SPELLING - APPENDIX 1: SPELLING

English – Appendix 1: Spelling

English Appendix 1: Spelling

Most people read words more accurately than they spell them. The younger pupils are, the
truer this is.

By the end of year 1, pupils should be able to read a large number of different words
containing the GPCs that they have learnt, whether or not they have seen these words
before. Spelling, however, is a very different matter. Once pupils have learnt more than
one way of spelling particular sounds, choosing the right letter or letters depends on their
either having made a conscious effort to learn the words or having absorbed them less
consciously through their reading. Younger pupils have not had enough time to learn or
absorb the accurate spelling of all the words that they may want to write.

This appendix provides examples of words embodying each pattern which is taught. Many
of the words listed as ‘example words’ for years 1 and 2, including almost all those listed
as ‘exception words’, are used frequently in pupils’ writing, and therefore it is worth pupils
learning the correct spelling. The ‘exception words’ contain GPCs which have not yet been
taught as widely applicable, but this may be because they are applicable in very few age-
appropriate words rather than because they are rare in English words in general.

The word-lists for years 3 and 4 and years 5 and 6 are statutory. The lists are a mixture of
words pupils frequently use in their writing and those which they often misspell. Some of
the listed words may be thought of as quite challenging, but the 100 words in each list can
easily be taught within the four years of key stage 2 alongside other words that teachers
consider appropriate.

The rules and guidance are intended to support the teaching of spelling. Phonic knowledge
should continue to underpin spelling after key stage 1; teachers should still draw pupils’
attention to GPCs that do and do not fit in with what has been taught so far. Increasingly,

however, pupils also need to understand the role of morphology and etymology. Although
particular GPCs in root words simply have to be learnt, teachers can help pupils to
understand relationships between meaning and spelling where these are relevant. For
example, understanding the relationship between medical and medicine may help pupils to
spell the /s/ sound in medicine with the letter ‘c’. Pupils can also be helped to spell words
with prefixes and suffixes correctly if they understand some general principles for adding
them. Teachers should be familiar with what pupils have been taught about spelling in
earlier years, such as which rules pupils have been taught for adding prefixes and suffixes.

In this spelling appendix, the left-hand column is statutory; the middle and right-
hand columns are non-statutory guidance.

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is used to represent sounds (phonemes).
A table showing the IPA is provided in this document.

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English – Appendix 1: Spelling

Spelling – work for year 1

Revision of reception work

Statutory requirements
The boundary between revision of work covered in Reception and the introduction of
new work may vary according to the programme used, but basic revision should include:
 all letters of the alphabet and the sounds which they most commonly represent
 consonant digraphs which have been taught and the sounds which they represent
 vowel digraphs which have been taught and the sounds which they represent
 the process of segmenting spoken words into sounds before choosing graphemes to

represent the sounds
 words with adjacent consonants
 guidance and rules which have been taught

Statutory Rules and guidance (non-statutory) Example words
requirements (non-statutory)
The sounds /f/, /l/, The /f/, /l/, /s/, /z/ and /k/ sounds are off, well, miss, buzz,
/s/, /z/ and /k/ spelt usually spelt as ff, ll, ss, zz and ck if back
ff, ll, ss, zz and ck they come straight after a single vowel
letter in short words. Exceptions: if, bank, think, honk,
The /ŋ/ sound spelt pal, us, bus, yes. sunk
n before k pocket, rabbit, carrot,
Division of words Each syllable is like a ‘beat’ in the thunder, sunset
into syllables spoken word. Words of more than one
syllable often have an unstressed
syllable in which the vowel sound is
unclear.

