Download List of all spelling rules

Spell By Color, Year One
List of spelling rules
(green): silent ‘
e’
When a one-syllable word ends in a {vowel –consonant –‘
e’
} pattern, the first vowel makes a
long vowel sound and the ‘
e’is silent (examples: lime, those, gave, state).
(blue): words ending in ‘
ll’
,‘
ff’
,‘
ss’
When a single-syllable word with a short vowel sound ends with ‘
f’
,‘
s’
, or ‘
l’
, that final consonant
is doubled (‘
ff’
, ‘
ss’
,‘
ll’
). Examples: mess, call.
(orange): hard vs soft ‘
g’
The hard ‘
g’sound is used before ‘
a’
,‘
o’
, and ‘
u’(example: gallon) and also before another
consonant (examples: grow, jogging).
The soft ‘
g’sound is usually used before ‘
e’and also ‘
y’when it is used as a vowel (examples:
general, gym; exception: get). The ‘
g’before an ‘
i’can be either hard or soft (examples: give
[hard], giant [soft]).
(orange): ‘
g’vs ‘
j’
The letter ‘
j’makes the same sound as a soft ‘
g’
.
If you hear the soft ‘
g’sound before an ‘
a’
,‘
o’
, or ‘
u’
, use the letter ‘
j’(example: jar). If you hear
the soft ‘
g’sound before an ‘
e’
,‘
i’
, or ‘
y’
, it is not as easy to tell whether the word should use a ‘
j’
or a ‘
g’(examples: jet and gem). You will need to become familiar with these through practice.
(red): hard vs soft ‘
c’
The hard ‘
c’sound is used before the vowels ‘
a’
,‘
o’
, and ‘
u’(examples: camp, corner) and also
before another consonant (examples: clam, crayon). The soft ‘
c’sound is used before the
vowels ‘
e’and ‘
i’and also ‘
y’when used as a vowel (examples: center, cymbals).
(red): ‘
c’vs ‘
k’
The letter ‘
k’makes the same sound as a hard ‘
c’
. If you hear the hard ‘
c’sound before an ‘
e’
or
‘
i’
, use the letter ‘
k’(example: keep).
(red vs yellow): ‘
c’vs ‘
s’
The letter ‘
s’makes the same sound as a soft ‘
c’
.
If you hear the soft ‘
c’sound before an ‘
a’
,‘
o’
, or ‘
u’or before another consonant, use the letter
‘
s’(example: soft, star). (yellow)
Note: If you hear the soft ‘
c’sound before an ‘
e’
,‘
i’
, or ‘
y’
, it is not as easy to tell whether the
word should use an ‘
s’or a ‘
c’(examples: send and center). You will need to become familiar
with these through practice. There are many more words in this category that start with ‘
s’than
with ‘
c’
, though, so ‘
s’will be the correct choice more often than not.
(red/yellow): ‘
sc’vs ‘
sk’
For words starting with the consonant combo [‘
s’
-hard ’
c’
] sound, follow the regular rules for ‘
c’
versus ‘
k’
:
- Use ‘
sc’when the vowel after it is ‘
a’
,‘
o’
, or ‘
u’(examples: scare, scold) or when the next
letter is another consonant (example: scrape).
- Use ‘
sk’when the vowel after it is ‘
e’
,‘
i’
, or ‘
y’(examples: sketch, skill, sky)
(red): ‘
c’vs ‘
k’before silent ‘
e’
As with any other time the letter ‘
c’comes before an ‘
e’
,‘
c’always makes a soft ‘
c’sound before
a silent ‘
e’(examples: nice, place). If you hear the hard ‘
c’sound before a silent ‘
e’
, always use
the letter ‘
k’(example: bake).
(red vs gray): ‘
c’vs ‘
s’before silent ‘
e’
The letter ‘
c’always makes a soft ‘
c’sound before a silent ‘
e’(examples: nice, place). The letter
‘
s’sometimes sounds like the letter ‘
z’
before a silent ‘
e’(example: nose). The letter ‘
s’can also
sound like the soft ‘
c’before a silent ‘
e’(example: chase). This lesson lists the words by
category for your child to use in practicing when ‘
s’(gray) vs ‘
c’(red) is used before the silent ‘
e’
.
