Spelling Rules, Generalizations, and the 44 English Phonemes

This reference-style page explains the spelling rules and generalizations that govern English orthography. English has 44 phonemes represented by multiple spelling patterns; therefore, understanding these patterns helps students decode, spell, and read words accurately. This page is designed for teachers, reading specialists, and parents seeking an evidence-based overview of English spelling and phonics patterns.

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Table of Contents

1. Helpful Links and Resources
2. Consonants: Definitions and Generalizations
3. Silent Letters and Phonesthemes
4. Initial and Final Phonesthemes?
5. Vowel Generalizations
6. Silent E and Vowel Digraphs
7. Vowel Teams Generalizations
8. Diphthongs: Rules and Patterns
9. Spelling Rules
10. Prefixes, Suffixes, and Morphology
11. Additional and Review Notes for Teachers
12. Optional Editable Document of This Page

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1. Helpful Links and Resources

To begin, the following links provide foundational references and practice tools related to English phonemes and spelling patterns.

• 44 Phonemes

• Sound Walls

• Listen, Practice, and Master All the Sounds

• The 44 English Phonemes

• Teach spelling rules with UFLI stories

  • Spelling Rules Lessons 42–53

  • Spelling Rules Lessons 69–76

Spelling Frequency

Discover the frequency for each spelling pattern (for example, long /ā/).

For example, facts you will obtain at the link:

• The most frequent spelling of long a occurs at the end of open syllables (e.g., ba-con).

• The second most frequent is a_e (e.g., bake).

• The PDF also shows the probability of each spelling type, such as a_e saying long /ā/ 78% of the time and 22% of the time another sound (e.g., /a/ in have).

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2. Consonants: Definitions and Generalizations

Next, consonant patterns and generalizations explain how voiced and unvoiced sounds function in English spelling.

Voiced and Unvoiced Sounds

• Voiced sounds occur when the vocal cords vibrate. Tip:

Pronunciation of Final -s

• /s/ after an unvoiced consonant: hats, laughs, moths

• /z/ after a vowel, between two vowels, or after a voiced consonant: logs, tubes, passes

Consonant Blends

Two or three sounds are heard: br, cl, spl, sp, thr, squ, gl, pl

Consonant Digraphs

Two letters make one sound.

th

• Unvoiced: beginning/end of most words (thumb), or before a consonant (mouthful)

• Voiced: between vowels (mother, together), or in function words (the, them, they)

wh

• The h is silent: whale, wheel, whip

• Breath trick: Feel a puff of air for wh; no puff for w (word, water). Have students put their hand directly in front of their mouth.

ch

• Three sounds: chase, Christmas, chef

qu

• q is always followed by u

• Technically not a digraph, but often grouped with them

Is it c or k?

• k takes i and e: kit, Ken

• c takes the other 3:  a, o, u: cat, cot, cut

Spelling /k/

• Use “-ck” after one short vowel in one-syllable words: back, deck, sick – doc, pic, croc, arc, sync end in “c” because they are abbreviations

• Use -c in two or more syllables: music, traffic, historic

Double Final Consonants

Double ff, ll, ss, zz after one short vowel:
ball, tell, staff, pass, buzz
Exceptions: bus (French origin), gas, is, was, of

• Function words stay short (is, was)

• Content words are longer (off, pill)

When s or z cannot be doubled because the vowel isn’t short, add e: freeze, house

Final -tch and -dge

• -tch after one short vowel: patch (exceptions: such, much, which, rich)

• -dge after one short vowel: badge

Soft c and g

• c → /s/ before e, i, y: center

• g → /j/ before e, i, y: gentle  

English spelling generally follows rules, but when it does not, there is usually a historical or semantic reason.

Word	Expected sound	Actual sound	Why
giant	/j/	/j/	French/Latin origin
gem	/j/	/j/	French/Latin origin
give	/j/	/g/	Germanic origin
get	/j/	/g/	Germanic origin

Letter j

• Never ends a word

• Use “-ge” if “-dge” can’t be used because the vowel isn’t short (age)

• In the middle, use ge, gi, gy, except -ject (legislator)

  • Exception: pajama

Short Vowel Special Spellings

When these consonant sounds touch a short vowel, they are spelled as

ck, ff, ll, ss, zz, tch, dge, ve

These spelling patterns signal that the vowel before them is short.