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English – Appendix 1: Spelling

Statutory Rules and guidance (non-statutory) Example words
requirements (non-statutory)
-tch The /tʃ/ sound is usually spelt as tch if it catch, fetch, kitchen,
comes straight after a single vowel notch, hutch
The /v/ sound at the letter. Exceptions: rich, which, much,
end of words such. have, live, give

Adding s and es to English words hardly ever end with the cats, dogs, spends,
words (plural of letter v, so if a word ends with a /v/ rocks, thanks,
nouns and the third sound, the letter e usually needs to be catches
person singular of added after the ‘v’.
verbs)
Adding the endings If the ending sounds like /s/ or /z/, it is
–ing, –ed and –er to spelt as –s. If the ending sounds like
verbs where no /ɪz/ and forms an extra syllable or ‘beat’
change is needed in the word, it is spelt as –es.
to the root word
–ing and –er always add an extra hunting, hunted,
Adding –er and –est syllable to the word and –ed sometimes hunter, buzzing,
to adjectives where does. buzzed, buzzer,
no change is jumping, jumped,
needed to the root The past tense of some verbs may jumper
word sound as if it ends in /ɪd/ (extra
syllable), /d/ or /t/ (no extra syllable), grander, grandest,
but all these endings are spelt –ed. fresher, freshest,
If the verb ends in two consonant letters quicker, quickest
(the same or different), the ending is
simply added on.

As with verbs (see above), if the
adjective ends in two consonant letters
(the same or different), the ending is
simply added on.

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English – Appendix 1: Spelling

Vowel digraphs and trigraphs

Some may already be known, depending on the programmes used in Reception, but some
will be new.

Vowel Rules and guidance Example words
digraphs (non-statutory) (non-statutory)
and trigraphs
ai, oi The digraphs ai and oi are virtually rain, wait, train, paid, afraid
never used at the end of English oil, join, coin, point, soil
ay, oy words.
ay and oy are used for those day, play, say, way, stay
a–e sounds at the end of words and at boy, toy, enjoy, annoy
e–e the end of syllables.
i–e made, came, same, take, safe
o–e Both the /u:/ and /ju:/ (‘oo’ and these, theme, complete
u–e ‘yoo’) sounds can be spelt as u–e. five, ride, like, time, side
home, those, woke, hope, hole
ar June, rule, rude, use, tube, tune
ee
ea (/i:/) car, start, park, arm, garden
see, tree, green, meet, week
ea (/ɛ/) sea, dream, meat, each,
read (present tense)
er (/ɜ:/) head, bread, meant, instead,
read (past tense)
er (/ə/) (stressed sound): her, term,
verb, person
ir (unstressed schwa sound):

ur better, under, summer, winter,
sister
girl, bird, shirt, first, third
turn, hurt, church, burst,
Thursday

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Vowel Rules and guidance English – Appendix 1: Spelling
digraphs (non-statutory)
and trigraphs Example words
oo (/u:/) (non-statutory)

oo (/ʊ/) Very few words end with the food, pool, moon, zoo, soon
oa letters oo, although the few that
do are often words that primary book, took, foot, wood, good
oe children in year 1 will encounter, boat, coat, road, coach, goal
ou for example, zoo
toe, goes
ow (/aʊ/) The digraph oa is very rare at the out, about, mouth, around,
ow (/əʊ/) end of an English word. sound
ue now, how, brown, down, town
ew The only common English word own, blow, snow, grow, show
ending in ou is you. blue, clue, true, rescue, Tuesday
ie (/aɪ/) Both the /u:/ and /ju:/ (‘oo’ and new, few, grew, flew, drew, threw
ie (/i:/) ‘yoo’) sounds can be spelt as u–e,
igh ue and ew. If words end in the lie, tie, pie, cried, tried, dried
or /oo/ sound, ue and ew are more chief, field, thief
ore common spellings than oo. high, night, light, bright, right
aw for, short, born, horse, morning

au more, score, before, wore, shore
saw, draw, yawn, crawl
air author, August, dinosaur,
ear astronaut
ear (/ɛə/) air, fair, pair, hair, chair
are (/ɛə/) dear, hear, beard, near, year
bear, pear, wear
bare, dare, care, share, scared

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English – Appendix 1: Spelling

Statutory Rules and guidance Example words (non-statutory)
requirements (non-statutory) very, happy, funny, party, family
Words ending –y
(/i:/ or /ɪ/) The /f/ sound is not usually dolphin, alphabet, phonics, elephant
New consonant spelt as ph in short when, where, which, wheel, while
spellings ph and everyday words (e.g. fat,
wh fill, fun). Kent, sketch, kit, skin, frisky

