finger, hunger, linger, tiger, hamburger, forget, target.

Giddy, giggle, gild, gills, gilt, girder, girdle, girl, give; begin, corgi, gymkhana.

With totally surplus extra letters after g (cf. got big):

Ghastly, guarantee, guard, ghost, ghoulish, yogurt/yoghurt.

Catalogue, dialogue, epilogue, synagogue. Colleague, fatigue, league. Meringue, tongue .

-ge, -gi- - (age, engine, revenge) - are the main spellings for a

j-sound inside words and in endings, except in:

Adjective, inject, object, objection, project, reject, subject. Majesty, majestic.Spinach, sandwich (in UK pronunciation).

(For gentle/jester see J.)

-gg- / -g- - (shaggy dragon) unpredictable.


H (hot, hoot) with very few exceptions:

Who, whom, whose, whooping. Whole, wholly.

H can cause reading problems by being silent(school, ghastly, when), as shown under C, G and W.

I (sit)) with at least 53 exceptions,

mainly y which has a variable sound (typical type)

except:

Build, built, busy, English, pretty, sieve, vineyard, women.

Abyss, crypt, crystal, cyclical, cygnet, cymbals, cyst, eucalyptus, gym, hymn, hypnotise, lynch, lynx,


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mystery, myth, Olympics, rhythm, syllable, symbol, symmetry, sympathy, symptom, synchronise, syndicate,

syndrome, synthesis, system.

The following words should really have a doubled consonant too (like syllable and symmetry)

Chrysalis, cylinder, cynical, lyric, physics, synagogue, synonym, syrup, typical, tyranny .

With y for an unstressed i-sound:

Analysis, bicycle, chrysanthemum, hysterical, pyjamas, platypus, synopsis, syringe.

i-e - (bite) - with quite a few exceptions:

I /eye.

Bite/bight(bay), knight/night, lite/light, mite/might, rite/right/write, slight/sleight(of hand), sight/site/cite,

alight, blight, bright, delight, fight, flight, fright, frighten, lightning, mighty, tight.

Height; indict.

Behind, bind, blind, find, grind, hind, kind, mind, ninth, pint, rind, windx2;

Bible, bridle, disciple, idle, rifle, stifle, trif le. (cf. libel, idol - biblical).

Child, mild, wild, whilst; island; climb (cf. children, mildew)

Tire/tyre, asylum, cycle, cypress, dyke, dynamic, dynamite, dynamo, hyacinth, hydrangea, hydrogen, hyena,

hygrometer, hypothesis, nylon, paralyse, psychology, pylon, python, rhyme, scythe, style, thyroid, type,

tyrant.

Eider-down, Fahrenheit, kaleidoscope.

Either, neither(UK pronunciation). Choir. Resign, sign.

In- / en- - (increase, enquire) - mostly in-,

but:

Enable, enamel, encamp, enchant, encircle, enclose, encounter, encourage, encrusted, endanger, endeavour,

endure, engage, enforce, engrave, engulf, enjoy, enlarge, enlist, enquire, enrage, enrol, entangle, entertain,

enthusiastic, entire, entitled, environment.

Some people make an effort to pronounce the unstresseden- prefix as en- rather than in-, but in most

peoples normal speech they sound the same:

Inevitable, infect, inferior, inflate, inform, infuriate, inhabit, inhale, inject, inoculate, inquire, insane, insist,

insolent, insult, intact, intend...

J (jam,job,jug)

Before a, o and u the spelling is completely regular,

but unpredictable before e, i and y:

Jelly, jest, jet, jettison, jetty, jealous, jerk, jersey; jeans, jeep, jeer, Jew, jewel.

Jiffy, jig, jigsaw, jilt, jingle. Jive.

Gem, general, generation, generous, genie, genius, gentle, genuine, geography, geranium, germ, gesture.


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Gin, ginger, gipsy/gypsy, giraffe, gym, gyp. Giant, gyroscope.

K- is used:

1) before e and i (kept, kitten, make),

2) after long vowels (seek, speak) and

3) after consonants (milk, ankle, mark, risk),

except:

1) Chemical, orchestra; a

why is english spelling exceptionally irregular,

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