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Improving Spelling
Spelling
503.1 i before e
Write i before e except after c or when sounded like a as in neighbor and weigh.
belief, relieved, grieve, achieve
chief, perceive, conceit, receive
receipt, eight, freight, weight, reign
Exceptions to the rule: counterfeit, either, financier, foreign, height, heir, leisure, neither, seize, sheik, species, their, weird
503.2 Silent e
If a word ends with a silent e, drop the e before adding a suffix that begins with a vowel.
state — stating — statement
game — gaming — gamelike
Note: Do not drop the e if the suffix begins with a consonant, such as statement. Exceptions include argument and ninth.
503.3 Words Ending in y
When y is the last letter in a word (fry) and the y comes just after a consonant (fry), change the y to i before adding any suffix except those beginning with i.
fry — fries — frying
hurry — hurried — hurrying
lady — ladies
beauty — beautiful
When forming the plural of a word that ends with a y that comes just after a vowel, add s (oy, ay, ey).
toy — toys
play — plays
monkey — monkeys
503.4 Consonant Ending
When a one-syllable word ends in a consonant (bat) preceded by one vowel (bat), double the final consonant before adding a suffix that begins with a vowel (batting).
sum — summary
god — goddess
When a multisyllable word ends in a consonant (control) preceded by one vowel (control), the accent is on the last syllable (control), and the suffix begins with a vowel (ing)—the same rule holds true: double the final consonant (controlling).
prefer — preferred
begin — beginning
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Guide to Improved Spelling
Be patient. Learning to become a good speller takes time.
Use spell check, consult a dictionary, or check a list of commonly misspelled words (like the list that follows).
Learn the correct pronunciation of each word you are trying to spell. Knowing the correct pronunciation of a word will help you remember how it’s spelled.
Check the meaning of each word you look up in the dictionary for pronunciation. (Knowing how to spell a word is of little use if you don’t know what it means.)
Practice spelling the word before you close the dictionary. Look away from the page and try to see the word in your mind’s eye. Write the word on a piece of paper. Check the spelling in the dictionary and repeat the process until you are able to spell the word correctly.
Keep a list of the words that you often misspell.
Write often. As noted educator Frank Smith said, “There is little point in learning to spell if you have little intention of writing.”
Commonly Misspelled Words
Aab-bre-vi-ate a-board a-bout a-bove ab-sence ab-sent ab-so-lute (-ly) a-bun-dance ac-cel-er-ate ac-ci-dent ac-ci-den-tal (-ly) ac-com-pa-ny ac-com-plice ac-com-plish ac-cord-ing |
ac-count ac-cu-rate ac-cus-tom (ed) ache a-chieve (-ment) a-cre a-cross ac-tu-al a-dapt ad-di-tion (-al) ad-dress ad-e-quate ad-just (-ment) ad-mire ad-ven-ture ad-ver-tise (-ment) ad-ver-tis-ing a-fraid |
af-ter af-ter-noon af-ter-ward a-gain a-gainst a-gree-a-ble a-gree (-ment) ah aid airy aisle a-larm al-co-hol a-like a-live al-ley al-low-ance all right |
al-most al-ready al-though al-to-geth-er a-lu-mi-num al-ways am-a-teur am-bu-lance a-mend-ment a-mong a-mount an-a-lyze an-cient an-gel an-ger an-gle an-gry an-i-mal |