Using k for the /k/ The /k/ sound is spelt as k unhappy, undo, unload, unfair,
sound rather than as c before e, i unlock
and y.
Adding the prefix football, playground, farmyard,
–un The prefix un– is added to bedroom, blackberry
the beginning of a word
Compound without any change to the the, a, do, to, today, of, said, says,
words spelling of the root word. are, were, was, is, his, has, I, you,
your, they, be, he, me, she, we, no,

Common Compound words are two go, so, by, my, here, there, where,
exception words words joined together. love, come, some, one, once, ask,
Each part of the longer friend, school, put, push, pull, full,
word is spelt as it would be house, our – and/or others,
if it were on its own. according to the programme used

Pupils’ attention should be
drawn to the grapheme-
phoneme
correspondences that do
and do not fit in with what
has been taught so far.

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English – Appendix 1: Spelling

Spelling – work for year 2

Revision of work from year 1

As words with new GPCs are introduced, many previously-taught GPCs can be revised at
the same time as these words will usually contain them.

New work for year 2

Statutory Rules and guidance Example words
requirements (non-statutory) (non-statutory)
The /dʒ/ sound spelt
as ge and dge at the The letter j is never used for the /dʒ/ badge, edge, bridge,

end of words, and sound at the end of English words. dodge, fudge
sometimes spelt as g At the end of a word, the /dʒ/ sound
elsewhere in words is spelt –dge straight after the /æ/, age, huge, change,
before e, i and y /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /ɒ/, /ʌ/ and /ʊ/ sounds charge, bulge, village
(sometimes called ‘short’ vowels).
The /s/ sound spelt c After all other sounds, whether gem, giant, magic,
before e, i and y vowels or consonants, the /dʒ/ sound giraffe, energy
The /n/ sound spelt is spelt as –ge at the end of a word. jacket, jar, jog, join,
kn and (less often) gn In other positions in words, the /dʒ/ adjust
at the beginning of sound is often (but not always) spelt
words as g before e, i, and y. The /dʒ/ race, ice, cell, city,
The /r/ sound spelt wr sound is always spelt as j before a, o fancy
at the beginning of and u. knock, know, knee,
words gnat, gnaw
The /l/ or /əl/ sound The ‘k’ and ‘g’ at the beginning of
spelt –le at the end of these words was sounded hundreds
words of years ago.

This spelling probably also reflects write, written, wrote,
an old pronunciation. wrong, wrap

The –le spelling is the most common table, apple, bottle,
spelling for this sound at the end of little, middle
words.

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English – Appendix 1: Spelling

Statutory Rules and guidance Example words

requirements (non-statutory) (non-statutory)
camel, tunnel, squirrel,
The /l/ or /əl/ sound The –el spelling is much less travel, towel, tinsel
spelt –el at the end of common than –le.
words The –el spelling is used after m, n, metal, pedal, capital,
r, s, v, w and more often than not hospital, animal
The /l/ or /əl/ sound after s.
spelt –al at the end of
words Not many nouns end in –al, but
many adjectives do.
Words ending –il
There are not many of these words. pencil, fossil, nostril
The /aɪ/ sound spelt cry, fly, dry, try, reply,
–y at the end of This is by far the most common July
words spelling for this sound at the end of
words. flies, tries, replies,
Adding –es to nouns copies, babies, carries
and verbs ending in The y is changed to i before –es is
–y added.

Adding –ed, –ing, –er The y is changed to i before –ed, –er copied, copier,
and –est to a root and –est are added, but not before – happier, happiest,
word ending in –y ing as this would result in ii. The cried, replied
with a consonant only ordinary words with ii are skiing …but copying, crying,
before it and taxiing. replying
hiking, hiked, hiker,
Adding the endings – The –e at the end of the root word is nicer, nicest, shiny
ing, –ed, –er, –est dropped before –ing, –ed, –er,
and –y to words –est, –y or any other suffix beginning patting, patted,
ending in –e with a with a vowel letter is added. humming, hummed,

