Spelling Rules

Endings change the last letters of a word by rule (running, hoping, studies), and British and American spelling differ in set patterns. A final consonant doubles after one stressed vowel: begin → beginning, visit → visiting

No information at the current level. This view starts at B2: choose B2 or a higher level.

CheatsheetB2–C1

Point	Rule	Example
Doubling	double the final consonant after one stressed vowel	begin → beginning / visit → visited	B2
Silent e	drop it before a vowel, keep it before a consonant	hope → hoping / hope → hopeful	B2
consonant + y	y becomes i, but stays before ‑ing	study → studied / study → studying	B2
ie and ei	ie for /iː/, but ei after c	believe / receive	B2
‑able / ‑ible	‑able after a whole word, ‑ible after a stem that is not one	comfortable / possible	B2
Prefixes	both parts keep all their letters; in- becomes il-, im-, ir-	mis + spell → misspell / in + possible → impossible	B2
Silent letters	some spellings keep a letter that is not pronounced	knee / lamb / night	B2
British and US	British ‑our, ‑re, ‑ise; US ‑or, ‑er, ‑ize	colour (US: color) / centre (US: center)	B2
Trap	‑ful has one l, so ‑fully has two	She works carefully.	B2
Sound /ʃn/	‑tion; ‑sion after l, n, r; ‑ssion after a short vowel	action / tension / mission	C1
Same sound	the grammar of the sentence picks the spelling	The dog wagged its tail. / It's late.	C1
Trap	two doubled pairs: cc and rr, cc and mm	occurrence / accommodate	C1

Doubling the final consonantB2

Word	Rule	Examples
one syllable, one short vowel, one final consonant	double the consonant	run → running / big → bigger / stop → stopped	B2
more than one syllable, stress on the last syllable	double the consonant	begin → beginning / prefer → preferred / admit → admitted	B2
more than one syllable, stress earlier	write the word unchanged	visit → visited / offer → offered / open → opening	B2
ending in one vowel and l, whatever the stress	British English doubles the l	travel → travelled (US: traveled) / cancel → cancelled (US: canceled)	B2
ending in w, x or y	write the word unchanged	snow → snowing / fix → fixed / play → played	B2

Doubling happens before a vowel suffix such as ‑ing or ‑ed; a consonant suffix joins the unchanged word. sun → sunny / sad → sadly

Silent e before a suffixB2

Suffix	Rule	Examples
starts with a vowel: ‑ing, ‑er, ‑y	drop the e	hope → hoping / nice → nicer / noise → noisy	B2
starts with a consonant: ‑ful, ‑ly, ‑ment	keep the e	hope → hopeful / love → lovely / manage → management	B2
‑able or ‑ous after ce or ge	keep the e, so that c and g stay soft	notice → noticeable / manage → manageable / courage → courageous	B2
starts with a consonant, in a few words	drop the e	argue → argument / true → truly / whole → wholly	B2

Changing y to iB2

Word ending	Rule	Examples
consonant + y before any suffix but ‑ing	y → i	study → studied / happy → happier / happy → happily / beauty → beautiful	B2
consonant + y before ‑ing	keep the y	study → studying / carry → carrying / cry → crying	B2
vowel + y	keep the y	play → played / enjoy → enjoyed / buy → buyer	B2
vowel + y in a few words	y → i	say → said / pay → paid / lay → laid / day → daily	B2

ie and eiB2

Spelling	Rule	Examples
ie	the usual spelling of the sound /iː/	believe / piece / field / niece	B2
ei after c	the sound /iː/ after c	receive / ceiling / deceive / receipt	B2
ei for other sounds	the sounds /eɪ/ and /aɪ/	neighbour / weigh / eight / height	B2
ei in a few words	the sound /iː/ after a letter other than c: learn each word	seize / weird / either / neither	B2

Endings that sound alikeB2

Ending	Rule	Examples
‑able	after a stem that is a whole word	comfortable / readable / enjoyable	B2
‑ible	after a stem that is not a word	possible / visible / incredible / flexible	B2
‑ance / ‑ant	after a hard c or g	elegance / elegant / significance / significant	B2
‑ence / ‑ent	after a soft c or g	innocence / innocent / intelligence / agent	B2
other stems	learn each word	importance / difference / independent / assistant	B2

A noun in ‑ance goes with an adjective in ‑ant, and ‑ence with ‑ent. importance and important / difference and different

