Spelling rules and patterns

English spelling has patterns that help you spell thousands of words. Learn the rule, then learn the few words that break it: ⟦believe⟧, ⟦receive⟧, ⟦city⟧, ⟦station⟧, ⟦famous⟧, ⟦comfortable⟧.

Key facts

• ⟦i⟧ before ⟦e⟧ when the sound is ⟦ee⟧: ⟦believe⟧, ⟦field⟧, ⟦piece⟧. After ⟦c⟧ it is ⟦ei⟧: ⟦receive⟧, ⟦ceiling⟧. Some words break the rule: ⟦weird⟧, ⟦seize⟧, ⟦protein⟧.
• Soft ⟦c⟧ and ⟦g⟧: before ⟦e⟧, ⟦i⟧ or ⟦y⟧, ⟦c⟧ says ⟦s⟧ (⟦city⟧, ⟦face⟧, ⟦bicycle⟧) and ⟦g⟧ often says ⟦j⟧ (⟦giant⟧, ⟦gentle⟧, ⟦energy⟧). Elsewhere they are hard: ⟦cat⟧, ⟦goat⟧.
• The ⟦shun⟧ sound at the end: ⟦-tion⟧ is the most common (⟦station⟧); ⟦-sion⟧ after ⟦d⟧, ⟦de⟧ or ⟦se⟧ (⟦decide⟧ → ⟦decision⟧); ⟦-ssion⟧ after ⟦ss⟧ or ⟦mit⟧ (⟦discuss⟧ → ⟦discussion⟧); ⟦-cian⟧ for people (⟦music⟧ → ⟦musician⟧).
• ⟦-ous⟧ means full of: ⟦danger⟧ → ⟦dangerous⟧, ⟦fame⟧ → ⟦famous⟧ (drop the ⟦e⟧), ⟦courage⟧ → ⟦courageous⟧ (keep the ⟦e⟧ so the ⟦g⟧ stays soft), ⟦vary⟧ → ⟦various⟧.
• ⟦-able⟧ usually goes on a complete word (⟦enjoy⟧ → ⟦enjoyable⟧, ⟦comfort⟧ → ⟦comfortable⟧); ⟦-ible⟧ usually goes on a part that is not a word (⟦possible⟧, ⟦terrible⟧, ⟦visible⟧).

Worked examples