consonant before it Exception: being. dropping, dropped,
sadder, saddest,
Adding –ing, –ed, The last consonant letter of the root fatter, fattest, runner,
–er, –est and –y to word is doubled to keep the /æ/, /ɛ/, runny
words of one syllable /ɪ/, /ɒ/ and /ʌ/ sound (i.e. to keep the all, ball, call, walk, talk,
ending in a single vowel ‘short’). always
consonant letter after
a single vowel letter Exception: The letter ‘x’ is never other, mother, brother,
doubled: mixing, mixed, boxer, sixes. nothing, Monday
The /ɔ:/ sound spelt a
before l and ll The /ɔ:/ sound (‘or’) is usually spelt
as a before l and ll.
The /ʌ/ sound spelt o

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English – Appendix 1: Spelling

Statutory Rules and guidance Example words
requirements (non-statutory) (non-statutory)
The /i:/ sound spelt The plural of these words is formed key, donkey, monkey,
–ey by the addition of –s (donkeys, chimney, valley
The /ɒ/ sound spelt a monkeys, etc.).
after w and qu want, watch, wander,
The /ɜ:/ sound spelt a is the most common spelling for quantity, squash
or after w the /ɒ/ (‘hot’) sound after w and qu. word, work, worm,
The /ɔ:/ sound spelt There are not many of these words. world, worth
ar after w war, warm, towards
The /ʒ/ sound spelt s There are not many of these words.
The suffixes –ment,

–ness, –ful , –less If a suffix starts with a consonant television, treasure,
and –ly letter, it is added straight on to most usual
root words without any change to the enjoyment, sadness,
Contractions last letter of those words. careful, playful,
hopeless, plainness
The possessive Exceptions: (plain + ness), badly
apostrophe (singular
nouns) (1) argument merriment, happiness,
Words ending in –tion plentiful, penniless,
(2) root words ending in –y with a happily
consonant before it but only if the
root word has more than one can’t, didn’t, hasn’t,
syllable. couldn’t, it’s, I’ll

In contractions, the apostrophe Megan’s, Ravi’s, the
shows where a letter or letters would girl’s, the child’s, the
be if the words were written in full man’s
(e.g. can’t – cannot). station, fiction, motion,
national, section
It’s means it is (e.g. It’s raining) or
sometimes it has (e.g. It’s been
raining), but it’s is never used for the
possessive.

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English – Appendix 1: Spelling

Statutory Rules and guidance Example words
requirements (non-statutory) (non-statutory)

Homophones and It is important to know the difference
near-homophones in meaning between homophones. there/their/they’re,
here/hear, quite/quiet,
Common exception Some words are exceptions in some see/sea, bare/bear,
words accents but not in others – e.g. past, one/won, sun/son,
last, fast, path and bath are not to/too/two, be/bee,
exceptions in accents where the a in blue/blew, night/knight
these words is pronounced /æ/, as in
cat. door, floor, poor,
Great, break and steak are the only because, find, kind,
common words where the /eɪ/ sound mind, behind, child,
is spelt ea. children*, wild, climb,
most, only, both, old,
cold, gold, hold, told,
every, everybody,
even, great, break,
steak, pretty, beautiful,
after, fast, last, past,
father, class, grass,
pass, plant, path, bath,
hour, move, prove,
improve, sure, sugar,
eye, could, should,
would, who, whole,
any, many, clothes,
busy, people, water,
again, half, money,
Mr, Mrs, parents,
Christmas – and/or
others according to

programme used.

Note: ‘children’ is not
an exception to what
has been taught so far
but is included
because of its
relationship with
‘child’.

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English – Appendix 1: Spelling

Spelling – work for years 3 and 4

Revision of work from years 1 and 2
Pay special attention to the rules for adding suffixes.

New work for years 3 and 4

Statutory Rules and guidance Example words
requirements (non-statutory) (non-statutory)
Adding suffixes forgetting, forgotten,
beginning with vowel If the last syllable of a word is beginning, beginner,
letters to words of stressed and ends with one prefer, preferred
more than one consonant letter which has just one
syllable vowel letter before it, the final gardening, gardener,
consonant letter is doubled before limiting, limited,
The /ɪ/ sound spelt y any ending beginning with a vowel limitation

elsewhere than at the letter is added. The consonant letter myth, gym, Egypt,
end of words is not doubled if the syllable is pyramid, mystery
The /ʌ/ sound spelt unstressed.
ou
More prefixes These words should be learnt as
needed.

