The Complete List of English Spelling Rules, Lesson 13: I Before E Except After C (Rules, Examples, Worksheet, and Answer Key) (2024)

Lesson13: I Before E Except After C

Inthis series of lessons, you will learnuseful spelling rulesinEnglish.

This lesson talks about an important spelling guideline in English.There is a rhyme to help you remember it: "I beforeE, except after C."

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This rhyme is a useful guideline to help you remember when to use thevowel combination ieand when to use ei.However, it is only a guideline and not a strict rule.

In fact, there are some longer versions of the rhyme to help youremember the exceptions.

We will start with some common words that follow the guideline.

1. IE: long E sound

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In general, when there is an iecombination after a letter other than c, the i will come first.

However,it is important to remember that these letters can be pronounced indifferent ways. This guideline really applies especially when the ie combination ispronounced with a long E sound.

Here are somecommon words with an iecombinationand a long E pronunciation:

• believe
• fierce
• achieve
• piece
• chief
• belief
• priest
• countries
• brief
• collie

All of these words have a letter other than c before the ie combination.

Here are some common words with an iecombination pronounced with a long E sound after the letter c:

• ceiling
• deceive
• receipt
• perceive
• receive
• conceited

It is also important to remember that whenever you must add -s or add -ed to words that end in y, youneedto change the yto an ie.In these cases, you will often see an ie combination aftera letter other than cat the end of a word.

In these cases, these vowels are usually pronounced with a long E sound, according to the rule.

2. IE: other sounds

You willfind many words in English that have an ie combination aftera letter other than c, though they will not have a long E sound. For these words, you should learnthe pronunciation of each individually.

Here are some common examples:

• die
• tie
• flies
• funnier
• client
  

3. IE exceptions: after C

There are some common words that have an ie combination afterthe letter cin the middle of the word. These are exceptions to the rule, and you should memorize them:

• science
• efficient
• species
• sufficient
  

4. EI exceptions: long A Sound

This guideline does not apply to words in which the ei combination ispronounced with a long A sound. In these words, evenif there is not a cbefore the vowels, the ewill come before the i.

Here are some common words in which the ei combination ispronounced with a long A sound:

• weigh
• vein
• beige
• eight
• veil
• reign
  

5. EI exceptions: long E sound

There are a few words in English that contain an eicombinationthat is pronounced like a long E, after a letterother than c.Of course, this goes against the "I before E except after C" rule thatapplies to this sound.

In fact, some people say the rhyme as:

"I before E,except after C, and except for in weird words like neighbor and weigh."

The last part refers to the long A sound discussed above (neighborand weigh),and the word weirdis an example of a very common exception to the rule. It has a long Esound, but contains an eicombination after a letter other than c.

Here are some more common exceptions with an ei combinationpronounced like a long E after a letter other than c:

• seize
• weird
• protein
• either
• neither

The last two words,eitherand neither,are pronounced differently in different countries. In the UnitedStates, the eicombination has a long E sound, so they are important exceptions to therule here.

Review

So, let's review what we have learned about ei and ie combinations inEnglish words:

1. The "I before E except after C" guideline applies to wordsin which the ie combination has a long E sound.
2. You will see an ieafter the letter cat the end of words and in a few important exceptions.
3. When the eicombination is pronounced like a long A, it will be used after lettersother than c.
4. "I before E except after C" is only a guideline, not astrict rule. There are exceptions!

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