Learning English

Some simple spelling rules

People often say that English spelling is really irregular and complicated. That's not entirely true as there is in fact a lot of consistency in English spelling. Here are a few of the more regular spelling guidelines. Please note that these are guidelines only and you may still come across exceptions.

Words ending in the sound /ʤ/

There are no English words that end in the letter j. If a word has this sound at the end the spelling will be ge.

• rage, cage, huge, wedge

If the word contains a short vowel sound, the ge usually has a silent d in front.

• hedge, bridge, wedge

Words ending in the sound /v/

There are no English words that end in the letter v (except some acronyms, abbreviations or names). There will usually be an e after the v.

• gave, save, have, shove

Read the text and complete the activity

C or K

If the sound /k/ is followed by the vowel sounds /æ/, /ɒ/ or /ʌ/, the spelling of the /k/ sound will be c.

• cat, cot, cut

If /k/ is followed by /i/ or /e/, then the spelling of the /k/ sound will be k.

• kiss, kept

Words ending in the sound /k/ are spelt -ke if the sound before the /k/ is a long vowel sound.

• cake, joke, strike

If the vowel sound is short and immediately before the /k/ sound the spelling will be ck.

• sick, track, lock, luck
  
  (Note the word trek is an exception to this rule)

If the word has more than one syllable and the last sound is /k/, the spelling will be c

• panic, picnic, traffic

(Note the word attack is an exception to this rule)

When making a gerund or present participle of words that end in c, add k before adding ing.

• panicking, picnicking, trafficking

In the middle of a word if there is a /k/ sound, the spelling will be c after a vowel sound and k after a consonant sound.

• locate, correct, dictation
  basket, blanket, ankle

To do

Use these rules to decide if the words in the quiz are spelt correctly or not.

Next

Do you know 'you're' from 'your', 'their' from 'there' and 'it's' from 'its'? These words are called homophones and you can find out more about them in the next activity.