These words should be learnt as young, touch, double,
needed. trouble, country
Most prefixes are added to the
beginning of root words without any dis–: disappoint,
changes in spelling, but see in– disagree, disobey
below. mis–: misbehave,
Like un–, the prefixes dis– and mis– mislead, misspell (mis
have negative meanings. + spell)
in–: inactive, incorrect
The prefix in– can mean both ‘not’
and ‘in’/‘into’. In the words given here
it means ‘not’.

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English – Appendix 1: Spelling

Statutory Rules and guidance Example words
requirements (non-statutory) (non-statutory)
Before a root word starting with l, in–
The suffix –ation becomes il. illegal, illegible
The suffix –ly Before a root word starting with m or
p, in– becomes im–. immature, immortal,

impossible, impatient,
Before a root word starting with r, in– imperfect
becomes ir–.
re– means ‘again’ or ‘back’. irregular, irrelevant,
irresponsible
sub– means ‘under’.
re–: redo, refresh,
inter– means ‘between’ or ‘among’. return, reappear,
redecorate
super– means ‘above’.
sub–: subdivide,
anti– means ‘against’. subheading,
submarine, submerge
auto– means ‘self’ or ‘own’.
inter–: interact,
The suffix –ation is added to verbs intercity, international,
to form nouns. The rules already interrelated (inter +
learnt still apply. related)

The suffix –ly is added to an super–: supermarket,
adjective to form an adverb. The superman, superstar
rules already learnt still apply.
The suffix –ly starts with a consonant anti–: antiseptic, anti-
letter, so it is added straight on to clockwise, antisocial
most root words.
auto–: autobiography,
autograph

information, adoration,
sensation,

preparation,
admiration

sadly, completely,
usually (usual + ly),
finally (final + ly),
comically (comical
+ ly)

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English – Appendix 1: Spelling

Statutory Rules and guidance Example words
requirements (non-statutory) (non-statutory)

Words with endings Exceptions: happily, angrily
sounding like /ʒə/ or (1) If the root word ends in –y with a
/tʃə/ consonant letter before it, the y is gently, simply, humbly,
changed to i, but only if the root word nobly
Endings which sound has more than one syllable. basically, frantically,
like /ʒən/ dramatically
The suffix –ous (2) If the root word ends with –le, the
–le is changed to –ly. measure, treasure,
pleasure, enclosure
(3) If the root word ends with –ic, creature, furniture,
–ally is added rather than just –ly, picture, nature,
except in the word publicly. adventure

(4) The words truly, duly, wholly. division, invasion,

confusion, decision,
The ending sounding like /ʒə/ is collision, television
always spelt –sure. poisonous, dangerous,
The ending sounding like /tʃə/ is mountainous, famous,
often spelt –ture, but check that the various
word is not a root word ending in tremendous,
(t)ch with an er ending – e.g. enormous, jealous
teacher, catcher, richer, stretcher. humorous, glamorous,
vigorous
If the ending sounds like /ʒən/, it is courageous,
spelt as –sion. outrageous

Sometimes the root word is obvious serious, obvious,
and the usual rules apply for adding curious
suffixes beginning with vowel letters. hideous, spontaneous,
Sometimes there is no obvious root courteous
word.
–our is changed to –or before –ous
is added.

A final ‘e’ of the root word must be
kept if the /dʒ/ sound of ‘g’ is to be
kept.
If there is an /i:/ sound before the
–ous ending, it is usually spelt as i,
but a few words have e.

