How to Improve Spelling Skills

Readers tend to be good spellers.

Good spellers have a distinct academic advantage. Spelling skills are beneficial when writing essays and reports or taking tests. Being a good speller can also help you in practical situations, like completing a college or job application. A dictionary is a great resource, but you may not have one handy when you need it. Looking at words often and remembering general patterns are effective ways to improve your spelling skills.

Things You'll Need

• Dictionary
• Thesaurus

Instructions

1. Read frequently from a variety of genres. Reading novels, textbooks, magazines and newspaper articles exposes you to new words and gives you a review of commonly used words. This increases your reading vocabulary and will help you remember correct spellings.

2. Memorize some basic spelling rules, such as the ones found online at YourDictionary.com. Many people avoid the rules because they are so numerous and include many exceptions. However, rules like "change the 'y' to 'i' before adding a suffix if the 'y' is preceded by a consonant" and "the letter 's' never follows the letter 'x'" apply in most spelling situations.

3. Play online spelling games. Gamequarium and Fun Brain are educational sites that have interactive spelling games in which you correct misspelled words. Gamequarium also has links to activities and games that enable you to practice the spelling words you are currently studying. Just type in your spelling list and the site will generate puzzles, word searches and "Hangman"-type games.

Tips & Warnings

• Double the final consonant in one syllable words when the last three letters of the word are consonant-vowel-consonant (c-v-c). Example: thin + er = thinner, because the last three letters of "thin" are "h-i-n" or consonant-vowel-consonant.

• Double the final consonant in words with more than one syllable only if the final three letters are consonant-vowel-consonant or the accent is placed on the last syllable. Example: con-trol' + ed = controlled, because the last three letters are consonant-vowel-consonant and the accent is on the last syllable. Now, the word "visit" has the consonant-vowel-consonant pattern, but the accent is on the first syllable so we do not double the final consonant when adding endings like: -ing, -ed, -er and -est.

• Remember "i" before "e" except after "c" or in words that have the "ay" sound such as neighbor or weight. The other exception to this rule is in words that have the "shen" sound and are spelled with the "ie" after the "c". This is seen in words like "ancient" and "sufficient".

References

• Gamequarium: Spelling Games
• Fun Brain: Spell Check
• Your Dictionary: Spelling Rules

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Math and Reading Help for Kids: Improving Spelling: How to Help Your Child Spell Better