Prefixes and suffixesB2

Join	Rule	Examples
prefix and word	both parts keep all their letters	dis + appear → disappear / un + necessary → unnecessary / mis + spell → misspell	B2
negative in- before l	in- → il-	legal → illegal / logical → illogical	B2
negative in- before m or p	in- → im-	possible → impossible / mature → immature / polite → impolite	B2
negative in- before r	in- → ir-	regular → irregular / responsible → irresponsible	B2
suffix ‑ful	one l at the end	care → careful / help → helpful / wonder → wonderful	B2
‑ly after l, also in ‑ful	keep the l and add ly	real → really / final → finally / beautiful → beautifully	B2
‑ly after ‑ic	add ‑ally	basic → basically / automatic → automatically / dramatic → dramatically	B2
one exception: public	add ‑ly	public → publicly	B2

Silent lettersB2

Spelling	Silent letter	Examples
kn-	k	knee /niː/ · know /nəʊ/ · knife /naɪf/	B2
wr-	w	write /raɪt/ · wrong /rɒŋ/ · wrist /rɪst/	B2
gn- / ‑gn	g	gnaw /nɔː/ · sign /saɪn/ · foreign /ˈfɒrən/	B2
‑mb	b	lamb /læm/ · climb /klaɪm/ · thumb /θʌm/	B2
‑mn	n	autumn /ˈɔːtəm/ · column /ˈkɒləm/	B2
ps-	p	psychology /saɪˈkɒlədʒi/ · psychic /ˈsaɪkɪk/	B2
h at the start of some words	h	hour /ˈaʊə/ · honest /ˈɒnɪst/ · heir /eə/	B2
gh after a vowel	gh	night /naɪt/ · daughter /ˈdɔːtə/ · though /ðəʊ/	B2
‑stle / ‑sten	t	castle /ˈkɑːsl/ (US: /ˈkæsl/) · listen /ˈlɪsn/ · whistle /ˈwɪsl/	B2

Compare: British and American spellingB2

Pattern	British	US	Example
o or ou before r	‑our	‑or	colour (US: color) / honour (US: honor) / neighbour (US: neighbor)	B2
re or er at the end	‑re	‑er	centre (US: center) / theatre (US: theater)	B2
s or z in verb endings	‑ise	‑ize	organise (US: organize) / realise (US: realize)	B2
s or z after y in verb endings	‑yse	‑yze	analyse (US: analyze) / paralyse (US: paralyze)	B2
c or s in noun endings	‑ce	‑se	defence (US: defense) / offence (US: offense)	B2
final ue	‑ogue	‑og	catalogue (US: catalog) / analogue (US: analog)	B2
ae and oe in Greek and Latin words	ae / oe	e	anaemia (US: anemia) / manoeuvre (US: maneuver)	B2
silent e before ‑ing and ‑ment	‑eing / ‑ement	‑ing / ‑ment	ageing (US: aging) / judgement (US: judgment)	B2

Meaning	British	US
the colour of ash	grey	gray	B2
the rubber round a wheel	tyre	tire	B2
the stone edge of a road	kerb	curb	B2
a written order to pay from a bank account	cheque	check	B2
a plan of events or a television show	programme	program	B2

Oxford spelling writes ‑ize in British English and keeps ‑yse. organize / analyse
Some verbs end in ‑ise in every variety of English. advise / exercise / revise / surprise
British English writes a computer program with one m. a computer program
One text keeps one variety of spelling. The colour of the centre is grey.

Sound patterns: ‑tion, ‑cede, ‑aryC1

Spelling	Rule	Examples
‑tion	/ʃn/ after consonants and most vowels	action / option / station / solution	C1
‑sion	/ʃn/ after l, n and r	compulsion / tension / version	C1
‑ssion	/ʃn/ after a short vowel	mission / passion / discussion / permission	C1
‑sion	/ʒn/ after a vowel	decision / television / occasion	C1
‑cian	a person with a skill	musician / electrician / magician / politician	C1
‑cess	the usual ending	success / access / process	C1
‑ceed	three verbs only	exceed / proceed / succeed	C1
‑cede	every other verb	precede / recede / concede	C1
‑sede	one verb only	supersede	C1
‑ary / ‑ery / ‑ory	one sound, three spellings: learn each word	necessary / cemetery / category	C1