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English – Appendix 1: Spelling

Statutory Rules and guidance Example words
requirements (non-statutory) (non-statutory)
Endings which sound
like /ʃən/, spelt –tion, Strictly speaking, the suffixes are – invention, injection,
–sion, –ssion, –cian ion and –ian. Clues about whether action, hesitation,
to put t, s, ss or c before these completion
Words with the /k/ suffixes often come from the last expression, discussion,
sound spelt ch letter or letters of the root word. confession,
(Greek in origin) permission, admission
Words with the /ʃ/ –tion is the most common spelling. expansion, extension,
sound spelt ch It is used if the root word ends in t or comprehension,
(mostly French in te. tension
origin) –ssion is used if the root word ends
Words ending with in ss or –mit. musician, electrician,
the /g/ sound spelt – magician, politician,
gue and the /k/ sound –sion is used if the root word ends in mathematician
spelt –que (French in d or se. scheme, chorus,
origin) Exceptions: attend – attention, chemist, echo,
Words with the /s/ intend – intention. character
sound spelt sc (Latin –cian is used if the root word ends in chef, chalet, machine,
in origin) c or cs. brochure

Words with the /eɪ/ league, tongue,
sound spelt ei, eigh, antique, unique
or ey
In the Latin words from which these science, scene,
words come, the Romans probably discipline, fascinate,
pronounced the c and the k as two crescent
sounds rather than one – /s/ /k/.

vein, weigh, eight,
neighbour, they, obey

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English – Appendix 1: Spelling

Statutory Rules and guidance Example words
requirements (non-statutory) (non-statutory)
Possessive
apostrophe with The apostrophe is placed after the girls’, boys’, babies’,
plural words plural form of the word; –s is not children’s, men’s,
added if the plural already ends in mice’s
Homophones and –s, but is added if the plural does not
near-homophones end in –s (i.e. is an irregular plural – (Note: singular proper
e.g. children’s). nouns ending in an s
use the ’s suffix e.g.
Cyprus’s population)

accept/except,
affect/effect, ball/bawl,
berry/bury,
brake/break, fair/fare,
grate/great,
groan/grown,
here/hear,
heel/heal/he’ll,
knot/not, mail/male,
main/mane,
meat/meet,

medal/meddle,
missed/mist,
peace/piece,
plain/plane,
rain/rein/reign,
scene/seen,
weather/whether,
whose/who’s

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English – Appendix 1: Spelling

Word list – years 3 and 4

accident(ally) early knowledge purpose
actual(ly) earth learn quarter
address eight/eighth length question
answer enough library recent
appear exercise material regular
arrive experience medicine reign
believe experiment mention remember
bicycle extreme minute sentence
breath famous natural separate
breathe favourite naughty special
build February notice straight
busy/business forward(s) occasion(ally) strange
calendar fruit often strength
caught grammar opposite suppose
centre group ordinary surprise

century guard particular therefore
certain guide peculiar though/although
circle heard perhaps thought
complete heart popular through
consider height position various
continue history possess(ion) weight
decide imagine possible woman/women
describe increase potatoes
different important pressure
difficult interest probably
disappear island promise

Notes and guidance (non-statutory)

Teachers should continue to emphasise to pupils the relationships between sounds and
letters, even when the relationships are unusual. Once root words are learnt in this way,
longer words can be spelt correctly, if the rules and guidance for adding prefixes and
suffixes are also known.

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English – Appendix 1: Spelling

Notes and guidance (non-statutory)
Examples:
business: once busy is learnt, with due attention to the unusual spelling of the /i/ sound
as ‘u’, business can then be spelt as busy + ness, with the y of busy changed to i
according to the rule.
disappear: the root word appear contains sounds which can be spelt in more than one
way so it needs to be learnt, but the prefix dis– is then simply added to appear.

Understanding the relationships between words can also help with spelling. Examples:
 bicycle is cycle (from the Greek for wheel) with bi– (meaning ‘two’) before it.
 medicine is related to medical so the /s/ sound is spelt as c.
 opposite is related to oppose, so the schwa sound in opposite is spelt as o.

