Spelling words in English is challenging work. As a matter of fact, many native speakers of English have problems with spelling correctly. One of the main reasons for this is that many, many English words are NOT spelled as they are spoken. This difference between pronunciation and spelling causes a lot of confusion. The combination “ough” provides an excellent example:
Tough – pronounced – tuf (the ‘u’ sounding as in ‘cup’)
Through – pronounced – throo
Dough – pronounced – doe (long ‘o’)
Bought – pronounced – bawt
It’s enough to make anyone crazy! Here are some of the most common problems when spelling words in English.
Three Syllables Pronounced as Two Syllables
Aspirin – pronounced – asprin
Different – pronounced – diffrent
Every – pronounced – evry
Four Syllables Pronounced as Three Syllables
Comfortable -pronounced- comfrtable
Temperature- pronounced- temprature
Vegetable – pronounced – vegtable
Words That Sound the Same (Homophones)
two, to, too – pronounced – too
knew, new – pronounced – niew
through, threw – pronounced – throo
not, knot, naught – pronounced – not
Same Sounds – Different Spellings
‘Eh’ as in ‘Let’
let
bread
said
‘Ai’ as in ‘I’
I
sigh
buy
either
The following letters are silent when pronounced.
D – sandwich, Wednesday
G – sign, foreign
GH – daughter, light, right
H – why, honest, hour
K – know, knight, knob
L – should, walk, half
P – cupboard, psychology
S – island
T – whistle, listen, fasten
U – guess, guitar
W – who, write, wrong
Unusual Letter Combinations
GH = ‘F’: cough, laugh, enough, rough
CH = ‘K’: chemistry, headache, Christmas, stomach
EA = ‘EH’: breakfast, head, bread, instead
EA = ‘EI’: steak, break
EA = ‘EE’: weak, streak
OU = ‘UH’: country, double, enough
Kenneth Beare has taught general English and English for specific purposes in Germany, New York, Italy, and Oregon. He has developed numerous multimedia ESL courses for clients in Italy, England, Canada, and the U.S. Having lived in Germany and Italy and being fluent in German and Italian, he knows what it means to have to learn a new language to adjust to a different culture.
