Spelling

Words in English are not always spelled as they are pronounced. Spelling in English follows some basic rules and the majority of English words (around 75%) follow these rules. You can learn the rules but there are always exceptions to the rules that need to be learned too.

The main basic spelling rules of English relate to: prefixes and suffixes; spelling and plurals; doubling letters; dropping and adding letters; verb forms. This section focuses on British English but also covers some basic differences in spelling between British and American English.

Spelling: prefixes

When there is a prefix, we do not normally add or take away more letters:

dis + obey → disobey	mis + spell → misspell
dis + satisfied → dissatisfied	over + hear → overhear
in + humane → inhumane	super + human → superhuman
in + sane → insane	un + natural → unnatural
inter + national → international	un + sure → unsure
mis + rule → misrule	under + pass → underpass

Prefixes il-, im-, ir-

We commonly change the prefix in- to il-, im- or ir- when the first letter of a word is l, m, p, or r.

in becomes il- before l	in becomes im- before m or p	in becomes ir- before r
illegibleilliterateillogical	immoralimmatureimpossible	irrelevantirresponsibleirreplaceable

Spelling and plurals

There are rules for the plurals of regular nouns and the -s forms of regular verbs.

The general rule is add -s:

• bring → brings
• day → days
• ear → ears
• smile → smiles
• speak → speaks
• town → towns

If the ending is pronounced as ‘ch’ /tʃ/ or ‘s’ /s/, we add -es /ɪz/:

noun plurals	verb -s forms
bus → buses	cross → crosses
church → churches	fetch → fetches
kiss → kisses	guess → guesses

If a word ends in an -e, we add an -s:

• base → bases
• face → faces
• judge → judges
• lose → loses

If the word ends in a consonant plus -y, we change -y to i and add -es:

noun plurals	verb -s forms
baby → babies	marry → marries
opportunity → opportunities	reply → replies

We add -es to some words ending in -o:

noun plurals	noun plurals/verb -s forms
tomato → tomatoes	echo → echoes
cargo → cargoes	embargo → embargoes
hero → heroes	go → goes (go [n] = attempt)

However, some words ending in -o only require -s: videos, discos, pianos, memos, photos.

For some nouns ending in -f or -fe, we form the plural by changing the -f or -fe to -ves:

• loaf → loaves
• shelf → shelves
• thief → thieves
• wife → wives

See also

• Forming the plural of nouns

Spelling: doubling consonants

We often double the final consonant of a word (b, d, g, l, m, n, p, r, t) when a suffix beginning with a vowel is added (-ed, -er, -est, -ing):

hop + -ed → hopped	slim + -ing → slimming
red + -ish → reddish	thin + -er → thinner
rub + -ed → rubbed	travel+ -er → traveller
sit + -ing → sitting	wet + -er → wetter

When we add a suffix to a word with more than one syllable, we double the consonant only when the word ends in a stressed syllable (the stressed syllable of the base form is in bold):

admit + -ing → admitting	prefer + -ed → preferred
forget + -ing → forgetting	transmit + -ed → transmitted
occur + -ence → occurrence	upset + -ing → upsetting

Compare, however, visit or enter where the spoken stress is on the first syllable:

visit → visiting	enter → entered
Not: visitting	Not: enterred

Note too that in each case the vowel before the last consonant is a short vowel.

warning

We don’t double the final consonant before a suffix:

– if the word ends in two written consonants, e.g. export = exported, find = finding, insist = insisted, lift = lifted, persist = persistence

– if there are two written vowels together in the word, e.g. meeting, rained, weaken, trainer, repeated.

Irregular forms and exceptions

warning

Some monosyllabic words ending in -s are irregular. We normally do not double the -s, although some doubled forms will be seen. For example: busses and buses; gasses and gases. (Busses and gasses are not common.)

Some words, several of them ending in l, with more than two syllables, have a double consonant even though the last syllable is not stressed; for example, labelling, traveller, equalled, handicapped, programmed.

In American English the single consonant spelling is usually more common: labeling, traveler.

