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<strong>Spelling</strong> rules<br />
<strong>Spelling</strong><br />
a<br />
cat<br />
a–e<br />
rake<br />
are<br />
mare<br />
b<br />
ball<br />
d<br />
dog<br />
e<br />
met<br />
ee<br />
beef<br />
ir<br />
thirsty<br />
er<br />
father<br />
f<br />
fish<br />
g<br />
got<br />
i<br />
hit<br />
i–e<br />
kite<br />
j<br />
jam<br />
k<br />
kind<br />
l<br />
long<br />
n<br />
neck<br />
o<br />
pot<br />
oa<br />
boat<br />
ai<br />
plaid<br />
ai<br />
pain<br />
air<br />
stair<br />
bb<br />
hobbit<br />
dd<br />
odd<br />
a<br />
many<br />
ea<br />
team<br />
er<br />
serve<br />
ar<br />
dollar<br />
ff<br />
fluff<br />
gg<br />
egg<br />
e<br />
England<br />
y<br />
sky<br />
ay<br />
play<br />
ear<br />
bear<br />
ed<br />
filled<br />
ea<br />
bread<br />
y<br />
nappy<br />
ur<br />
nurse<br />
ir<br />
elixir<br />
gh<br />
laugh<br />
gh<br />
ghoul<br />
o<br />
women<br />
ie<br />
tie<br />
a<br />
crazy<br />
ere<br />
where<br />
u<br />
bury<br />
ey<br />
key<br />
ear<br />
earth<br />
or<br />
author<br />
ph<br />
photo<br />
gu<br />
guess<br />
u<br />
busy<br />
i<br />
blind<br />
g<br />
gent, giant and gypsy<br />
c<br />
coat<br />
ll<br />
fell<br />
nn<br />
runny<br />
a<br />
swan<br />
o–e<br />
tone<br />
a<br />
ball and walk<br />
oi<br />
coil<br />
p<br />
pop<br />
s<br />
sick<br />
sh<br />
ship<br />
t<br />
top<br />
u<br />
hug<br />
oo<br />
soon<br />
v<br />
vase<br />
x<br />
fox<br />
you<br />
you<br />
z<br />
zero<br />
www .prim-ed.com<br />
oy<br />
toy<br />
pp<br />
puppy<br />
ss<br />
miss<br />
ce<br />
ocean<br />
tt<br />
kitten<br />
o<br />
come<br />
ew<br />
shrew<br />
f<br />
of<br />
cks<br />
rocks<br />
ew<br />
few<br />
zz<br />
buzz<br />
ck<br />
truck<br />
kn<br />
knee<br />
ow<br />
flow<br />
aw<br />
paw<br />
uoy<br />
buoy<br />
cc<br />
acclaim<br />
gn<br />
gnat<br />
o<br />
open<br />
or<br />
fork<br />
ea<br />
break<br />
eir<br />
their<br />
ie<br />
friend<br />
ie<br />
mischief<br />
or<br />
work<br />
our<br />
harbour<br />
ft<br />
often<br />
gue<br />
catalogue<br />
ui<br />
build<br />
igh<br />
high<br />
dge<br />
hedge<br />
ch<br />
Christmas<br />
ey<br />
they<br />
ayer<br />
prayer<br />
ai<br />
said<br />
ei<br />
rein<br />
ay<br />
says<br />
i<br />
ski and machine<br />
our<br />
journal<br />
ur<br />
occur<br />
lf<br />
calf<br />
y<br />
hymn<br />
uy<br />
buy<br />
yr<br />
myrtle<br />
yr<br />
martyr<br />
ie<br />
sieve<br />
ye<br />
rye<br />
gg<br />
exaggerate<br />
lk<br />
yolk<br />
pn<br />
pneumonia<br />
oe<br />
toe<br />
au<br />
sauce<br />
c<br />
cent, circus and cycle<br />
s<br />
sure<br />
th<br />
Thomas<br />
oo<br />
flood<br />
oe<br />
shoe<br />
ph<br />
Stephen<br />
iew<br />
view<br />
s<br />
has<br />
Common spelling for sounds<br />
ci<br />
special<br />
ed<br />
tapped<br />
ou<br />
trouble<br />
ue<br />
blue<br />
ue<br />
cue<br />
ss<br />
scissor<br />
si<br />
tension<br />
ough<br />
through<br />
ough<br />
though<br />
oor<br />
floor<br />
sc<br />
science<br />
cq<br />
acquire<br />
ew<br />
sew<br />
ore<br />
store<br />
sci<br />
conscience<br />
u–e<br />
rule<br />
yu ueue<br />
yule queue<br />
x<br />
xylophone<br />
eigh<br />
weigh<br />
ar<br />
star<br />
ch<br />
chick<br />
eo<br />
leopard<br />
e<br />
equal<br />
re<br />
metre<br />
eigh<br />
height<br />
di<br />
soldier<br />
qu<br />
liquor<br />
m<br />
me<br />
eau<br />
