Spelling rules and patterns · Grade 5
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).