Spelling Rules, Generalizations, and the 44 English Phonemes
This page explains spelling rules and generalizations that govern English orthography. English contains 44 phonemes, which are represented by multiple spelling patterns. Understanding these patterns helps students decode, spell, and read words accurately.
Table of Contents
1. Helpful Links and Resources
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Teach spelling rules with UFLI stories
Spelling Frequency
Check the frequency for each spelling pattern (for example, long /ā/).
Facts you will find on the link:
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The most frequent spelling of long a occurs at the end of open syllables (e.g., ba-con).
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The second most frequent is a_e (e.g., bake).
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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).
2. Consonants: Definitions and Generalizations
Voiced and Unvoiced Sounds
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Voiced sounds occur when the vocal cords vibrate. Tip:
Pronunciation of Final -s
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/s/ after an unvoiced consonant: hats, laughs, moths
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/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
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Unvoiced: beginning/end of most words (thumb), or before a consonant (mouthful)
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Voiced: between vowels (mother, together), or in function words (the, them, they)
wh
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The h is silent: whale, wheel, whip
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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
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Three sounds: chase, Christmas, chef
qu
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q is always followed by u
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Technically not a digraph, but often grouped with them
Is it c or k?
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k takes i and e: kit, Ken
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c takes the other 3: a, o, u: cat, cot, cut
Spelling /k/
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Use “-ck” after one short vowel in one-syllable words: back, deck, sick
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doc, pic, croc, arc, sync end in “c” because they are abbreviations
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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
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Function words stay short (is, was)
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Content words are longer (off, pill)
If s or z cannot be doubled because the vowel isn’t short, add e: freeze, house
Final -tch and -dge
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-tch after one short vowel: patch (exceptions: such, much, which, rich)
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-dge after one short vowel: badge
Soft c and g
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c → /s/ before e, i, y: center
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g → /j/ before e, i, y: gentle
Letter j
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Never ends a word
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Use “-ge” if “-dge” can’t be used because the vowel isn’t short (age)
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In the middle, use ge, gi, gy, except -ject (legislator)
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Exception: pajama
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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
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Never ends a word → use -ve (have, love)
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Proper names may end in v (Bev)
Hard g
Add “u” before “e” or “i”: guest, guitar, otherwise, “ge” and “gi” are typically soft
3. Silent Letters and Phonesthemes
Silent kn
Germanic origin, meaning clues related to lumps or head/hand actions.
Examples
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Lumps: knob, knoll, knot, knuckle
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Actions: knead, kneel, knit, knock, know
Silent l
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Silent before f, v, k, m after a: half, calm, walk
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Silent after ou before d: would, could
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and the -olk family: yolk, folk
Silent wr
Associated with twisting or bending:
wring, wrestle, wrench, wrinkle, wrist
Silent b
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Silent b after m at word end: climb, comb, thumb. The b used to be pronounced, but English has evolved.
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Pronounced in two syllables: amber
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Plumber—the b is silent due to Latin origin
4. What Is a Phonestheme?
A phonestheme is a recurring sound pattern associated with meaning, but it is not a morpheme.
Initial Phonesthemes
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cl-: clamp, clutter
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fl-: flap, flash
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gl-: glow, glitter
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gr-: groan, gruff
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sn-: sniff, snore
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sl-: slide, slouch
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sp-: splash, spurt
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st-: stable, stiff
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str-: string, stretch
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sw-: swing, swirl
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tw-: twist, twirl
Final Phonesthemes
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-ash: smash
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-ack: crack
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-ump: bump
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–itter / -utter: glitter, mutter
5. Vowel Generalizations
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Short /e/ vs. /i/: jaw drops more for /e/ (peg). For children who are confused, have them place a hand under their chin and say pig and peg 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.
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Two consonants after a vowel make the vowel short → short vowel (jumping)
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al → short o: ball, walk, salt
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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
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Atypical long vowels—these follow closed syllable rules, but the vowel is long: old, ind, ild, ost, olt
3 Sounds of y
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/y/ at the beginning (yellow)
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Long i at the end of 1 syllable (sky)
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Long e at the end of 2 syllables (baby)
R-Controlled Vowels
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“ir,” “ur,” and “er” sound alike – Her bird burps. Her turn first.
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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
6. Silent e and Vowel Digraphs
Silent e:
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Makes the vowel say its name (cake)
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Prevents plural confusion (please, house), otherwise, it looks like you have several plea, hous
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Required with v (have)
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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
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some vs. sum
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done vs. don
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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. 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
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.
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.
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
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
Final y Rules (When Adding Suffixes)
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After a vowel: unchanged
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After a consonant: change y → i
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Exception: suffixes starting with i
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
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.
Plurals Ending in y
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After a vowel: add s (boy → boys, play → plays)
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After a consonant: change y → i and add es (baby → babies)
Plurals of Nouns Ending in o
Nouns ending in o after a vowel form the plural by adding s:
studio → studios
Plurals of Nouns Ending in f or fe
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Regular plural: add s (roof → roofs, fife → fifes)
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Some change f/fe → ves (leaf → leaves, knife → knives)
Possessives
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Singular possessive: add ’s (Tom’s knife, the child’s toy)
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Plural possessive ending in s: add apostrophe (rabbits’ burrows, boys’ knives)
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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
Plurals of Letters, Figures, and Signs
Formed by adding ’s:
cross your t’s
Not: is, us, 7s
But: i’s, u’s, 7’s
Irregular Plurals
men, teeth, feet, mice, fish, deer
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
10. Prefixes, Suffixes, and Morphology
Prefixes That Do Not Change
dis-, mis- remain unchanged.
Prefixes Changed for Euphony
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:
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con- → col- before l
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con- → com- before m/p/b
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con- → cor- before r
in- → il-, im-, ir-
illegible (in + legible)
illegal (in + legal)
impossible (in + possible)
immature (in + mature)
irregular (in + regular)
irresponsible (in + responsible)
Rule:
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il- before l
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im- before m, p, b
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ir- before r
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.
Suffixes
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-ful has one l
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-ly doesn’t change the base
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-ed has three sounds:
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After t or d → /ed/ (painted, wanted)
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After a voiced sound → /d/ (called, screamed, listened)
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After a voiceless consonant → /t/ (asked, laughed, fixed)
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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 Notes for Teachers
1. Schwa (ə)
Fact: The schwa (/ə/) is the most common vowel sound in English and usually appears in unaccented syllables.
This connects strongly to:
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about, support, pencil, taken
2. Six Syllable Types
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Closed
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Open
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Vowel-Consonant-e
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Vowel Team
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R-controlled
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Consonant-le
The syllable types are the reasons why spelling rules apply.
3. Accent (Stress) and Its Effect on Spelling
Fact: English spelling is influenced by syllable stress, especially when adding suffixes.
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begin → beginning
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record (noun/verb) distinctions
4. Doubling Rule Exceptions (w, x, y)
Rule: Words ending in w, x, or y do not double the final consonant.
Examples:
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snowing, fixing, playing
5. Soft c/g Exceptions
Note: Some words retain hard sounds before e, i, or y due to word origin (e.g., get, give).
6. Why qu Is Treated as One Unit
Clarification: qu represents /kw/ and functions as a single phonetic unit in English spelling.
7. Consonant-le Syllable
Rule: The consonant-le syllable occurs at the end of words (table, candle) and always contains a schwa.
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This page was last updated on December 23, 2025.
Mnemonic sentences from Project Read.