beau<br />
oar<br />
board<br />
ps<br />
psychology<br />
ui<br />
fruit<br />
eu<br />
feud<br />
ch<br />
machine<br />
th<br />
thing<br />
o<br />
who<br />
eau<br />
beauty<br />
aigh<br />
straight<br />
a<br />
path<br />
tch<br />
catch<br />
ei<br />
heifer<br />
ei<br />
receive<br />
eur<br />
amateur<br />
ai<br />
aisle<br />
mm<br />
summer<br />
et<br />
crochet<br />
ear<br />
heart<br />
tu<br />
future<br />
eo<br />
people<br />
is<br />
island<br />
mb<br />
limb<br />
au<br />
gauge<br />
au<br />
laugh<br />
e–e<br />
fete<br />
er<br />
sergeant<br />
ti te<br />
question righteous<br />
ay<br />
quay<br />
h<br />
hat<br />
lm<br />
calm<br />
ng<br />
song, ring, bang and hung<br />
eo<br />
yeoman<br />
ough<br />
bought<br />
r<br />
ran<br />
st<br />
listen<br />
ti<br />
station<br />
oo<br />
took<br />
ou<br />
croup<br />
w<br />
will<br />
y<br />
yet<br />
z<br />
azure<br />
oo<br />
brooch<br />
augh<br />
taught<br />
ou<br />
house<br />
rr<br />
sorry<br />
ou<br />
should<br />
ar<br />
war<br />
ow<br />
now<br />
wr<br />
write<br />
th<br />
then<br />
u<br />
pull<br />
oeu<br />
manoeuvre<br />
wh<br />
wheat<br />
i<br />
onion<br />
s<br />
measure<br />
u<br />
quick<br />
oe<br />
phoenix<br />
wh<br />
who<br />
mn<br />
autumn<br />
ngue<br />
tongue<br />
our<br />
four<br />
ough<br />
bough<br />
rh<br />
rhythm<br />
the<br />
breathe<br />
o<br />
wolf<br />
o<br />
choir<br />
j<br />
hallelujah<br />
si<br />
division<br />
ge<br />
garage<br />
Prefix<br />
A ‘prefix’ is a word part<br />
added to the beginning of<br />
a word. It can change the<br />
meaning of that word.<br />
Prefix Meaning Example<br />
Suffix Meaning Example<br />
a– on, at, up, out, to ashore, asleep, ahead<br />
a–, ab– away from absent<br />
after– following afternoon, afterthought<br />
ante– before antenatal<br />
anti– against antiseptic<br />
auto– self autobiography<br />
bi– two bicycle<br />
centi– one hundredth centimetre<br />
circum– around circumference<br />
co–, com–,<br />
con–<br />
together, with<br />
companion, conflict<br />
contra– against contrary, contradiction<br />
de– down, away descend<br />
deci– one tenth decimal<br />
dif–, dis– apart from, not different, disagree<br />
down– downwards downfall, downpour<br />
e–, ex– former, out of export, emigrate<br />
en–, em–<br />
to make, in, into,<br />
on<br />
enclose, enrich, embark<br />
extra– outside, beyond extraordinary<br />
fore– in front, before forehand, foreword<br />
hydro– water hydrofoil, hydroelectricity<br />
il–, im–, in–, ir–<br />
not<br />
illegal, incorrect,<br />
impossible, irregular<br />
im–, in– into, in inspect, inland, immerse<br />
inter– between, among interact, intersection<br />
kilo– 1000 x greater kilogram<br />
mid– middle midday, midnight<br />
mis– wrong misfortune<br />
multi– many multicultural, multiply<br />
non– not nonsense<br />
over–<br />
over, beyond,<br />
too much<br />
overgrown, overcharge<br />
post– after postpone, postscript<br />
pre– before precaution, prefix<br />
re– again, back redo, replace, return<br />
pro– for proceed, produce<br />
sub– under subway, submarine<br />
super– over supermarket, supersonic<br />
tele– far away telescope, television<br />
trans– across transport<br />
un– not unfair, uneven, unselfish<br />
under– under, beneath underline, underneath<br />
Suffix<br />
–able tending to, able to enjoyable, movable<br />
–age<br />
–al<br />
state of being, place<br />
of, result of<br />
relating to,<br />
