Spelling
🔒 Log in to trackThe trap-word bank: silent letters and inherited mistakes
🔒 Log in to trackSome words are spelt wrongly again and again, so setters choose them. Each one hides a silent letter, a missing letter or a borrowed pattern. Learn the bank in small groups, and give each word a hook.
The word bank
Each word has one hidden letter or one missing letter. Use the hook.
| Correct | Hook |
|---|---|
| privilege | no d anywhere: priv-i-lege |
| rhythm | no vowel except y: Rh-y-th-m |
| government | the n of govern stays: govern + ment |
| environment | the n of environ stays: environ + ment |
| separate | there is 'a rat' in sePArATE |
| desperate | despERate: it ends in -erate |
| definite | ends in -inite: finite is inside |
| restaurant | rest-au-rant: the au sits in the middle |
| guarantee | gua first, then rantee |
| calendar | ends in -dar (a calender is a machine) |
| queue | five letters, only q speaks |
| vacuum | double u: vac-uum |
| liaison | lia-ison |
| grateful | grate + ful |
Tip: Say the hook aloud once. Then cover the word and write it.
Silent letters
Many trap words have a letter you do not say.
- Silent p: psychology, pneumonia, receipt, cupboard, raspberry
- Silent d: Wednesday, handkerchief, grandson
- Silent b: debt, doubt, subtle, plumber, tomb
- Silent h: rhythm, rhyme, exhaust, exhibition, ghost
- Silent s: island, aisle, debris
- Silent n after m: autumn, column, condemn, solemn
Say the word as it is spelt (WED-NES-DAY) to remember the silent letter.
-ceed, -cede and -sede
- -ceed: only proceed, succeed and exceed
- -sede: only supersede
- -cede: every other word: precede, recede, concede, secede, intercede
Rule: Three words end in -ceed, one ends in -sede, and all the rest end in -cede.
The related words procedure and success do not follow the same pattern. Procedure has one e, and success has a double c.
When a root word changes
The longer word often changes the root. The wrong option keeps the root unchanged.
- pronounce, pronunciation (the o goes)
- explain, explanation
- maintain, maintenance
- exclaim, exclamation
- curious, curiosity
- four, forty (but fourteen)
- nine, ninth (but ninety and nineteen)
- argue, argument; true, truly; due, duly
Borrowed words
French and Latin words keep their original spelling. Break them into parts.
- entrepreneur: entre + pre + neur
- bureaucracy: bureau + cracy
- connoisseur, rendezvous, reservoir, silhouette, camaraderie, liaison, questionnaire
The usual mistake is to swap letters inside a part, as in entreprenuer.
Words to look at closely
- parallel has one r, a double l in the middle, and a single l at the end.
- skiing is right (ski + ing). Only sking is a wrong option.
- cacti and cactuses are both accepted plurals.
- collectable and collectible are both standard.
Question types you will see
Each type: how to recognise it, the method step by step, and one question to try.
Silent letter
The word contains a letter you do not say (Wednesday, psychology, subtle) and some options leave it out.
Recall the silent letter by saying the word as it is spelt (WED-NES-DAY).
Remove every option that drops it.
Check the order of the other letters.
The most common mistake is to spell the word as it sounds.
Wednesday / Wendesday / Wensday / Wednsday
Show solutionHide solution
Say it as spelt: Wed-nes-day.
The d is silent but written.
Only one option keeps it with all other letters.
Wednesday
-ceed, -cede or -sede
The options differ in -ceed / -cede / -sede, or in the vowel before the ending (precede, succeeded, exceed).
Is it proceed, succeed or exceed? Then -ceed.
Is it supersede? Then -sede.
Otherwise choose -cede.
The list of exceptions is only four words long.
Precede / Preceed / Presede / Priceed
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Precede is not proceed, succeed or exceed.
It is not supersede.
So it ends in -cede.
Precede
Root letter changed in the longer word
The word comes from a root that changes its letters: pronounce to pronunciation, nine to ninth, four to forty.
Think of the root and how it changes.
Remove the option that keeps the root unchanged.
Check the remaining options letter by letter.
The most common wrong option keeps the root as it is.
Pronunciation / Pronounciation / Pronuntiation / Prononciation
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Pronounce loses its o in the longer word.
So it is pro-nun-ci-a-tion.
Pronounciation keeps the root.
Pronunciation
Borrowed word
A French or Latin borrowing: entrepreneur, bureaucracy, connoisseur, rendezvous, silhouette.
Split the word into parts: bureau + cracy.
Check each part in each option.
Remove options with swapped letters inside a part.
Borrowed words keep their original spelling, so part-by-part checking is reliable.
Bureaucracy / Beaurocracy / Bureaucrasy / Burocracy
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Split it: bureau + cracy.
Beaurocracy swaps letters in bureau.
Only one option has both parts right.
Bureaucracy
Missing letter: the root drops a letter
The word is truly, argument, ninth, forty, publicly or duly, and a wrong option keeps the extra letter.
Think of the base: true, argue, nine, four, public.
Note which letter drops: true and argue lose e, nine loses e, four loses u.
Choose the option with the drop.
These words are tested by adding back the letter that the root loses.
Truly / Truely / Trully / Truley
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The base is true.
It drops its e before -ly.
So the word is tru-ly.
Truly
Root letter survives: govern-ment
The word ends in -ment (government, environment, embarrassment) and a wrong option drops a root letter.
Name the root: govern, environ, embarrass.
Add -ment to the whole root.
Check that no root letter is missing.
The suffix -ment joins the whole root, so its last letter stays.
Government / Goverment / Governmant / Govrnment
Show solutionHide solution
The root is govern.
Add -ment: govern + ment.
So the n stays.
Government
Shortcuts that save time
Government is govern + ment. Environment is environ + ment. The root's final n must survive. Ask what the root is, and the letter reappears.
Which is correct: goverment or government?
Show solutionHide solution
The root is govern.
Its n must stay before -ment.
government
Proceed, succeed and exceed are the only -ceed words. Supersede is the only -sede word. Every other word with this sound ends in -cede.
Criteria, phenomena and stimuli are already plurals. An option that adds -s to them (criterias) is wrong.
Mistakes to avoid
Where most students lose marks on this subtopic.
Writing priviledge or goverment by sound.
Use the hook: privilege has no d. Government keeps the n of govern.
Writing seperate or definate.
Separate has 'a rat' in it. Definite ends in -inite.
Writing preceed or procede.
Only proceed, succeed and exceed end in -ceed. Precede ends in -cede.
Keeping the root unchanged: pronounciation, nineth.
The root changes: pronunciation, ninth.
Dropping the silent letter: Wensday, dout.
Say the word as it is spelt: Wednesday, doubt.
Swapping letters in a borrowed word: entreprenuer.
Split it into parts: entre + pre + neur.
Quick revision
Read this the night before the exam.
Silent letters: psychology, Wednesday, subtle, rhythm, island, autumn.
Only proceed, succeed and exceed end in -ceed. Only supersede ends in -sede. All others end in -cede.
Root changes: pronunciation, explanation, forty, ninth, argument, truly.
Government and environment keep the n of the root.
Borrowed words: learn by parts (bureau + cracy, entre + pre + neur).
Parallel has one r and a double l in the middle.
Do not add -s to criteria, phenomena or stimuli.
Practice: 16 questions
Sets of 10, mixed across the question types above. Every answer has a step-by-step explanation.
Topic test · 10 questions
Suggested time 5 min · wrong answers go to your mistake notebook automatically.