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Ok, that’s taken care of the most common words, so
I am sorted for over half of the words I write! But
what about some spelling rules to help with the
other words?

Here are some spelling rules and hints that will help you spell the less common words
and also show you how to add suffixes and prefixes to words:

... but remember that although spelling rules
are very helpful guides, in the English language
there are usually some exceptions!

NOTE: Spelling rules often talk about VOWELS and CONSONANTS.
VOWELS are the letters a, e, i, o and u. CONSONANTS are all of the other letters.

1: ‘i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’

The ‘ee’ sound in some words is spelt ‘ie’ (e.g. thief).

But, if the ‘ee’ sound comes after the letter ‘c’, it is usually spelt ‘ei’ (e.g. ceiling).

Here are some more examples:
Words with ‘ie’: achieve field piece brief mischief

Words with ‘ei’ after ‘c’: receive receipt deceive deceit conceit

Some common exceptions to the ‘i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’ rule are:
eight, either, height, leisure, their, weigh, weight, weird, and science.

2: Magic ‘e’
Magic ‘e’ at the end of a word changes the sound of
the vowel that comes before it to its alphabet name.
Example: hat hate

sound of ‘a’ name of ‘a’

Read these pairs of words and note the difference in the sound of the vowels:

mad / made pip / pipe cod / code cut / cute spin / spine

Here are some longer words with a magic ‘e’:
escape perfume inside telescope excuse exercise

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