Spelling
Vowels:
a,
e,
i,
o,
u
Consonants: Every other letter in the alphabet.
b,
c,
d,
f,
g,
h,
j,
k,
q,
r,
s,
t,
v,
w,
x,
y,
l,
z.
m,
n,
p,
There are two basic understandings about the vowel system.
1. The same vowel sound can be spelt in more than one way. A change
in spelling is used to give a visual signal of change in meaning.
Eg:
to, too, two;
saw, sore.
2. The small number of vowels is extended to cover a very large number
of vowel sounds by combining vowels with other vowels and with
certain consonants, especially w, l, r, gh.
There are some generalisations about sound, letter patterns and meaning in
English. There are four common patterns used.
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A vowel followed by a consonant and then another vowel, usually
an “e” which is silent.
Example: ape; tape; hope; cute; time.
Two vowels coming together to make one sound.
Example: soap; meat; tail; soup.
A single vowel sound at the end of a word.
Example: no; he; my; me.
A vowel in combination with certain letters.
Example: say; grow; car; hall; pass; cold.
Some vowels have short sounds and some have long sounds. Write a similar
word with a long vowel sound in the second column.
Short vowel sound
Hid
Hop
Pal
Rat
Rid
Plan
Cut
Hat
Long vowel sound
Hide
hope
To become a good speller, a person needs to learn to act on the
understanding that sounds heard in the spoken words may be spelt in
different ways even when they sound the same.
Examples: nose, so, load, show, toe, sew, brooch, folk, soul, dough, motor.
To be successful, the speller has to combine sound with meaning and
familiarity with what the correct spelling looks like. This is best done by
comparing familiarities and differences of both sound and spelling.
Try this.
Similar sound, different spelling
 Write as much of the word as can be worked out using phonetic
skills.
 Attempt the vowel using basic phonetic (sound) skills.
 When you are nearly there, consult a reference, check a dictionary
or ask someone.
 Check that the spelling is correct.
 Build up a list of words that have similar sound and spelling and
learn them as a group.
 Choose another word with the same should but a different spelling
and repeat the process.
Similar spelling, different sound
Example: die; chief; friend; view.
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The problem is to first discover the pronunciation, then the meaning
for a known sequence.
Find more words that match both the vowel sound and its spelling
and build up a list as before. A few words might prove to be unique
in spelling.
Identify meanings and use in meaningful contexts.
Look for as many different morphemic variants as possible; die,
died, dies, dead, dieback, diehard or die, dice diecast.
This helps to clarify the meaning as well as the spelling.
Spelling – does a word look wrong or clumsy? Then check a dictionary
for the spelling.