belonging to<br />
wastage, shrinkage,<br />
orphanage<br />
electrical, mechanical<br />
–an pertaining to comedian, Australian<br />
–ance,<br />
–ence<br />
–ary, –ery<br />
Viewing Sample<br />
A ‘suffix’ is a word part added to the end<br />
of a word. Sometimes when suffixes are<br />
added, the spelling of the base word<br />
changes; e.g. happy—happily.<br />
state of being<br />
that which, place<br />
where<br />
excellence,<br />
disappearance<br />
bakery, parliamentary<br />
–ate to make donate, separate<br />
–en having nature of fallen, broken, golden<br />
–en to make or become widen, whiten, flatten<br />
–er one who, that which worker, teacher<br />
–er more (in degree) taller, faster, smarter<br />
–ese belonging to Chinese, Japanese<br />
–est most (in degree) cleanest, loudest<br />
–ful full of cheerful, helpful<br />
–fy make or form into identify, notify<br />
–hood<br />
state of rank<br />
childhood,<br />
neighbourhood<br />
–ible tending to, able to sensible, possible<br />
–ic like, belonging to athletic, artistic<br />
–ion act, process, state action, education<br />
–ish like whitish, foolish, childish<br />
–ist one who artist, journalist<br />
–ive having nature of active<br />
–less without worthless, helpless<br />
–ling small, little duckling, gosling<br />
–ly in the manner of happily, sadly, quietly<br />
–ment<br />
resulting state,<br />
action<br />
treatment,<br />
employment<br />
–most most (in degree) topmost, northernmost<br />
–ness<br />
quality or state of<br />
being<br />
www .prim-ed.com<br />
weakness, sickness<br />
–or person who actor, doctor<br />
–ous state or condition nervous, dangerous<br />
–ship state of being hardship, friendship<br />
–ure act, process pleasure, adventure<br />
6802RE spelling.indd 1<br />
8/12/05 9:46:19 AM
Rules<br />
‘i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’<br />
with the sound of ‘eeee’:<br />
e.g. brief; receive<br />
(there are some exceptions)<br />
Short ‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’ and ‘u’<br />
are followed by ‘–ck’ (in one<br />
syllable words):<br />
e.g. duck; sock; track; quick<br />
When ‘c’ or ‘g’ are followed<br />
by ‘a’, ‘o’ or ‘u’, they have a<br />
hard sound:<br />
e.g. colour; gold<br />
When ‘c’ or ‘g’ are followed<br />
by ‘e’ or ‘i’ they usually have<br />
a soft sound:<br />
e.g. cinema; germ<br />
When ‘c’ is followed by ‘y’ it<br />
also has a soft sound:<br />
e.g. cycle<br />
For the hard ‘k’ sound, ‘k’<br />
goes in front of ‘e’ and ‘i’; ‘c’<br />
goes in front of ‘a’, ‘o’ and ‘u’:<br />
e.g. kelp, kick; cat, cot, cut<br />
‘k’, ‘g’ and ‘p’ are silent at the<br />
beginning of a word if followed<br />
by a consonant (usually ‘n’):<br />
e.g. knee; gnaw; pneumonia<br />
The consonants ‘f’, ‘l’ and ‘s’<br />
are doubled at the end of most<br />
words of one syllable:<br />
e.g. ball; cliff; kiss<br />
Most words of two or more<br />
syllables ending in ‘l’ have only<br />
one fi nal ‘l’:<br />
e.g. parallel; initial<br />
When a word ends in an ‘e’, the ‘e’ is<br />
usually kept when a suffi x beginning with<br />
a consonant is added:<br />
e.g. price + less = priceless;<br />
Usually, the ‘e’ is dropped when adding a<br />
suffi x beginning with a vowel:<br />
e.g. love + able = lovable<br />
When adding ‘y’ to a word ending in ‘e’,<br />
drop the ‘e’ before adding ‘y’:<br />
e.g. ease–easy; noise–noisy<br />
Change the fi nal ‘y’ to ‘i’ before adding<br />
any suffix, except with ‘–ing’ or when ‘y’<br />
follows a vowel:<br />