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English – Appendix 1: Spelling

Spelling – years 5 and 6

Revise work done in previous years

New work for years 5 and 6

Statutory Rules and guidance (non-statutory) Example words
requirements (non-statutory)
Endings which Not many common words end like this. vicious, precious,
sound like /ʃəs/ If the root word ends in –ce, the /ʃ/ conscious, delicious,
spelt –cious or sound is usually spelt as c – e.g. vice malicious, suspicious
–tious – vicious, grace – gracious, space – ambitious, cautious,
spacious, malice – malicious. fictitious, infectious,
Endings which Exception: anxious. nutritious
sound like /ʃəl/
–cial is common after a vowel letter official, special, artificial,
Words ending and –tial after a consonant letter, but partial, confidential,
in –ant, there are some exceptions. essential
–ance/–ancy, Exceptions: initial, financial,
–ent, commercial, provincial (the spelling of observant, observance,
–ence/–ency the last three is clearly related to (observation), expectant

finance, commerce and province). (expectation), hesitant,
hesitancy (hesitation),
Use –ant and –ance/–ancy if there is tolerant, tolerance
a related word with a /æ/ or /eɪ/ sound (toleration), substance
in the right position; –ation endings (substantial)
are often a clue. innocent, innocence,
decent, decency, frequent,
Use –ent and –ence/–ency after soft frequency, confident,
c (/s/ sound), soft g (/dʒ/ sound) and confidence (confidential)
qu, or if there is a related word with a assistant, assistance,
clear /ɛ/ sound in the right position. obedient, obedience,
There are many words, however, independent,
where the above guidance does not independence
help. These words just have to be
learnt.

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English – Appendix 1: Spelling

Statutory Rules and guidance (non-statutory) Example words
requirements (non-statutory)
Words ending The –able/–ably endings are far more adorable/adorably
in –able and common than the –ible/–ibly endings. (adoration),
–ible As with –ant and –ance/–ancy, the – applicable/applicably
Words ending able ending is used if there is a related (application),
in –ably and word ending in –ation. considerable/considerably
–ibly (consideration),
If the –able ending is added to a word tolerable/tolerably
Adding suffixes ending in –ce or –ge, the e after the c (toleration)

beginning with or g must be kept as those letters changeable, noticeable,
vowel letters to would otherwise have their ‘hard’ forcible, legible
words ending sounds (as in cap and gap) before the
in –fer a of the –able ending. dependable, comfortable,
Use of the The –able ending is usually but not understandable,
hyphen always used if a complete root word reasonable, enjoyable,
can be heard before it, even if there is reliable
no related word ending in –ation.
The first five examples opposite are possible/possibly,
obvious; in reliable, the complete word horrible/horribly,
rely is heard, but the y changes to i in terrible/terribly,
accordance with the rule. visible/visibly,
The –ible ending is common if a incredible/incredibly,
complete root word can’t be heard sensible/sensibly
before it but it also sometimes occurs referring, referred, referral,
when a complete word can be heard preferring, preferred,
(e.g. sensible). transferring, transferred
reference, referee,
The r is doubled if the –fer is still preference, transference
stressed when the ending is added. co-ordinate, re-enter,
co-operate, co-own
The r is not doubled if the –fer is no
longer stressed.

Hyphens can be used to join a prefix
to a root word, especially if the prefix
ends in a vowel letter and the root
word also begins with one.

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English – Appendix 1: Spelling

Statutory Rules and guidance (non-statutory) Example words
requirements (non-statutory)
Words with the The ‘i before e except after c’ rule deceive, conceive, receive,
/i:/ sound spelt applies to words where the sound perceive, ceiling
ei after c spelt by ei is /i:/.
Exceptions: protein, caffeine, seize ought, bought, thought,
Words (and either and neither if pronounced nought, brought, fought
containing the with an initial /i:/ sound). rough, tough, enough
letter-string ough is one of the trickiest spellings in cough
ough English – it can be used to spell a though, although, dough
number of different sounds. through
Words with thorough, borough
‘silent’ letters Some letters which are no longer plough, bough
(i.e. letters sounded used to be sounded doubt, island, lamb,
whose hundreds of years ago: e.g. in knight, solemn, thistle, knight
presence there was a /k/ sound before the /n/,
cannot be and the gh used to represent the
predicted from sound that ‘ch’ now represents in the
the Scottish word loch.
pronunciation
of the word)

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