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an-ni-ver-sa-ry an-nounce an-noy-ance an-nu-al a-non-y-mous an-oth-er an-swer Ant-arc-tic an-tic-i-pate anx-i-ety anx-ious any-body any-how any-one any-thing any-way any-where a-part-ment a-piece a-pol-o-gize ap-par-ent (-ly) ap-peal ap-pear-ance ap-pe-tite ap-pli-ance ap-pli-ca-tion ap-point-ment ap-pre-ci-ate ap-proach ap-pro-pri-ate ap-prov-al ap-prox-i-mate ar-chi-tect Arc-tic aren’t ar-gu-ment a-rith-me-tic a-round a-rouse ar-range (-ment) ar-riv-al ar-ti-cle |
ar-ti-fi-cial a-sleep as-sas-sin as-sign (-ment) as-sis-tance as-so-ci-ate as-so-ci-a-tion as-sume ath-lete ath-let-ic at-tach at-tack (ed) at-tempt at-ten-dance at-ten-tion at-ti-tude at-tor-ney at-trac-tive au-di-ence Au-gust au-thor au-thor-i-ty au-to-mo-bile au-tumn a-vail-a-ble av-e-nue av-er-age aw-ful (-ly) awk-ward Bbag-gage bak-ing bal-ance bal-loon bal-lot ba-nan-a ban-dage bank-rupt bar-ber bar-gain |
bar-rel base-ment ba-sis bas-ket bat-te-ry beau-ti-ful beau-ty be-cause be-come be-com-ing be-fore be-gan beg-gar be-gin-ning be-have be-hav-ior be-ing be-lief be-lieve be-long be-neath ben-e-fit (-ed) be-tween bi-cy-cle bis-cuit black-board blan-ket bliz-zard both-er bot-tle bot-tom bough bought bounce bound-a-ry break-fast breast breath (n.) breathe (v.) breeze bridge brief |
bright bril-liant broth-er brought bruise bub-ble buck-et buck-le bud-get build-ing bul-le-tin buoy-ant bu-reau bur-glar bury busi-ness busy but-ton Ccab-bage caf-e-te-ria cal-en-dar cam-paign ca-nal can-cel (ed) can-di-date can-dle can-is-ter can-non can-not ca-noe can’t can-yon ca-pac-i-ty cap-tain car-bu-re-tor card-board ca-reer |
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care-ful care-less car-pen-ter car-riage car-rot cash-ier cas-se-role cas-u-al-ty cat-a-log ca-tas-tro-phe catch-er cat-er-pil-lar cat-sup ceil-ing cel-e-bra-tion cem-e-ter-y cen-sus cen-tu-ry cer-tain (-ly) cer-tif-i-cate chal-lenge cham-pi-on change-a-ble char-ac-ter (-is-tic) chief chil-dren chim-ney choc-o-late choice cho-rus cir-cum-stance cit-i-zen civ-i-li-za-tion class-mates class-room cli-mate climb clos-et cloth-ing coach co-coa co-coon |
cof-fee col-lar col-lege colo-nel col-or co-los-sal col-umn com-e-dy com-ing com-mer-cial com-mis-sion com-mit com-mit-ment com-mit-ted com-mit-tee com-mu-ni-cate com-mu-ni-ty com-pan-y com-par-i-son com-pe-ti-tion com-pet-i-tive (-ly) com-plain com-plete (-ly) com-plex-ion com-pro-mise con-ceive con-cern-ing con-cert con-ces-sion con-crete con-demn con-di-tion con-duc-tor con-fer-ence con-fi-dence con-grat-u-late con-nect con-science con-scious con-ser-va-tive con-sti-tu-tion con-tin-ue |
con-tin-u-ous con-trol con-tro-ver-sy con-ve-nience con-vince cool-ly co-op-er-ate cor-po-ra-tion cor-re-spond cough couldn’t coun-ter coun-ter-feit coun-try coun-ty cour-age cou-ra-geous court cour-te-ous cour-te-sy cous-in cov-er-age co-zy crack-er crank-y crawl cred-i-tor cried crit-i-cize cru-el crumb crum-ble cup-board cu-ri-os-i-ty cu-ri-ous cur-rent cus-tom cus-tom-er cyl-in-der |