Letter v

• Never ends a word → use -ve (have, love)

• Proper names may end in v (Bev)

Hard g

Add “u” before “e” or “i”: guest, guitar, otherwise, “ge” and “gi” are typically soft

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3. Silent Letters and Phonesthemes

In contrast to phonetic spellings, silent letters and phonesthemes often reflect word origin and meaning rather than sound. A phonestheme is a recurring sound or sound pattern associated with a general meaning or idea, even though it lacks a fixed, dictionary-defined meaning and is not a morpheme.

Silent kn

The silent “kn” has a Germanic origin and provides clues related to lumps or actions involving the head and hands.

Examples

• Lumps: knob, knoll, knot, knuckle

• Actions: knead, kneel, knit, knock, know

Silent l

• Silent before f, v, k, m after a: half, calm, walk

• Silent after ou before d: would, could

• and the -olk family: yolk, folk

Silent wr

Associated with twisting or bending: wring, wrestle, wrench, wrinkle, wrist

Silent b

• The letter “b” is silent after the letter “m” at the end of words such as climb, comb, and thumb. The b used to be pronounced, but English has evolved.

• Pronounced in two syllables: amber

• Plumber—the b is silent due to Latin origin

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4. Initial and Final Phonesthemes

Initial Phonesthemes

• cl-: clamp, clutter

• fl-: flap, flash

• gl-: glow, glitter

• gr-: groan, gruff

• sn-: sniff, snore

• sl-: slide, slouch

• sp-: splash, spurt

• st-: stable, stiff

• str-: string, stretch

• sw-: swing, swirl

• tw-: twist, twirl

Final Phonesthemes

Final phonesthemes are much rarer than initial phonesthemes because English encodes meaning associations more often at the beginning of words than at the end.

• -ash: smash

• -ack: crack

• -ump: bump

• –itter / -utter: glitter, mutter

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5. Vowel Generalizations

Similarly, vowel generalizations help explain predictable patterns in both short and long vowel spellings.

• Short /e/ vs. /i/: the jaw drops more for /e/ (peg). For children who are confused, have them place a hand under their chin and say peg and pig repeatedly.
  They will feel their jaw drop farther when saying peg than when saying pig, which helps them hear and feel the difference between the two vowel sounds.

• Two consonants after a vowel make the vowel short → short vowel (jumping)

• al → short o: ball, walk, salt

• welded or glued sounds—groups of letters whose distinct sounds are difficult to separate when segmenting words. ank, ink, onk, unk, ang, ing, ong, ung, am, an, all

• Atypical long vowels—these follow closed syllable rules, but the vowel is long: old, ind, ild, ost, olt

3 Sounds of y

• /y/ at the beginning (yellow)

• Long i at the end of 1 syllable (sky)

• Long e at the end of 2 syllables (baby)

R-Controlled Vowels

• “ir,” “ur,” and “er” sound alike – Her bird burps. Her turn first.

ir usually occurs in nature words (bird, fir, birch), clothing words (shirt, skirt), and number words (first, thirteen). If you hear /m/, /d/, /t/, or /th/ after the /er/ sound, the spelling is usually ir (squirm, squirt).

ur usually occur in words associated with pain (hurt, burn, turmoil, burden, blurt), words with “ture” (nature, immature), and days of the week (Thursday, Saturday).

er is the most common and usually occurs at the end of words (e.g., her) and as a suffix (e.g., faster, slower).

Special w Patterns

• wa—water, watch, want, wash—sounds like wo
• war—sounds like “wor”—warm
• wor—sounds like “wer”—worm, worst, work

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6. Silent e and Vowel Digraphs

Silent e:

• Makes the vowel say its name (cake)

• Prevents plural confusion (please, house), otherwise, it looks like you have several plea, hous

• Required with v (have)

• Signals soft c/g (cage, race)

• You can also have the silent e in words like come, some. English has evolved, and the silent e prevents confusion with other words

• • some vs. sum

  • done vs. don

Demonstrate Changes in Vowel Sounds

An idea from Moats (2000) is to create words using the same two consonants to demonstrate the changes in the vowel sounds. (Check out my Sound Wall page to learn more about the power of the vowels.) For example, use b/t:

• beet
• bit
• bait
• bet
• bat
• bite
• bot
• but
• bought
• boat
• book
• boot
• about
• abort
• Bart
• Bert

Silent e vs Digraphs

How do I know if the long vowel is a silent e or a digraph? Learn as homophones:

• main/mane
• pain/pane
• maid/made
• bail/bale
• Gail/gale
• mail/male
• pail/pale
• sail/sale
• tail/tale
• pair/pear/pare
• gait/gate
• hear/here
• beat/beet
• peat/Pete
• right/write
• might/mite
• sight/site/cite
• road/rode
• coal/Cole
• roam/Rome
• Joan’s/Jones
• loan/lone
• boar/bore
• moat/mote

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7. Vowel Teams Generalizations

• ai is most often followed by n or l.  rain, sail, complain, retain 

• oa is almost always used in 1 syllable words and not in 2 or 3 syllable words. boat, roast, etc.

