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Years 3 and 4 English · Key Stage 2 · Spelling – English Appendix 1

Years 3 and 4 spelling: ch, -gue, -que, sc and ei, eigh, ey

English has borrowed words from many languages, and some of the trickiest spellings are the ones that follow the rules of another language. In Years 3 and 4 children learn four groups of these: ch making a “k” sound or a “sh” sound, the endings -gue and -que, and sc making an “s” sound. They also learn the three ways of spelling the “ay” sound that sit outside the usual patterns: ei, eigh and ey.

Greek, French and Latin spellings; ei, eigh, ey, explained

Up to now, children have mostly spelt “ch” as in “chair” and “cheese”. In Years 3 and 4 they meet two more jobs for those letters. In words that came mainly from Greek, “ch” sounds like “k”: “chorus”, “scheme”, “chemist”, “echo” and “character”. In words that came mainly from French, it sounds like “sh”: “chef”, “chalet”, “machine” and “brochure”. The only way to know which is which is to learn the words, but knowing there are three possible sounds is a big step towards reading them correctly.

The ending of “league” and “tongue” is -gue, and the ending of “antique” and “unique” is -que. These spellings came into English from French, and in both the final “ue” isn’t pronounced: -gue spells a hard “g” sound at the end of a word, as in “league”, and -que spells a “k” sound, as in “unique”. “Tongue” is a slightly odd member of the family, because there the g belongs to the “ng” sound and the ue is again silent. Children learn to expect a silent ue at the end of these words.

A third group comes from Latin, where the letters sc make an “s” sound. This is found in “science”, “scene”, “discipline”, “fascinate” and “crescent”. The two letters sc together make a single “s” sound, and the c is there because of the word’s history rather than because you can hear it. In every one of these examples the letter after sc is e or i, which is a useful pattern to point out to your child.

The last group is the “ay” sound written ei, eigh or ey. Most words with this sound use ai, ay or a-e, so these are the exceptions. Examples are “vein”, “weigh”, “eight”, “neighbour”, “they” and “obey”. They are best learned as a small set of words, ideally in sentences. The familiar rule “i before e, except after c” only helps with the “ee” sound, as in “field”, so it doesn’t explain these words.

The National Curriculum gives examples for each of these groups. They are examples and not a complete list, so the words your child brings home will depend on the school. Spelling is normally taught in short sessions, with children collecting words, sorting them by pattern, looking for the tricky part and then testing themselves.

Words your child will hear

Origin
Where a word came from, such as Greek, French or Latin.
Pattern
A group of words that follow the same spelling idea, such as the sc words.
Root word
The main part of a word that other letters are added to. Many roots came into English from Greek, Latin or French.
Silent letter
A letter you write but don’t say, such as the ue in “league” or the c in “scene”.
Digraph
Two letters that make one sound, such as ch or ei.
Loan word
A word English has borrowed from another language, such as “chef” from French.
Tricky part
The part of a word that doesn’t follow the usual rule, which children mark and learn.

What the National Curriculum says

In Years 3 and 4, pupils should be taught to:

  • Spell words with the /k/ sound spelt ch (Greek in origin)
  • Spell words with the /ʃ/ sound spelt ch (mostly French in origin)
  • Spell words ending with the /g/ sound spelt –gue and the /k/ sound spelt –que (French in origin)
  • Spell words with the /s/ sound spelt sc (Latin in origin)
  • Spell words with the /eɪ/ sound spelt ei, eigh, or ey

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: sorting and learning tricky spellings

Sort these words by the sound that ch makes, then pick the right ending for the last two: chorus, chef, machine, echo, uni_ _ _ (a word meaning “one of a kind”), lea_ _ _ (a group of sports teams).

  1. Say each word clearly and listen for the ch sound. Chorus and echo have a “k” sound. Chef and machine have a “sh” sound.
  2. Write two lists. These are the Greek-style words and the French-style words.
    ch says k      ch says sh
chorus         chef
echo           machine
  3. Look at the ending of the first gap. The word ends with a “k” sound written -que, so the word is “unique”. This is a French spelling, like “antique”.
  4. Look at the second gap. “Lea” followed by a hard “g” sound ends in -gue. The word is “league”.
  5. Mark the tricky part of each word in a different colour, such as the ch in “echo” and the que at the end of “unique”. Cover, write and check, then try again tomorrow.

ch says k: chorus, echo. ch says sh: chef, machine. The missing words are “unique” and “league”.

Common mistakes and how to help

Spelling “chorus” as “korus”, “chef” as “shef” or “machine” as “masheen”

Children have learnt to spell sounds with the most likely letters, and sh and k are the obvious choices. They haven’t yet met the idea that the letters ch can sound different depending on where the word came from.

What helps: Tell them the word’s origin where you can: “chemist” and “chorus” come from Greek, “chef” and “machine” from French. Group these words on a page and revisit them regularly.

Dropping the ue from -gue and -que words, as in “leag”, “antik” or “uneek”

The ue is not pronounced, so there is nothing to hear. The spelling has to be remembered visually.

What helps: Learn the ending as a single chunk and ask your child to picture it before writing, remembering that the ue is silent.

Writing “sience” or “sene” for sc words

The “s” sound is more commonly spelt with s or c, so leaving out one of the letters seems natural.

What helps: Collect sc words in a list: science, scene, scent, discipline, fascinate. Point out that the letter after sc is e or i in each of these, and that “scissors” and “crescent” belong to the same family.

Spelling “vein”, “weigh” or “obey” with ai or ay, as in “vain”, “way” or “obay”

Most “ay” sounds are written ai, ay or a-e, so those are the usual guesses. The words that use ei, eigh or ey are less common, and several have close lookalikes such as “vein” and “vain”.

What helps: Learn each word with a picture or sentence. Notice that “eight” and “weigh” share the eigh spelling, and that “they” and “obey” both end in ey.

How to help at home

  • Word origin detectives. Choose a few words from the lists above and say where they came from. Then ask your child to find more words in a newspaper or book that have a “k” or “sh” sound from ch. A good dictionary often gives a word’s origin in a short note.
  • Cover, write, check. Write a tricky word on a slip of paper, let your child look at it for ten seconds, cover it and ask them to write it from memory. Check, mark the part that went wrong and try again a day later.
  • Silly sentences. Make up a sentence using as many words from one group as you can, such as “The chef weighed eight unique antiques” or “The neighbour built a machine in his chalet”. A silly sentence is often easier to remember than a list.
  • Eight and weigh hunt. Play a game of finding ei, eigh and ey words around the house or on a walk. Words such as neighbour, eight, weigh and they come up often in everyday talk. Write down the ones you find, and say which letters make the “ay” sound.

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More on spelling – English Appendix 1

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