Ddai-ly dair-y dam-age dan-ger (-ous) daugh-ter dealt de-ceive de-cided de-ci-sion dec-la-ra-tion dec-o-rate de-fense def-i-nite (-ly) def-i-ni-tion de-li-cious de-pen-dent de-pot de-scribe de-scrip-tion de-sert de-serve de-sign de-sir-a-ble de-spair des-sert de-te-ri-o-rate de-ter-mine de-vel-op (-ment) de-vice de-vise di-a-mond di-a-phragm di-a-ry dic-tio-nar-y dif-fer-ence dif-fer-ent dif-fi-cul-ty din-ing di-plo-ma di-rec-tor |
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dis-agree-a-ble dis-ap-pear dis-ap-point dis-ap-prove dis-as-trous dis-ci-pline dis-cov-er dis-cuss dis-cus-sion dis-ease dis-sat-is-fied dis-tin-guish dis-trib-ute di-vide di-vine di-vis-i-ble di-vi-sion doc-tor doesn’t dol-lar dor-mi-to-ry doubt dough du-al du-pli-cate Eea-ger (-ly) e-con-o-my edge e-di-tion ef-fi-cien-cy eight eighth ei-ther e-lab-o-rate e-lec-tric-i-ty el-e-phant el-i-gi-ble el-lipse em-bar-rass |
e-mer-gen-cy em-pha-size em-ploy-ee em-ploy-ment en-close en-cour-age en-gi-neer e-nor-mous e-nough en-ter-tain en-thu-si-as-tic en-tire-ly en-trance en-vel-op (v.) en-ve-lope (n.) en-vi-ron-ment e-quip-ment e-quipped e-quiv-a-lent es-cape es-pe-cial-ly es-sen-tial es-tab-lish ev-ery ev-i-dence ex-ag-ger-ate ex-ceed ex-cel-lent ex-cept ex-cep-tion-al (-ly) ex-cite ex-er-cise ex-haust (-ed) ex-hi-bi-tion ex-is-tence ex-pect ex-pen-sive ex-pe-ri-ence ex-plain ex-pla-na-tion ex-pres-sion ex-ten-sion |
ex-tinct ex-traor-di-nar-y ex-treme (-ly) Ffa-cil-i-ties fa-mil-iar fam-i-ly fa-mous fas-ci-nate fash-ion fa-tigue (d) fau-cet fa-vor-ite fea-ture Feb-ru-ar-y fed-er-al fer-tile field fierce fi-ery fif-ty fi-nal-ly fi-nan-cial (-ly) fo-li-age for-ci-ble for-eign for-feit for-mal (-ly) for-mer (-ly) forth for-tu-nate for-ty for-ward foun-tain fourth frag-ile freight friend (-ly) fright-en ful-fill |
fun-da-men-tal fur-ther fur-ther-more Ggad-get gauge gen-er-al-ly gen-er-ous ge-nius gen-tle gen-u-ine ge-og-ra-phy ghet-to ghost gnaw gov-ern-ment gov-er-nor grad-u-a-tion gram-mar grate-ful grease grief gro-cery grudge grue-some guar-an-tee guard guard-i-an guess guid-ance guide guilt-y gym-na-si-um |
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Hham-mer hand-ker-chief han-dle (d) hand-some hap-haz-ard hap-pen hap-pi-ness ha-rass hast-i-ly hav-ing haz-ard-ous head-ache height hem-or-rhage hes-i-tate his-to-ry hoarse hol-i-day hon-or hop-ing hop-ping hor-ri-ble hos-pi-tal hu-mor-ous hur-ried-ly hy-drau-lic hy-giene hymn Ii-ci-cle i-den-ti-cal il-leg-i-ble il-lit-er-ate il-lus-trate im-ag-i-nar-y im-ag-i-na-tive im-ag-ine |
im-i-ta-tion im-me-di-ate (-ly) im-mense im-mi-grant im-mor-tal im-pa-tient im-por-tance im-pos-si-ble im-prove-ment in-con-ve-nience in-cred-i-ble in-def-i-nite-ly in-de-pen-dence in-de-pen-dent in-di-vid-u-al in-dus-tri-al in-fe-ri-or in-fi-nite in-flam-ma-ble in-flu-en-tial ini-tial ini-ti-a-tion in-no-cence in-no-cent in-stal-la-tion in-stance in-stead in-sur-ance in-tel-li-gence in-ten-tion in-ter-est-ed in-ter-est-ing in-ter-fere in-ter-pret in-ter-rupt in-ter-view in-ves-ti-gate in-vi-ta-tion ir-ri-gate is-land is-sue |
Jjeal-ous (-y) jew-el-ry jour-nal jour-ney judg-ment juic-y Kkitch-en knew knife knives knock knowl-edge knuck-les Lla-bel lab-o-ra-to-ry la-dies lan-guage laugh laun-dry law-yer league lec-ture le-gal leg-i-ble leg-is-la-ture lei-sure length li-a-ble |