(pencil vs blue/red/gray/tan): How do you know if a word ending in the soft ‘
c’/ ‘
s’sound
needs to end with a silent ‘
e’
?
Group 1. Single-syllable words having a short vowel right before the soft ‘
c’sound: (blue)
Group 2. Two-syllable words having a short vowel right before the soft ‘
c’sound: (pencil)
Group 3. Words that are a verb form: Ask yourself whether this word is an action word
(verb) that has the suffix ‘
s’added to it. (pencil)
Group 4. Words that are the plural form of a noun (pencil)
Group 5. Possessive pronoun (its) or possessive noun (e.g., the cat’
s toy) (pencil)
Group 6. Words not covered above having a long vowel, vowel blend (au, oo, oi, ou), or
consonant right before the soft ‘
c’sound: these will always end with a soft ‘
c’or ‘
s’followed
by a silent ‘
e’(tan and either red or gray)
(orange vs pink): ‘
g’versus ‘
dg’before a silent ‘
e’
At the end of a single-syllable word:
- if you hear the soft ‘
g’sound after a short vowel sound, always use ‘
dg’before the silent ‘
e’
(example: dodge). (pink)
- if you hear the soft ‘
g’sound after a long vowel sound or after another consonant, use ‘
g’
before the silent ‘
e’(examples: stage, hinge). (orange)
(tan): other reasons for silent ‘
e’
: hard ‘
s’
,‘
z’
, and ‘
v’
, part 1
(1) In the English language, there are no words that end with the letter ‘
v’
. A‘
v’at the end of a
word will always be followed by a silent ‘
e’(e.g., leave, serve).
(2) Many words ending with the ‘
z’(hard ‘
s’
) sound end with a silent ‘
e’so that you can tell them
apart from other similar sounding words (e.g., tease {joke around with someone} versus teas
{more than one kind of tea}).
(pencil vs blue/tan): other reasons for silent ‘
e’
: hard ‘
s’
,‘
z’
, and ‘
v’
, part 2
Group 1. Single-syllable words that are known exceptions to rule 2 (blue)
Group 2. (not included for words ending with the hard ‘
s’
/’
z’sound)
Group 3. Words that are a verb form: Ask yourself whether this word is an action word
(verb) that has the suffix ‘
s’added to it (e.g., runs) (pencil)
Group 4. Words that are the plural form of a noun (e.g., crabs) (pencil)
Group 5. Possessive pronoun or possessive noun (these indicate ownership) (pencil)
Group 6. Words not covered above having a long vowel, vowel blend (au, oo, oi, ou), or
consonant right before the hard ‘
s’
/’
z’sound: these will end with a hard ‘
s’or ‘
z’followed by a
silent ‘
e’(tan)
Group 7. single-syllable words with a short vowel sound right before the ‘
z’sound
(red vs brown): words ending with the hard ‘
c’
/‘
k’sound, part 1
(1) If the word ends with a short vowel sound right before the ‘
k’sound, the word will end with
‘
ck’(examples: black, trick). (brown)
(2) If the word ends with a consonant sound right before the ‘
k’sound, the word will end with just
the letter ‘
k’(examples: mask, tank). (red)
(red): words ending with the hard ‘
c’
/‘
k’sound, part 2
(3) For words that have a long vowel sound or the digraph ‘
oo’right before the ‘
k’sound, the
ending consonant will be just a ‘
k’
. These are more difficult, though, than in part 1, because
these words can either end with just a ‘
k’(examples: peek, look) or a ‘
k’before a silent ‘
e’
(examples: broke, hike). ). This lesson lists the words by category for your child to use in
practicing when ‘
k’vs ‘
ke’is used.
(no color): ‘
x’versus ‘
ks’
When a word ends in the ‘
ks’sound, ask the following question:
Is this word a root word or does it have an ‘
s’suffix added to it?
