Start with some mental stretches, then hit the floor and give me 20! Twenty correctly spelled words, that is.

The Warm Up: Spelling Terms to Know

Consonant — All the letters in the alphabet except for vowels Letter Blends — A sound made by the combination of 2 or more letters "br," "ch," or "ow" Prefix — A unit of letters such as "un," "in," or "mis" that are attached to the beginning of a root word to change its meaning. able=unable spell=misspell Root Word — A word that stands on its own and has meaning but can also be modified with suffixes and prefixes to make new words. sane + in=insane. fix + ing=fixing

Suffix — A unit of letters such as "ing," "ness," or "ed" that are attached to a root word to modify its meaning, part of speech, or tense will=willing ready=readiness wait=waited Syllable — Words are made up of chunks of sounds or syllables. Each "beat" is one syllable. To figure out the number of syllables, clap your hands for each "beat" in a word. 1 "cat" and "break" 2: "broken" and "diner" 3: "Internet" Vowel — The letters A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y, which make the most prominent sound in a syllable.

 

The Work Out: Spelling Rules to Learn

1. Plurals: Turning one into many

Generally, when pluralizing a word, just add an "s."

• apple = apples
• cat = cats

  The exceptions are:
  Words ending in "y" — if there's a consonant before the letter "y," change the "y" to an "ie" before adding an "s":

  • candy = candies
  • lady = ladies

  Exception to this exception:
  If there is a vowel before the "y," just add an "s":

  • monkey = monkeys

Words ending in "s," "ch," "sh," or "x" — add an "es" to these words:

• fox = foxes
• dress = dresses
• wish = wishes
• latch = latches

Words ending in "f" or "fe" — generally, the plural of these words will end in "ves":

• life = lives
• leaf = leaves

To check if the word in question is an exception, say it out loud. If it still has the "ef" sound when pluralized, it keeps the "f" when spelled:

• safe = safes
• chef = chefs

2. The Apostrophe Mark

Words get an apostrophe for two reasons:
To show ownership, use an apostrophe and the letter "s."

• Billy's toy — The toy belongs to Billy, so the apostrophe goes after his name.
• The girls' house — The house belongs to all the girls, so the apostrophe goes after "girls." IIt does NOT get another "s."

  Exception: if the plural form of a word doesn't end in "s," as in women, then add the "s": women's rights.

To show that two words have been combined and letters have been left out, put an apostrophe where the letters were removed:

• it's = it is
• haven't = have not
• she will = she'll

3. Ending words with "ick" or "ic"

When a word ends with an "ick" sound, it will be spelled "ick" if the word has 1 syllable:

• trick, pick, stick

Spell it "ic" if it has 2 or more syllables:

• clinic, sarcastic, panic

  Exceptions are almost all cases of compound words (two words combined to form one word), such as:

  • candlestick or seasick
  If you can separate an "ick" word into two separate smaller words, then it is probably an exception.

4. Adding suffixes to words ending in "e" and "y"

When adding a suffix to a word, there are a few simple patterns that will help.

Words ending in a silent "e"
When the suffix begins with a vowel, drop the "e":

• like = liking
• noise = noisy

Exception: When the word ends with a "ce" or "ge," keep the "e" when you're adding "able" or "ous" to the word:

service = serviceable

courage = courageous

When the suffix begins with a consonant, keep the "e":

• like = likeness
• noise = noiseless
• use = useful

Words ending in "y"
When there is a consonant before the "y," change the "y" to an "i" before adding a suffix:

• beauty = beautiful
• worry = worrisome

Exception: When the suffix starts with an "i" keep the "y":

worry = worrying

cry = crying

When there is a vowel before the "y", don't change the "y"; just add the suffix:

• say = saying
• turkey = turkeys
• enjoy = enjoyment

5. Adding suffixes to words ending with a consonant: The rules of doubling

If the word is one syllable long and ends in a consonant with one vowel before it, double the last letter:

• bed = bedding
• drop = dropped
• hot = hottest

If the word is one syllable long and ends in a consonant with two vowels before it, then you don't double:

• feel = feeling
• real = realist
• void = voided

If the word is one syllable long and ends with two consonants in a row, do not double the final consonant:

• back = backing
• wash = washer
• crush = crushed

For words with two or more syllables, figure out if the last syllable is stressed. You can do this by saying the word out loud to see what part of the word you naturally emphasize most. If the last syllable is stressed, then it follows the same rule as for single-syllable words. If the last syllable is not stressed, don't double the final consonant.

6. "I" before "E"

When a word contains an "ee" sound that's spelled with an "i" and an "e" it almost always follows this classic rule:

I before E except after C…

But there are exceptions when the vowel sound created is an "a" which makes the entire mnemonic or memory trick:

I before E except after C, or when sounding like A as in neighbor or weigh.

Now that your spelling strength is pumped up, test your muscles with a spelling quiz.

Do you have spelling words you need to practice? Try our spelling games or make flash cards to build your spelling workout endurance.

By Amy KL Borrell, who secretly still has to practice her spelling.