Double consonants are frequently found in words that have a suffix added to them. I dropped the heavy bags to the floor. Even though there’s only one syllable “dropt,” the word is written as if it had two syllables. When adding certain endings such as -ed, -ing, -er, and -est to words, we sometimes double consonants.

The spelling rule is: if the word has 1 syllable (a word with one vowel sound), 1 vowel and it ends in 1 consonant, you double the final consonant before you add ‘ing’, ‘ed’, ‘er’, ‘est’ (also known as a suffixal vowel). You don’t double the consonant if the word ends in ‘tion’ (also known as a suffixal consonant).

The doubling rule states that if a one syllable word ends with a vowel and a consonant, double the consonant before adding the ending (e.g. -ed, -ing).

What are Double Final Consonants? Double final consonants are an English phonics spelling rule that teaches us that usually, when a word has one syllable with one short vowel and ends in /s/, /l/, /f/, or /z/, the final consonant will be doubled.

Doubling to Protect the Vowel. Now for the second part: consonants are double to “protect” the short vowel for words ending in consonant+le or consonant+y. Think of words like “apple” and “happy”. Double letters are added in these cases because consonant+le and consonant+y endings are syllables on their own.

When the distinction between long and short consonants ended, during Middle English, the writing of a double, as opposed to a single, consonant became a useful device to show that the preceding vowel was short, and we still retain this convention (albeit inconsistently).

Bigger is more than big. So big is the root of the word bigger (the basic word). That’s why you can’t write biger with one g, because you’d say [baiger]. …

The 1-1-1 Rule Here’s what it says: Words of one syllable (1) ending in a single consonant (1) immediately preceded by a single vowel (1) double the consonant before a suffixal vowel (-ing, -ed) but not before a suffixal consonant (-tion).

The Number 111 in Words one hundred and eleven.

When a one-syllable word ends in f, l, or s, double the final f, l, or s (for example, snif, fall, mess). We call this the floss spelling rule because the word floss follows this rule and includes the letters f, l, and s to help us remember the rule. • There are some exceptions to this rule (for example if, pal, has).

To help your students remember that f,l,s and z are doubled at the end of a one syllable word with a short vowel, teach them this mnemonic : Sammy Loves Fuzzy Zebras.

The single letter c pronounced as /k/ can come almost anywhere in the word and comes before the vowels a, o, and u. The double letter c pronounced as /k/ comes after a short vowel. The letter k comes before the vowels i, e, or y. It also comes at the end of one-syllable words after any sound except a short vowel sound.

It’s called the FLOSS rule because most words that follow this pattern end in f, l, or s. Examples of words that follow the FLOSS rule: gruff.

floss

KISS THE CAT RULE: Spell /k/ with a c whenever you can (CAT). When you can’t spell /k/ with a c because a watch out vowel is the next letter (KISS), spell it with a k. (Watch out vowels are e, i, y.)

ten levels

The Catch Lunch Rule is covered in Level 3 Lesson 9 it states that when the vowel in a one syllable is alone before the /ch/ sound we use tch which I call 3 letter /ch/. I decided to change it a bit and call it the Catch a Bunch Rule. This rule will help your students with their spelling and reading.

A spelling pattern is a group of letters that represents a sound. Spelling patterns include groups of letters, for example, ought and igh, as well as digraphs, that is two or more letters that represent one speech sound, for example oi (vowel digraph) and ch (consonant digraph).

Tips for teaching spelling

1. Let them get creative.
2. Write words out by hand.
3. Encourage reading.
4. Spell the word out loud.
5. Keep words on display.
6. Play games to practice.
7. Teach touch typing.
8. Explain mnemonics.