Boost your spelling power
Visual memory.
This is built up by the experience of wide and deep reading which enables the achievement of a feeling for the
spelling conventions of the language.
There are quite a few spellings in English that are at best irregular and at worst bizarre, these have to be learnt.
When these spellings are part of the lexis of your everyday professional life they become second nature because
they are words that you are using all the time.
Approach skills.
Having the confidence to hear a word for the first time and be able to write it down needs certain knowledge –
you need to be able to make an educated guess, based on past experience, as to how the word goes together –
you need to be able to hear what familiar letter combinations are in the word.
Practice.

Chunking problem words
When you see a word that you know has presented problems in the past chunk it down into smaller units – this
very process will help you to see the word as a series of small steps rather than a bit problem.
e.g. confiscate – say it slowly to yourself and then break it down  con – fis – cate now it is three small easily
remembered chunks. This process will help you to remember many words and will certainly have the effect of
making them seen a whole lot more manageable.

Making personal mnemonics
Any trick that helps you to remember things is useful – remember, the mnemonic that works for someone else
may not work for you, so inventing your own is best.
A great video clip of this can be found at:
http://www.beatingdyslexia.com/spelling-help.html

Practising Spelling with the ‘Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check’ technique
There is a technique that has been effective in schools for a while now and it is called Look, Say, Cover, Write,
Check. In this process you write a word list of problem words (or you could use the ready prepared ones on the
website) and you work like this:

The ‘i before e’ rule.
The full rhyme is:“i before e, except after c… but only when the sound is ‘ee’.”
The only exceptions to this are:
seize and weird
But note – science – this is not an exception, it is because the sound is not ‘ee’

Check this link to http://howtospell.com
2|The Spelling Supplement
List 1
Use these word lists to practise spelling with the
‘Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check’ technique
Absence
Achievement
Advice
Analysis
Apparatus
Arguing
Athletic
Beginning
Benefited
Calendar
Candidate
Comparison
Conscience
Controversy
Desperate
Disappoint
Dormitory
Eliminate
Encouraging
Exaggerate
Accommodate
Acquire
Amateur
Annual
Appearance
Arithmetic
Balance
Believe
3|The Spelling Supplement
Accidental
Acquaint
Advise
Analyse
Apparent
Argument
Attendance
Belief
Boundaries
Changeable
Compelled
Conscience
Criticise
Definition
Dictionary
Disastrous
Effect
Embarrass
Environs
Excellence
Accumulate
Acquitted
Among
Apartment
Arctic
Ascend
Battalion
Benefiting
List 2
Use these word lists to practise spelling with the
‘Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check’ technique
Business
Committee
Conferred
Controversy
Definitive
Descriptively
Disappearance
Dissatisfied
Britain
Commission
Conceivable
Conscious
Deferred
Deferentially
Dining
Discipline
Eighth
Eminent
Equipped
Exhilarate
Eligible
Encouragement
Especially
Existential
Existent
Fascinate
Formerly
Formally
Frantically
4|The Spelling Supplement
Height
Incidentally
Inevitably
Interesting
Lightning
Manufacture
Mischievous
Occasionally
Opportunity
Particularly
Perspiration
Possibility
Precedence
Preparation
Procedure
Experience
February
Forty
Generally
Hindrance
Incredible
Intellectual
Irresistible
Loneliness
Marriage
Mysterious
Occurred
Optimistic
Performance
List 3
Use these word lists to practise spelling with the
‘Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check’ technique
Explanation
Fiery
Governance
Humorous
Independence
Intelligence
Knowledge
Maintenance
Mathematics
Unnecessary
Occurrence
Parallel
Permission
Perseverance
Picnicking
Practical
Preferred
Privilege
Pursue
Recommend
Physical
Possible
Preferential
Manifestation
Proceed
Pronunciation
Prominent
Referring
Receive
5|The Spelling Supplement
Familiar
Feign
Grievous
Immediately
Laboratory
Manoeuvre
Miniature
Noticeable
Omitted
Paralysis
Personnel
Possession
Precede
Prejudice
Probably
Profession
Quizzes
Reference
Rhythm
Seize
Ridiculous
Separation
Specifically
Temperament
Tyranny
Usually
Receiving
Repetition
Sacrilegious
List 4
Use these word lists to practise spelling with the
‘Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check’ technique
Psychological
Pursue
Rigorous
Exaggerated
Regrettably
Automatically
Embarrassment
Pedagogic
Maturity
Redundant
Supersede
Ponderous
Severely
Specimen
Tendency
Unanimous
Weather
Rhyme
Schedule
Similar
Separate
Impeded
Emergent
Independent
Equivalent
Excitable
Excellent
Remission
Reminiscence
6|The Spelling Supplement
Studying
Succession
Tragedy
Undoubtedly
Sincerely
Succeed
Technique
Transferring
Unnecessary
Whether
Grandeur
Hypocritical
Immediately
Changing
Weird
Restaurant
Profession
Quantify
Separate
Heroes
Scheme
Prestige
Prevail
Prevailing
Psychiatrist
Rhyme
Rhythm
Sceptic
Schedule
List 5
This collection of words could cause distress – but not anymore!!
Column 1 - Words with double consonants
Column 2 - ‘Awkward’ words
Use the ‘look, cover, say, write, check’ routine on these until you get to know them.
Accommodation
Apprentice
Commitment
Success
Succinct
Vacillate
Professionalism
Exaggeration
Harass
Assess
Misspell
Occurrence
Abbreviation
Challenging
Immeasurable
Disappearance
Curricular
Grammatical
Permission
Parallel
7|The Spelling Supplement
Illuminating
Independence
Formally
Procedure
Unnecessary
Preference
Ineffective
Precursor
Acknowledgement
Ungrammatical
Anxious
Exaggeratedly
Exhaustion
Justifiable
Miscellany
Implementation
Mathematical
Perpetrator
Commemoration
Relieved
List 6
-able and –ible words
Rule of thumb:

