Rules

Words (Words in bold are statutory spellings)

Rule 1

Homophones and near homophones: Nouns that end in –ce/-cy and verbs that end in –se/-sy

advice

advise

device

devise

licence

license

practice

practise

prophecy

prophesy

Rule 2

Adjectives ending in –ant into nouns ending in –ance/-ancy

observant

observance

expectant

expectancy

hesitant

hesitancy

tolerant

tolerance

relevant

relevance

Rule 3

Adjectives ending in –ent into nouns ending in –ence/-ency

innocent

innocence

decent

decency

excellent

excellence

confident

confidence

existent

existence

Rule 4

Hyphens to join a prefix ending in a vowel to a root word beginning with a vowel.

co-operate

co-ordinate

co-own

co-author

re-enter

re-educate

re-examine

re-evaluate

re-energise

re-elect

Rule 5

Hyphens: To join compound adjectives to avoid ambiguity

man-eating

little-used

rock-bottom

wide-eyed

pig-headed

tight-fisted

cold-hearted

stone-faced

green-eyed

short-tempered

Rule 6

Words ending in -able

applicable

tolerable

operable

considerable

dependable

comfortable

reasonable

perishable

breakable

fashionable

Rule 7

Words ending in -able

adorable

valuable

advisable

believable

desirable

excitable

knowledgeable

likeable

changeable

noticeable

Rule 8

Words ending in -ably

adorably

valuably

believably

considerably

tolerably

changeably

noticeably

dependably

comfortably

reasonably

Rule 9

Word families based on common words, showing how words are related in form and meaning

temperature

temper

temperament

tempered

variety

vary

variation

varied

variable

variance

Rule 10

Word families based on common words, showing how words are related in form and meaning

suggest

digest

congestion

gesture

gestation

lightning

daylight

enlighten

twilight

limelight

Rule 11

Creating diminutives using prefixes micro or mini-

minibus

miniskirt

miniscule

minibeast

minicab

minimum

microscope

microchip

microphone

microwave

Rule 12

Adding suffixes beginning with vowel letters to words ending in -fer

referring

referred

referral

reference

referee

preferring

preferred

preference

transferring

transference

Rule 13

Words with a long /e/ sound spelt ‘ie’ or ‘ei’ after c (and exceptions)

siege

niece

grief

chief

fiend

shriek

believe

achieve

convenience

mischievous

Rule 14

Words with the long /e/ sound spelt ‘ie’ or ‘ei’ after c (and exceptions)

deceive

conceive

receive

perceive

ceiling

receipt

protein

caffeine

seize

neither

Rule 15

Word families based on common words, showing how words are related in form and meaning

commit

committee

transmit

submit

commitment

emit

permit

intermittent

omit

unremitting

Rule 16

Word families based on common words, showing how words are related in form and meaning

interrupt

interfere

intercept

interject

intertwine

interim

internal

intersperse

interloper

interest

Rule 17

Words with endings which sound like /shuhl/ after a vowel letter

official

special

artificial

social

racial

crucial

facial

beneficial

superficial

antisocial

Rule 18

Words with endings which sound like /shuhl/ after a consonant letter

partial

confidential

essential

substantial

torrential

sequential

potential

spatial

martial

influential

Rule 19

Words with a ‘soft c’ spelt /ce/

cemetery

certificate

celebrate

necessary

deceased

December

sacrifice

hindrance

nuisance

prejudice

Rule 20

Word families based on common words, showing how words are related in form

and meaning

accommodate

accompany

access

accuse

accost

accrue

accuracy

accomplish

accumulate

accentuate

Rule 21

Word families based on common words, showing how words are related in form

and meaning

signature

assign

design

designate

significant

resignation

resign

insignificant

assignment

signal

Rule 22

Word families based on common words, showing how words are related in form

and meaning

programme

telegram

hologram

diagram

grammar

grammatical

parallelogram

monogram

programmer

program

Rule 23

Words that can be nouns and verbs

challenge

protest

broadcast

benefit

charge

function

influence

interest

object

damage

Rule 24

Words that can be nouns and verbs

produce

present

reason

silence

support

transport

surprise

scratch

freeze

balance

Rule 25

Words with a long /o/ sound spelt ‘ou’ or ‘ow’

shoulder

smoulder

mould

poultry

soul

shallow

window

blown

known

thrown

Rule 26

Words ending in -ible

possible

horrible

terrible

visible

incredible

sensible

forcible

legible

responsible

reversible

Rule 27

Words ending in -ibly

possibly

horribly

terribly

visibly

incredibly

sensibly

forcibly

legibly

responsibly

reversibly