li-brar-y li-cense lieu-ten-ant light-ning lik-a-ble like-ly li-quid lis-ten lit-er-a-ture liv-ing loaves lone-li-ness loose lose los-er los-ing lov-a-ble love-ly Mma-chin-er-y mag-a-zine mag-nif-i-cent main-tain ma-jor-i-ty mak-ing man-u-al man-u-fac-ture mar-riage ma-te-ri-al math-e-mat-ics max-i-mum may-or meant mea-sure med-i-cine me-di-um mes-sage mile-age min-i-a-ture min-i-mum min-ute mir-ror mis-cel-la-neous mis-chie-vous mis-er-a-ble |
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mis-sile mis-spell mois-ture mol-e-cule mo-not-o-nous mon-u-ment mort-gage moun-tain mus-cle mu-si-cian mys-te-ri-ous Nna-ive nat-u-ral (-ly) nec-es-sar-y ne-go-ti-ate neigh-bor (-hood) nei-ther nick-el niece nine-teen nine-teenth nine-ty nois-y no-tice-a-ble nu-cle-ar nui-sance Oo-be-di-ence o-bey ob-sta-cle oc-ca-sion oc-ca-sion-al (-ly) oc-cur oc-curred of-fense of-fi-cial |
of-ten o-mis-sion o-mit-ted op-er-ate o-pin-ion op-po-nent op-por-tu-ni-ty op-po-site or-di-nar-i-ly o-rig-i-nal out-ra-geous Ppack-age paid pam-phlet par-a-dise par-a-graph par-al-lel par-a-lyze pa-ren-the-ses par-tial par-tic-i-pant par-tic-i-pate par-tic-u-lar (-ly) pas-ture pa-tience pe-cu-liar peo-ple per-haps per-ma-nent per-pen-dic-u-lar per-sis-tent per-son-al (-ly) per-son-nel per-spi-ra-tion per-suade phase phy-si-cian piece pitch-er |
planned pla-teau play-wright pleas-ant plea-sure pneu-mo-nia pol-i-ti-cian pos-sess pos-si-ble prac-ti-cal (-ly) prai-rie pre-cede pre-cious pre-cise (-ly) pre-ci-sion pref-er-a-ble pre-ferred prej-u-dice prep-a-ra-tion pres-ence pre-vi-ous prim-i-tive prin-ci-pal prin-ci-ple pris-on-er priv-i-lege prob-a-bly pro-ce-dure pro-ceed pro-fes-sor prom-i-nent pro-nounce pro-nun-ci-a-tion pro-tein psy-chol-o-gy pump-kin pure |
Qquar-ter ques-tion-naire qui-et quite quo-tient Rraise re-al-ize re-al-ly re-ceipt re-ceive re-ceived rec-i-pe rec-og-nize rec-om-mend reign re-lieve re-li-gious re-mem-ber rep-e-ti-tion rep-re-sen-ta-tive res-er-voir re-sis-tance re-spect-ful-ly re-spon-si-bil-i-ty res-tau-rant re-view rhyme rhythm ri-dic-u-lous route |
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Ssafe-ty sal-ad sal-a-ry sand-wich sat-is-fac-to-ry Sat-ur-day scene sce-ner-y sched-ule sci-ence scis-sors scream screen sea-son sec-re-tar-y seize sen-si-ble sen-tence sep-a-rate sev-er-al sher-iff shin-ing sim-i-lar since sin-cere (-ly) ski-ing sleigh sol-dier sou-ve-nir spa-ghet-ti spe-cif-ic sphere sprin-kle squeeze squir-rel stat-ue stat-ure stat-ute stom-ach |
stopped straight strength stretched study-ing sub-tle suc-ceed suc-cess suf-fi-cient sum-ma-rize sup-ple-ment sup-pose sure-ly sur-prise syl-la-ble sym-pa-thy symp-tom Ttar-iff tech-nique tem-per-a-ture tem-po-rar-y ter-ri-ble ter-ri-to-ry thank-ful the-ater their there there-fore thief thor-ough (-ly) though through-out Thurs-day tired to-bac-co to-geth-er to-mor-row tongue touch |
tour-na-ment to-ward trag-e-dy trea-sur-er tried tries tru-ly Tues-day typ-i-cal Uun-con-scious un-for-tu-nate (-ly) u-nique uni-ver-si-ty un-nec-es-sary un-til us-a-ble use-ful us-ing usu-al (-ly) u-ten-sil Vva-ca-tion vac-u-um val-u-a-ble va-ri-e-ty var-i-ous veg-e-ta-ble ve-hi-cle very vi-cin-i-ty view vil-lain vi-o-lence vis-i-ble vis-i-tor voice |
vol-ume vol-un-tary vol-un-teer Wwan-der weath-er Wednes-day weigh weird wel-come wel-fare whale where wheth-er which whole whol-ly whose width wom-en worth-while wreck-age writ-ing writ-ten Zyel-low yes-ter-day yield |