The noun procedure has one e after c, while proceed has two. a safe procedure

Words that differ only in spellingC1

Words	Rule	Examples
their / there / they're	their shows who owns something, there shows a place or begins there is, they're is they are	They lost their keys. / The keys are there. / They're late.	C1
your / you're	your belongs to you, you're is you are	Is this your bag? / You're right.	C1
its / it's	its belongs to it, it's is it is or it has	The cat licked its paw. / It's cold.	C1
whose / who's	whose asks about an owner, who's is who is or who has	Whose bag is this? / Who's coming?	C1
to / too / two	to goes before a verb or a place, too means also or more than enough, two is the number 2	I want to go. / It's too hot. / I have two sisters.	C1

Words	Rule	Examples
affect / effect	affect is a verb, effect is a noun	Noise can affect sleep. / The effect was big.	C1
advice / advise	advice is a noun, advise is a verb	Take my advice. / I advise you to wait.	C1
breath / breathe	breath is a noun, breathe is a verb	Take a deep breath. / Breathe slowly.	C1
practice / practise	practice is the noun, practise is the verb in British English	Football practice is at six. / I practise every day.	C1
licence / license	licence is the noun, license is the verb in British English	I have a driving licence. / The council will license the shop.	C1
lose / loose	lose is a verb, loose is an adjective	Don't lose your keys. / These trousers are loose.	C1
past / passed	passed is a verb form, past is a noun, adjective, preposition or adverb	She passed the exam. / It's past nine o'clock.	C1
stationary / stationery	stationary is an adjective, stationery is a noun	The car was stationary. / I need some stationery.	C1
principal / principle	principal is an adjective, principle is a noun for a rule	Her principal aim is to win. / It is a matter of principle.	C1
quiet / quite	quiet is an adjective, quite is an adverb	The room is quiet. / It's quite late.	C1

US: American English writes practice and license for both noun and verb.

Borrowed wordsC1

Kind	Rule	Examples
accent in an everyday word	the accent is optional	café / cafe, naïve / naive	C1
accent that separates two words	keep the accent	résumé ≠ resume / exposé ≠ expose	C1
gender of the person	‑é for a man, ‑ée for a woman	fiancé ≠ fiancée / protégé ≠ protégée	C1
plural of a borrowed noun	some keep the plural of the source language: see Plurals	analysis → analyses / criterion → criteria	C1

Word division at the end of a lineC1

Case	Rule	Examples
between syllables	the line breaks after a syllable	com-puter / win-dow / hos-pi-tal	C1
prefix or suffix	the line breaks at the join	un-able / walk-ing / care-ful	C1
one-letter first syllable	break after a later syllable, or keep the word whole	elec-tric / about / enough	C1
hyphenated compound	the line breaks at the hyphen	well-known / mother-in-law	C1

Typical errorsB2–C1

Wrong	Right	Rule
begining	beginning	begin has the stress on its last syllable	B2
hopeing	hoping	drop the silent e before a vowel suffix	B2
studyed	studied	y becomes i after a consonant	B2
freind	friend	friend has ie for the sound /e/	B2
carefull	careful	‑ful has one l	B2
realy	really	real ends in l, so ‑ly gives two	B2
occurence	occurrence	double c and double r	C1
accomodate	accommodate	double c and double m	C1
seperate	separate	separate has par	C1
definately	definitely	definite keeps its e before ‑ly	C1
recieve	receive	ei after c	C1
untill	until	until ends in one l	C1
wich	which	which starts with wh	C1

Up next

PluralsA0B2Most nouns add -s (books), nouns ending in s, sh, ch or x add -es, and consonant + y becomes -ies.

Up next

Articles: a, an, theA1C2A and an for one thing, the for a thing both people know, and no article for things in general.

Up next

Punctuation and Capital LettersB2C1Capital letters and marks such as full stops, commas, apostrophes, colons and quotation marks show where sentences end, how clauses join and who speaks.

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CheatsheetB2–C1

Doubling the final consonantB2

Silent e before a suffixB2

Changing y to iB2

ie and eiB2

Endings that sound alikeB2

Prefixes and suffixesB2

Silent lettersB2

Compare: British and American spellingB2

Sound patterns: ‑tion, ‑cede, ‑aryC1

Words that differ only in spellingC1

Borrowed wordsC1

Word division at the end of a lineC1

Typical errorsB2–C1

Contents

English

01Foundations

02Nouns and determiners

03Pronouns

04Verbs

05Tenses

06Modal verbs

07Sentence building

08Adjectives and adverbs

09Prepositions

10Word formation

A0Starter

A1Beginner

A2Elementary

B1Intermediate

B2Upper intermediate

C1Advanced

C2Proficiency

Level