• ie The e is reversed after c receive, ceiling—i before e except after c or when sounding like “a” as in neighbor or weigh. 

• eigh is a rare spelling for long a. The following mnemonic will supply you with the most common words in which it occurs. Eight neighbors weigh as much as a freight of sleighs.

• oe is a rare spelling for long oo. The following mnemonic will supply you with the most common words in which it occurs. Joe hit his foe with the toe of his shoe while in a canoe.

• Here is a long o vowel team worksheet to make. Have students use cutouts or tile magnets of “oe,” “oa,” and “ow.” They slide down each column with the correct letters and read each word.

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8. Diphthongs: Rules and Patterns

What is the difference between vowel digraphs and diphthongs?

 

Diphthongs make 2 vowel sounds in 1 syllable.

oi is used in the middle of words—spoil 

oy is used at the end of a syllable—oyster, boy

au is used in the middle of words—cause

augh is a very rare spelling for /au/. The following mnemonic will supply you with the most common words in which it occurs. The haughty, naughty daughter caught the cat and taught him how to slaughter.

aw is used at the end of a word or in the middle if the word ends in a single n or l. pawn, lawn; crawl, shawl

ou is used in the middle of words—house

ow is used at the end of words or in the middle if the word ends in a single n, l, or er. down, growl, shower

ew comes at the end of a syllable. chew, blew

ue comes at the end of a syllable. “ue” is a rare spelling for long oo, and the following mnemonic will supply you with the most common words in which it occurs. Sue got glue on her blue dress.

ui is a very rare spelling for long oo. The following mnemonic will supply you with the most common words in which it occurs. A waiter on a cruise spilled fruit juice on a man’s suit and got bruised in the eye.

When “ough” is followed by t, it makes the /aw/ sound as in bought; if not, it makes the long o sound as in dough

2 sounds of “oo”—school, moose, book, cook— The long sound of oo as in boot occurs more frequently than the short sound as in book. So, when a child is stuck on an oo word, have them try the long sound first!

9. Spelling Rules

F L S Rule

Words of one syllable ending in f, l, or s after one vowel usually end in double ff, ll, or ss.
Exceptions: if s sounds like /z/ as in was; or if f sounds like /v/ as in of.

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Doubling Final Consonant (Before Adding a Suffix)

Words of one syllable
Ending in one consonant after one vowel, double the final consonant before a suffix beginning with a vowel, NOT when the suffix begins with a consonant.

big → bigger → bigness
fret → fretting → fretful

Words of more than one syllable
Ending in one consonant after one vowel, double the final consonant before a suffix beginning with a vowel if the last syllable is accented.

begin → be gin → beginning
open → o pen → opening

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Silent e Rule (When Adding Suffixes)

Words ending in silent e drop the e before a suffix beginning with a vowel, but do NOT drop the e before a suffix beginning with a consonant.

hope → hoping → hopeful
excite → excited → excitement

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Final y Rules (When Adding Suffixes)

• After a vowel: unchanged

• After a consonant: change y → i

• Exception: suffixes starting with i

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Plurals and Possessives (Morphology Rules)

Regular Plurals

The most common way of forming the plural of nouns is to add s to the singular:
dog → dogs, elephant → elephants, table → tables

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Plurals of Nouns Ending in s, x, z, ch, sh

Nouns ending in s, x, z, ch, sh form the plural by adding es:
gas → gasses, torch → torches, tax → taxes, thrush → thrushes, topaz → topazes
Every syllable has a vowel, and you can hear the extra syllable.

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Plurals Ending in y

• After a vowel: add s (boy → boys, play → plays)

• After a consonant: change y → i and add es (baby → babies)

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Plurals of Nouns Ending in o

Nouns ending in o after a vowel form the plural by adding s:
studio → studios

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Plurals of Nouns Ending in f or fe

• Regular plural: add s (roof → roofs, fife → fifes)

• Some change f/fe → ves (leaf → leaves, knife → knives)

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Possessives

• Singular possessive: add ’s (Tom’s knife, the child’s toy)

• Plural possessive ending in s: add apostrophe (rabbits’ burrows, boys’ knives)

• Plural not ending in s: add ’s (men’s voices, women’s work, children’s laughter)

