ipicthat - Free Online Dyslexic Talking Picture Dictionary

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Basic rules to help your understanding

Long and short vowel sounds

Short Vowel Sounds a e i o u

The words below all contain short vowel sounds:

a as in apple
e as in elephant
i as in ink
o as in orange
u as in umbrella

Long Vowel Sounds A E I O U

The words below all contain long vowel sounds:

A as in game
E as in theme
I as in bike
O as in note
U as in tune

The silent ‘e’ rule

When words end with an ‘e’, the ‘e’ is usually silent and the vowel sound is usually long. For example:

A as in lake
E as in theme
I as in chime
O as in hope
U as in tube

If you add a silent ‘e’ to the end of a word that has a short vowel sound, the vowel sound becomes long. For example:

cap + e	becomes	cApe
them + e	becomes	thEme
pin + e	becomes	pIne
hop + e	becomes	hOpe
cur + e	becomes	cUre

The ‘i’ before ‘e’ rule

Use this rule to help you remember how to use the letters i and e together.

Use i before e, except after c,
or when sounding like a
as in neighbour and weigh.

ie	The letters ie usually make a long e sound, as in niece or believe.
ei	Use ei after the letter c. This has a long e sound, as in ceiling or deceive.
ei	If the sound is a long a, use ei as in weight or neighbour.

Remember, there are many words that do not follow this rule, for example: height, protein, foreign, seize and weird.

Silent letters

b		b is silent when it comes after the letter m, as in lamb or comb. b is also usually silent when it comes before the letter t, as in debt or doubtful.

c		c is sometimes silent when it comes after the letter s, as in science or scent.

d		d is silent when it is followed by the letter g, as in badge or edge.

e		e is silent when it comes at the end of a word, as in home or page. See The silent ‘e’ rule for more information.

g		g is silent when it is followed by the letter n, as in gnome or sign.

h		h is silent when it comes after the letter w, as in whale or white. h is also silent when it comes after the letter r, as in rhyme or rhubarb.

k		k is silent when it is followed by the letter n, as in knowledge or knife.

l		l is silent when it is followed by the letter d, as in would or should.

n		n is sometimes silent when it comes after the letter m, as in autumn or condemn.

t		t is silent when it is followed by the letters ch, as in watch or butcher.

p		p is silent when it is followed by the letter s, as in psalm or psychology.

u		u is silent when it comes after the letter g, as in guard or tongue.

w		w is silent when it is followed by the letter r, as in wrinkle or wrong.

Spelling tips

Colour Coding
Highlight the difficult part of a word in a different colour and study it closely; for example: augh which says OR in daughter.

Look / Say / Cover / Write / Check

Look: look at the word carefully. Look at the shape of the word and for words-within-words.
Say: say the word slowly and listen to the sounds.
Cover: cover the word. Try to picture it in your mind.
Write: write it down.
Check: check to see if it is correct. If not, don’t worry; just try again. It may take several attempts before you get it right.

Mnemonics
Mnemonics are brain tricks that can help you remember tricky parts of words; for example, “I wish that mosquito would quit bugging me!”

Or you can use a phrase where the first letter of each word helps you remember another word; for example, “Harry Only Rides Saturday Evenings” to remember how to spell HORSE.

Pronunciation
Try changing the way you pronounce words to help you remember their spellings; for example, say “choc-oh-late” for chocolate.

Rhyming Words
Find a rhyming word that is spelt the same at the end; for example, station and invitation.

Syllables
Divide words into syllables; for example, ed/u/cate.

Words-Within-Words
Look for short words in the word you are trying to spell; for example, hedgehog contains the words hedge, edge and hog.