e.g. carry–carried; carry–carrying;<br />
sway–swayed<br />
Words ending in ‘–ce’ and ‘–ge’ drop<br />
the ‘–e’ when ‘–ing’ is added, but retain<br />
the ‘–e’ when ‘–able’ and ‘–ous’ are<br />
added:<br />
e.g. notice; noticing; noticeable<br />
A short vowel sound should always be<br />
followed by two consonants when adding<br />
‘–y’, ‘–ed’, ‘–ing’ or ‘–er’:<br />
e.g. run–running; jump–jumper<br />
Words which end in a single consonant<br />
preceded by a short vowel sound, double<br />
the consonant when a suffi x beginning<br />
with a vowel is added:<br />
e.g. bat; batted; batting; batter<br />
Making words plural:<br />
(a) Just add ‘–s’ to most nouns and words<br />
ending in ‘–ful’:<br />
e.g. biscuits; handfuls<br />
(b) Add ‘–es’ to nouns ending in ‘–ch’, ‘–sh’,<br />
‘–o’, ‘–s’, ‘–x’ or ‘–z’:<br />
e.g. classes; buzzes; foxes; potatoes;<br />
arches; leashes (note: zeros)<br />
(c) Change ‘f’ to ‘v’ for words ending in ‘–f’<br />
or ‘–fe’:<br />
e.g. calf–calves; wife–wives<br />
(note: roofs)<br />
(d) Some words change their vowels:<br />
e.g. man–men; tooth–teeth<br />
www .prim-ed.com<br />
It is important to note that there are often exceptions to a ‘rule’.<br />
Therefore, it is a good idea to check your dictionary if in doubt<br />
of the correct spelling.<br />
Words which end in a single<br />
consonant preceded by a long vowel,<br />
do not double the consonant when a<br />
suffi x beginning with a vowel is added:<br />
e.g. beat; beaten; beating; beater<br />
Adjectives ending in ‘–le’ after a<br />
consonant form adverbs by dropping<br />
the ‘e’ and adding a ‘y’:<br />
e.g. gentle; gentl–y<br />
When ‘–ice’ or ‘–ise’ are used at the<br />
end of words, ‘–ice’ is used for nouns;<br />
‘is’ is a verb and, therefore, ‘–ise’ is<br />
used for verbs:<br />
e.g. notice, practice (nouns);<br />
exercise, practise (verbs)<br />
Words ending in a single consonant<br />
other than ‘l’, but not accented on<br />
the last syllable, do not double the<br />
consonant when a suffi x is added:<br />
e.g. gallop; galloper; galloping<br />
When the words ‘all’,, ‘full’,, ‘well’,,<br />
‘fill’ and ‘till’ are used as suffi xes or<br />
prefixes, one ‘l’ is dropped:<br />
e.g. already; fulfil<br />
The prefi xes ‘dis–’ and ‘mis–’ never<br />
drop their ‘s’, even when added to a<br />
word beginning with ‘s’:<br />
e.g. dis–ability; dis–satisfied<br />
Making words past tense:<br />
(a) Just add ‘–ed’ or ‘–d’:<br />
e.g. trace–traced;<br />
talk–talked<br />
(b) Verbs with a short vowel sound<br />
followed by a consonant have<br />
the fi nal letter doubled:<br />
e.g. fit–fitted; trap–trapped<br />
(c) Some words use ‘–t’:<br />
e.g. weep–wept; sleep–slept<br />
(d) Some words change their<br />
spelling:<br />
e.g. rise–rose; run–ran<br />
Homophones<br />
‘Homophones’ are words that sound the<br />
same but have different meanings and often<br />
different spellings. Sometimes, these words<br />
are used incorrectly because they are easily<br />
confused.<br />
allowed/aloud gait/gate road/rode/rowed<br />
altar/alter guessed/guest rote/wrote<br />
aren’t/aunt hail/hale sail/sale<br />
ate/eight hair/hare sauce/source<br />
bare/bear hear/here saw/sore/soar<br />
berry/bury heard/herd scene/seen<br />
berth/birth hoarse/horse sea/see<br />
blew/blue hole/whole seam/seem<br />
board/bored hour/our sew/so/sow<br />
boarder/border idle/idol shore/sure<br />
bough/bow key/quay sight/site<br />
boy/buoy knead/need/kneed son/sun<br />
brake/break knew/new stair/stare<br />