Spelling: dropping and adding letters

The final -e

We often drop the final -e when a suffix beginning with a vowel is added to a word:

approve + -al → approval	hope + -ing → hoping
fame + -ous → famous	invite + -ation → invitation
hate + -ed → hated	note + -able → notable

warning

We keep the -e in dyeing (from dye) and singeing (from singe) to differentiate them from similar words e.g. dying (from die) and singing (from sing).

When a suffix begins with a consonant (e.g. -less, -ful, -ly, -ment) we do not normally drop the -e:

• definitely
• excitement
• forceful
• hopeless
• lately
• widely

Sometimes we do drop the -e:

argue → argument	true → truly
due → duly	whole → wholly

Some words have alternative forms with or without an -e: for example, acknowledgement or acknowledgment, and judgement or judgment.

The suffix -ally

The suffix -ally is added to adjectives ending in -ic to form adverbs:

• basic → basically
• realistic → realistically
• tragic → tragically

warning

BUT: publicly

Changing -y to -i

When we add a suffix to a word ending in a consonant + -y, we normally change -y to i:

amplify + -er → amplifier	happy + -ly → happily
busy + -ness → business	hurry + -s → hurries
day + -ly → daily	purify + -cation → purification
easy + -ly → easily	reply + -ed → replied
fury + -ous → furious	spy + -s → spies

warning

Some words with one syllable keep the -y before a suffix: dryness, shyness, slyness.

We keep -y before -ing: studying, worrying.

We keep -y before ’s: the fly’s wings, Andy’s house.

We usually keep the -y in most words that end in a vowel + -y: buy → buyer; destroy → destroys

warning

BUT: day → daily

Spelling: ie or ei?

If in doubt about ie or ei, when the sound of the vowel is as in brief /i:/, we spell it ie; but after the letter c, we spell it ei:

ie	ei after c
achieve	ceiling
belief	conceit
diesel	deceive
niece	receipt
relieve	perceive

Words in which -y has changed to i end in -ies even after a c:

• emergency → emergencies
• bureaucracy → bureaucracies

warning

In most words that do not have the pronunciation /i:/ as in brief, the usual order is e before i, e.g. neighbour, leisure, height; friend, ancient, science are common exceptions.

Spelling and verb forms

Past and -ed forms

The past and -ed forms are the same in regular verbs. The following are the spelling rules for regular verbs.

We add -ed to the base form of the verb:

• clean → cleaned
• echo → echoed
• email → emailed
• sail → sailed

If the word ends in -e, we add -d to the base form of the verb:

• agree → agreed
• dine → dined
• love → loved

If the word ends in a consonant + -y, we change the -y to i before -ed:

• apply → applied
• cry → cried

There are three common exceptions, where we change the -y to i after a vowel and just -d is added:

• pay → paid
• say → said

-ing forms

The general rule is add -ing to the base form of the verb:

• go → going
• hurry → hurrying
• play → playing

If the word ends in -e, we drop the -e before -ing:

• love → loving
• lose → losing
• write → writing

But if the word ends in -ee, -ye, or -oe, we keep the -e:

• agree → agreeing
• dye → dyeing (compare: die/dying)
• see → seeing

If the word ends in -ie, we change the -i to -y and we drop the -e before -ing:

• die → dying
• lie → lying
• tie → tying

Addition of final -e to indicate long vowel

We use a final silent -e to indicate that the stressed vowel is long:

long vowel	short vowel
hate, fate	hat, fat
theme, impede	them, fed
dine, bite	din, bit

warning

There are some common exceptions:

come	have	none	there
done	live (as a verb)	one	were
give	love	some	where
gone

British and American English Spelling

Here are some common differences between British and American English spelling. A good learner’s dictionary will give information about other spelling differences:

British English	American English
analyse	analyze
aeroplane	airplane
centre	center
cheque (bank)	check
colour	color
criticise	criticize
defence	defense
labour	labor
neighbour	neighbor
programme	program
theatre	theater