The possessive of personal pronouns does not require an apostrophe:
his, her, their

The possessive form of an indefinite pronoun does require an apostrophe:
one’s, anybody’s, everybody’s, somebody’s, anyone’s, no one’s, everyone’s

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Plurals of Letters and Figures

Here is a clear reference table for using apostrophes with numbers and letters:

Rule of thumb:

• Letters and digits by themselves → use an apostrophe for plural

• Words, acronyms, decades → no apostrophe

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Irregular Plurals

men, teeth, feet, mice, fish, deer

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Spelling Patterns Related to Morphology

Rule for ie and ei

Put i before e, except after c, or when it sounds like /ā/ as in neighbor and weigh.

chief  ceiling  eight
thief  conceit  freight
relief  receipt  vein

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10. Prefixes, Suffixes, and Morphology

Prefixes That Do Not Change

dis-, mis- remain unchanged.

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Prefixes Changed for Euphony

Euphony is the quality of language that sounds pleasant, smooth, and harmonious when spoken aloud, often created through well-chosen sound patterns and rhythm.

The final consonant of a prefix may change to match the following letter or a letter more easily blended with it. The changed form is easier to say and more pleasing to the ear.

con- → col-, com-, cor-

collide (con + lide)
collect (con + lect)
commute (con + mute)
compress (con + press)
corrode (con + rode)
correlate (con + relate)

Rule:

• con- → col- before l

• con- → com- before m/p/b

• con- → cor- before r

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in- → il-, im-, ir-

illegible (in + legible)
illegal (in + legal)
impossible (in + possible)
immature (in + mature)
irregular (in + regular)
irresponsible (in + responsible)

Rule:

• il- before l

• im- before m, p, b

• ir- before r

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ad- → ac-, af-, ag-, al-, an-, ap-, ar-, as-, at-

accumulate (ad + cumulate)
affect (ad + fect)
aggression (ad + gression)
allocate (ad + locate)
annex (ad + nex)
appoint (ad + point)
arrive (ad + rive)
assimilate (ad + similate)
attend (ad + tend)

Rule:
ad- assimilates to match the first consonant of the root.

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Suffixes

• -ful has one l

• -ly doesn’t change the base

• -ed has three sounds:

  • After t or d → /ed/ (painted, wanted)

  • After a voiced sound → /d/ (called, screamed, listened)

  • After a voiceless consonant → /t/ (asked, laughed, fixed)

 

Helpful Morphology Links and Notes

• Prefixes, Suffixes, Roots by Grade

• check out this suffix pdf – Most Common Suffixes

65% of suffixes we use are s, ed, es, ing.

Remember, there are no spelling changes when we add a consonant suffix – s, ful, less, ly ment, but drop the final e in the base word for a vowel suffix – ed, es, ing, ive, y.

11. Additional and Review Notes for Teachers

1. Schwa (ə)

• The schwa (/ə/) is the most common vowel sound in English and usually appears in unaccented syllables.
• Schwa sounds like short /u/ or short /i/.
• The vowels a, e, o, and u can make the schwa sound in the initial position

a – ago

e – event

o – offend

u – upon

• All vowels in the medial and final positions can make the schwa sound. Here are examples

a – balloon

e – blanket

i – accident

o – bottom

u – album

y – analysis

• The schwa sound is pronounced faster and softer than the accented syllable vowel, which makes its typical long or short sound.
• Dialect can determine whether the vowel makes the schwa sound.

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2. Six Syllable Types 

Click the link above for detailed explanations of each type. These syllable types explain why specific spelling rules apply in English.

• Closed

• Open

• Vowel-Consonant-e

• Vowel Team

• R-controlled

• Consonant-le

The syllable types are the reasons why spelling rules apply.

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3. Accent (Stress) and Its Effect on Spelling

Fact: English spelling is influenced by syllable stress, especially when adding suffixes.

• begin → beginning

• record (noun/verb) distinctions

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4. Doubling Rule Exceptions (w, x, y)

Rule: Words ending in w, x, or y do not double the final consonant.

Examples:

• snowing, fixing, playing

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5. Soft c/g Exceptions

Note: Some words retain hard sounds before e, i, or y due to word origin (e.g., get, give).

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6. Why is qu is treated as one unit?

Clarification: qu represents /kw/ and functions as a single phonetic unit in English spelling.

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7. Consonant-le Syllable

Rule: The consonant-le syllable occurs at the end of words (table, candle) and always contains a schwa.

12. Optional Editable Version

For an optional editable document of this Spelling Rules and Generalizations page, please visit Instant Downloads.