1. If it is a root word, then it ends with an ‘
x’(e.g., fix, box).
2. If the word has an ‘
s’suffix added to it, then it ends with some form of ‘
k’before the ‘
s’
(e.g. plural nouns: cheeks, sticks; verb forms: makes, walks). Refer to red and brown rules to
determine which form of ‘
k’ending is needed.
(yellow-green): ‘
ch’versus ‘
tch’
For words ending with the ‘
ch’sound:
- For words with a short vowel sound right before the ‘
ch’sound, use ‘
tch’(e.g., patch)
- For words with a long vowel sound, any vowel sound made by a double-vowel (e.g., ‘
oo’
,‘
ou’
),
or a consonant right before the ‘
ch’sound, use ‘
ch’(e.g.,: teach, crouch, bench).
(gold): adding ‘
s’suffix to words ending with ‘
ch’
,‘
sh’
,‘
s’
,‘
x’
, or ‘
z’
The suffix ‘
s’
is used either (1) to make nouns plural (e.g., dogs) or (2) for the present tense form
of verbs (e.g., sings). When adding the suffix ‘
s’to a root word ending in ‘
ch’
,‘
sh’
,‘
s’
,‘
x’
, or ‘
z’
,
you need to add ‘
es’
.
Example: ‘
fix’
-> ‘
fixes’compared with ‘
dog’-> ‘
dogs’
(Important Note: For root words ending in a single ‘
z’
, double the ‘
z’before adding ‘
es’
)
(black): ‘
oi’versus ‘
oy’and ‘
ou’versus ‘
ow’
(1a) The ‘
ou’sound at the end of a word is made by ‘
ow’(e.g., how, allow). The ‘
ou’sound
at the beginning of a word or somewhere in the middle of the word is usually made by ‘
ou’
(e.g., found, ounce).
(1b) However, words ending with the single consonant sound of ‘
n’or ‘
l’will almost always
use ‘
ow’(e.g., clown, howl. Note: sometimes the ‘
l’sound at the end of the word is made by
the letters ‘
el’instead of just ‘
l’(e.g., vowel).
(1c) Also, for words having the consonant sound of ‘
r’or ‘
d’right after the ‘
ou sound, both
‘
ou’and ‘
ow’can be used [e.g., cloud vs powder, flour (used in bread) vs flower (bloom on a
plant)]
(2) The ‘
oy’sound at the end of a word is made by ‘
oy’(e.g., boy, destroy). In most cases,
the ‘
oy’sound at the beginning of a word or in the middle of a word is made by ‘
oi’(e.g., boil,
joint).
(no color): introduction to adding suffixes, beyond ‘
s’
A suffix is an ending that has been added onto your root word to give the word a slightly
different meaning. Examples: root word: find (to locate something), with the suffix ‘
ing’added
on: finding (currently in the process of locating something)
For many words, adding a suffix is easy: all you do is add the suffix onto the end of the root
word without making any changes. Later units (unit 14 this year as well as some of the units at
the beginning of year 2) will show you how to add suffixes in cases when you do need to change
the word in order to add the suffix to it.
(purple): adding suffixes to words ending in C.V.C.
For single-syllable root words ending in the consonant-vowel-consonant (C.V.C.) pattern (e.g.
clip, dot), when adding a suffix that begins with a vowel (e.g., -er, -ing), double the final
consonant of the root word before adding the suffix (e.g., get -> getting, stop -> stopped).
When adding a suffix that beings with a consonant (e.g., -s, -less), just add the suffix (e.g., lid ->
lids, sad -> sadly).
Exceptions: For words ending in ‘
w’
,‘
x’
, or ‘
y’
, do not double the final consonant before adding a
suffix that begins with a vowel (e.g., slowest, boxing, played). These words follow the rules
when adding a suffix that begins with a consonant (e.g., playful).
Remember: When adding the suffix ‘
-s’
, to root words ending in ‘
x’
, add ‘
-es’instead of ‘
-s’as
covered in gold. E.g., fix -> fixes.