In English we have words that contain “ie” and “ei” in them.  However, without being familiar with a word, how can you determine if the word should be spelled with an “ie” or an “ei”?  There is a simple rule you can remember for that: What does that mean?  It means that in any word where the letter that precedes (comes before) the “ie” or “ei” combination is anything other than the letter “c,” the order will be spelled using the “ie” combination. However, if the letter that precedes the combination is the letter “c” then you go with “ei.”   There are exception to both of these rules.  These... Show more

In English we have words that contain “ie” and “ei” in them.  However, without being familiar with a word, how can you determine if the word should be spelled with an “ie” or an “ei”?  There is a simple rule you can remember for that: What does that mean?  It means that in any word where the letter that precedes (comes before) the “ie” or “ei” combination is anything other than the letter “c,” the order will be spelled using the “ie” combination.

However, if the letter that precedes the combination is the letter “c” then you go with “ei.”  

There are exception to both of these rules.  These words are words that will simply have to be remembered without following a rule.  An example would be the word “leisure.”  The “ei” has a long “e” sound making it an “exception to the rules” word.

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