We are going to have a look at words that are spelled with 'ie' and 'ei'.
Perhaps you have heard of the mnemonic: 'i' before 'e' except after 'c'.
This is true for many cases such as deceive, receive, and ceiling.
It's not true for all cases such as ancient, deficient, and science.
If the vowels make a long 'ee' sound, then the word is spelled with 'ie'. If the vowels follow 'c' then they are spelled 'ei'.
If the vowels make a sound like 'ay' or 'aye', the word is usually spelled with 'ei'.
The English language is full of exceptions and there are many words you will just have to learn by memory!
Here are some examples of words spelled with 'ie':
Believe, cashier, field, chief
Here are some examples of words spelled with 'ei':
Receipt, weird, conceive, foreign
Ready to give it a go?
Example:
Choose the correct spelling of the words containing 'ie' and 'ei'.
grief / greif / greief
Answer: The correct spelling is grief.
