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

illegible immoral irrelevant

illiterate immature irresponsible

illogical impossible irreplaceable

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.
neighbor, 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

long vowel short vowel

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
British English American English

labour labor

neighbour neighbor

programme program

theatre theater