Spelling Rules
Spelling Rule |
Example Words |
Useful links and worksheets |
The sound spelt as ge and dge at the end of words, and sometimes spelt as g or j elsewhere in words before e, i and y |
badge, edge, bridge, age, huge, change, gem, giant, magic, giraffe, jacket, jar, jog, join, adjust |
|
The /s/ sound spelt c before e, i and y |
race, ice, cell, city, fancy |
Cinderella Story |
The /n/ sound spelt kn and (less often) gn at the beginning of words |
knock, know, knee, gnat, gnaw |
Silent "K" |
The /r/ sound spelt wr at the beginning of words |
write, written, wrote, wrong, wrap |
"WR" worksheet |
The /l/ sound spelt –le at the end of words |
table, apple, bottle, little, middle |
"le" ending worksheet |
The /l/ sound spelt el |
camel, tunnel, squirrel, |
el worksheet |
The /l/ sound spelt –al at the end of words |
metal, pedal, capital, hospital, animal |
al worksheet |
Words ending –il |
pencil, fossil, nostril |
il worksheet |
The /aɪ/ sound spelt –y at the end of words |
cry, fly, dry, try, reply, July |
|
Adding –es to nouns and verbs ending in –y |
flies, tries, replies, copies, babies, carries |
the Y rule |
Adding –ed, –ing, –er and –est to a root word ending in –y with a consonant before it |
copied, copier, happier, happiest, cried, replied …but copying, crying, replying Exceptions skiing and taxiing. |
Y rule crossword |
Adding the endings –ing, –ed, –er, –est and –y to words ending in –e with a consonant before it |
hiking, hiked, hiker, nicer, nicest, shiny |
|
Adding –ing, –ed, –er, –est and –y to words of one syllable ending in a single consonant letter after a single vowel letter |
patting, patted, humming, hummed, dropping, dropped, sadder, saddest, fatter, fattest, runner, runny |
worksheet |
The /or/ sound spelt as a before l and ll. |
all, ball, call, walk, talk, always |
|
The sound o |
other, mother, brother, nothing, Monday |
|
The /ee/ sound spelt –ey |
key, donkey, monkey, chimney, valley |
|
The /o/ sound spelt a after w and qu |
want, watch, wander, quantity, squash |
|
The /er/ sound spelt or after w |
word, work, worm, world, worth |
|
The /or/ sound spelt ar after w |
war, warm, towards |
|
The /zu/ sound spelt s |
television, treasure,usual |
|
The suffixes –ment, –ness, –ful , –less and –ly |
enjoyment, sadness, careful, playful, hopeless, plainness (plain + ness), badly merriment, happiness, plentiful, penniless, happily |
|
Contractions |
can’t, didn’t, hasn’t, couldn’t, it’s, I’ll |
|
The possessive apostrophe (singular nouns) |
Megan’s, Ravi’s, the girl’s, the child’s, the man’s |
|
Words ending in –tion |
station, fiction, motion, national, section |
|
Homophones and near-homophones |
there/their/they’re, here/hear, quite/quiet, see/sea, bare/bear, one/won, sun/son, to/too/two, be/bee, |
|
Common exception words |
door, floor, poor, because, find, kind, mind, behind, child, children*, wild, climb, most, only, both, old, cold, gold, hold, told, every, everybody, even, great, break, steak, pretty, beautiful, after, fast, last, past, father, class, grass, pass, plant, path, bath, hour, move, prove, improve, sure, sugar, eye, could, should, would, who, whole, any, many, clothes, busy, people, water, again, half, money, Mr, Mrs, parents, Christmas – and/or others according to programme used
Note: ‘children’ is not an exception to what has been taught so far but is included because of its relationship with‘child’. |