Grade 7 English: Tricky spellings poster

1Homophones

Homophones sound the same but are spelt differently and have different meanings.

• their (belonging to them), there (a place), they’re (they are)
• your (belonging to you), you’re (you are)
• its (belonging to it), it’s (it is)
• to, too (also, very), two (the number)
• whose (belonging to whom), who’s (who is)

2Words often confused

• advice (noun) and advise (verb)
• practice (noun) and practise (verb)
• affect (verb) and effect (noun)
• accept (take) and except (leave out)
• principal (head of a school) and principle (a rule)
• stationery (paper and pens) and stationary (not moving)
• weather (rain and sun) and whether (if)

3South African spelling

South African English follows British spelling. Be careful if you copy from websites that use American spelling.

• our: colour, favourite, neighbour, behaviour
• re: centre, metre, theatre, litre
• ise: organise, recognise, apologise
• double l: travelling, cancelled, labelled
• programme, grey

4Silent letters

• k: knife, knee, knock
• w: write, wrong, wrist
• b: lamb, climb, doubt
• g: gnat, sign, foreign
• s: island, aisle
• t: castle, listen

5Tricky patterns

• i before e, except after c: field, achieve, but receive, ceiling
• Sounds like ay: neighbour, eight, weigh
• Words to learn: definitely, separate, tomorrow, library, February, necessary

6Spelling strategies

• Say the word in syllables: Wed-nes-day.
• Use a memory trick: necessary has one collar and two sleeves.
• Look, cover, write, check.
• Use a dictionary. A spell checker cannot tell which real word you meant.