If the first part of the word makes sense on its own (break, enjoy .. etc)
add -ABLE

If the first part of the word does not make sense on its own (divi, feas .. etc)
add -IBLE
Use these word lists to practise spelling with the
‘Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check’ technique
Comparable
Favourable
Lovable
Adorable
Walkable
Miserable
Probable
Questionable
Respectable
Forgivable
Disposable
Agreeable
Enviable
Identifiable
Enjoyable
Valuable
Breakable
Reliable
Listenable
Reasonable
8|The Spelling Supplement
Edible
Indelible
Legible
Credible
Ineligible
Horrible
Terrible
Sensible
Possible
Susceptible
Reversible
Indestructible
Invincible
Tangible
Flexible
Divisible
Fascination
Inflexible
Incorrigible
Impossible
List 7
Use these word lists to practise spelling with the
‘Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check’ technique
Assistant
Assistance
Accomplishment
Advanced
Consultant
Contribution
Conducted
Creativity
Delegation
Developmental
Delivery
Designated
Define
Diversification
Diverse
Devotee
Devotional
Distinguished
Edification
Encouragement
Enhancement
Enlightenment
Evaluations
Approve
Approximate
Challenge
Commit
Commendation
Committed
9|The Spelling Supplement
Experiential
Examination
Facilitator
Formulaic
Fulfilment
Forecast
Generation
Generic
Gathering
Guidance
Identifiable
Identification
Implemented
Implementation
Inculcation
Influential
Informative
Maintained
Maintenance
Management
Maximise
Mediation
Modernisation
Disappear
Dissipate
Profound
Excellent
Grammar
Gripped
List 8
Use these word lists to practise spelling with the
‘Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check’ technique
Motivation
Negotiation
Observation
Obtain
Operational
Originality
Overhaul
Participation
Participatory
Pedagogy
Performance
Preparation
Promotion
Provision
Publication
Publicity
Pursued
Quantified
Qualified
Receiving
Reception
Correspondence
Circular
Recur
Recurrence
Satellite
Succeed
Inefficient
10 | T h e S p e l l i n g S u p p l e m e n t
Recommended
Refinement
Reorganisation
Representation
Restructuring
Revision
Safeguarding
Scholarship
Security
Selective
Specific
Spearhead
Standardised
Strengthening
Structure
Superseded
Supervision
Targeted
Transformative
Transcendent
Validity
Happily
Vegan
Correspondent
Homophone
Pronounce
Pronunciation
Acclimatise
List 9
Use these word lists to practise spelling with the
‘Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check’ technique
Existent
Fascinate
Fascination
Formally
Frantically
Height
Incidentally
Inevitably
Interesting
Lightning
Manufacture
Mischievously
Occasionally
Opportunity
Particularly
Perspiration
Possibility
Precedence
Preparation
Procedure
Quartile
Committee
Professional
Idiosyncrasy
Sixth
Quadrant
Consensual
Impracticable
Emergent
11 | T h e S p e l l i n g S u p p l e m e n t
Experience
February
Forty
Generally
Hindrance
Incredible
Intellectual
Irresistible
Loneliness
Marriage
Mysterious
Questioning
Optimistic
Performance
Physical
Possible
Preference
Predisposition
Proceed
Pronunciation
Accumulated
Abbreviate
Acclimatise
Allowed
Apparent
Appear
Approach
Appropriate
Parallel
List 10
Use these word lists to practise spelling with the
‘Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check’ technique
Miscellany
Philosophical
Omit
Omission
Opportunity
Curiosity
Curious
Passage
Permissible
Possess
Proceed
Meticulous
Recommend
Questionnaire
Humour
Ideology
Succinct
Terrible
Truthful
Until
Naïve
Occasion
Effect
Jeopardy
Awe
Awful
Queue
Repertoire
Inclusivity
12 | T h e S p e l l i n g S u p p l e m e n t
Eighth
Fifth
Half
Halves
Heroes
Humorous
Suspicion
Table
Thorough
Tried
Twelfth
Unanimous
Vicious
Confident
Impatient
Judgement
Label
Ladle
Merit
Mileage
Monotonous
Prejudice
Demonstrable
Assessor
Adolescence
Pursue
Stories
Fuelled
Responsibly