buy/by/bye knight/night stake/steak<br />
caught/court know/no stationary/stationery<br />
ceiling/sealing lead/led steal/steel<br />
cent/scent/sent load/lode storey/story<br />
cereal/serial made/maid straight/strait<br />
cheap/cheep main/mane tail/tale<br />
check/cheque mare/mayor team/teem<br />
chews/choose meat/meet their/there/they’re<br />
coarse/course medal/meddle threw/through<br />
complement/compliment muscle/mussel throne/thrown<br />
council/counsel none/nun to/too/two<br />
currant/current one/won vain/vane/vein<br />
dessert/desert paced/paste waist/waste<br />
die/dye pair/pare/pear wait/weight<br />
faint/feint paw/poor/pore/pour weak/week<br />
fair/fare peace/piece weal/wheel<br />
fate/fete plain/plane wear/where<br />
feat/feet practice/practise weather/wether/whether<br />
flaw/floor rap/wrap which/witch<br />
foul/fowl right/rite/write wood/would<br />
Tips and hints<br />
Try spelling new<br />
words.<br />
Picture what you think<br />
the new word looks like.<br />
Write it down in<br />
different ways.<br />
Choose which one you<br />
think looks right.<br />
Check the spelling in a<br />
dictionary.<br />
Use spelling tricks<br />
like:<br />
mnemonics; patterns;<br />
word games.<br />
Use ‘syllables’<br />
to help you.<br />
Words are made<br />
up of syllables.<br />
Every syllable<br />
contains one<br />
vowel sound.<br />
Some words only<br />
have one syllable,<br />
others have many.<br />
Always say the<br />
word in syllables<br />
when writing it:<br />
e.g. hos/pit/al<br />
Make sure you<br />
have the correct<br />
pronunciation.<br />
Use a dictionary<br />
to check your<br />
spelling.<br />
Keep your own<br />
personal spelling<br />
dictionary.<br />
100<br />
www .prim-ed.com<br />
Difficult words to spell<br />
accommodation definite material reference<br />
actually development minute relief<br />
although disappear mischief remember<br />
always disappoint much research<br />
answer does necessary Saturday<br />
argument embarrass nervous secondary<br />
audience enough often separate<br />
autumn enquire outrageous should<br />
beautiful environment parallel shoulder<br />
beginning explanation participation sincerely<br />
believe February pattern skilful<br />
beneath forty people stomach<br />
business friend performance straight<br />
caught half permanent strength<br />
chocolate health persuade success<br />
climb height piece surely<br />
colour imaginary possession surprise<br />
column industrial potential through<br />
coming interesting preparation tomorrow<br />
concentration interrupt prioritise Tuesday<br />
conclusion issue process unfortunately<br />
consequence jealous questionnaire Wednesday<br />
country know queue weight<br />
daughter lonely reaction whole<br />
decision marriage receive women<br />
Viewing Sample<br />
Use the strategy of:<br />
Look at the word.<br />
Say the word to yourself.<br />
Cover the word, then try to<br />
picture it in your head.<br />
Write the word without<br />
looking.<br />
Check your spelling.<br />
Master the rules and learn<br />
the exceptions to them.<br />
<strong>Spelling</strong><br />
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or<br />
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying<br />
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval<br />
system, without written permission from the publisher.<br />
<strong>PR</strong>–6802<br />
Copyright Information<br />
ISBN 1-84654-023-2<br />
6802RE spelling.indd 2<br />
8/12/05 9:46:33 AM