Spelling words with the 'ee' sound spelt 'ie' | English

Starter quiz

Choose the correct 'ee' spelling that goes in these words.
- week
  
  ⇔
  
  ee ✓
- athlete
  
  ⇔
  
  e-e ✓
- heat
  
  ⇔
  
  ea ✓
Match the grapheme representing the phoneme 'ee' to where they commonly appear in a word.
- ea
  
  ⇔
  
  anywhere in a word ✓
- ee
  
  ⇔
  
  in the middle or at the end of a word ✓
- e-e
  
  ⇔
  
  'last but one' ✓
Select the words which contain the long vowel ee sound.
- they
- sunny ✓
- thief ✓
- stay
- money ✓
Match the grapheme representing the phoneme 'ee' sound to where it commonly appears in a word.
- e
  
  ⇔
  
  often at the beginning or the end of a word ✓
- ey
  
  ⇔
  
  often at the end of a word ✓
- ie
  
  ⇔
  
  often in the middle of a word ✓
Correct the spelling of the word in bold in the following sentence: She smiled happiley during the performance.
- 'happily' ✓
Choose the spellings that can represent the phoneme 'ee'.
- ee ✓
- ea ✓
- a-e
- oa
- ie ✓

Exit quiz

Match the words linked to the rule 'i before e, except after c'.
- thief
  
  ⇔
  
  'i before e' words ✓
- receive
  
  ⇔
  
  'except after c' words ✓
- protein
  
  ⇔
  
  exception to the rule words ✓
Select the correct spelling of the word.
- feeld
- feild
- field ✓
Select the correct spelling of the word.
- recievd
- recieved
- received ✓
- receivd
Match the words to show the sound the letters 'ie' are making in it.
- applies
  
  ⇔
  
  ‘ie’ makes the sound ‘igh’ ✓
- parties
  
  ⇔
  
  ‘ie’ makes the sound ‘ee’ ✓
- friend
  
  ⇔
  
  ‘ie’ makes a different sound ✓
Select the correct spelling of the word.
- happyer
- happyier
- happier ✓
Correct the spelling of the word in bold in the sentence. The team's shared beleef in hard work led them to victory.
- 'belief' ✓

Worksheet

Loading worksheet ...

Presentation

Loading presentation ...

Lesson Details

Key learning points

There are many ways to spell the ‘ee’ sound. ‘ee’, ‘ea’ and ‘e-e’ are the most common.
Most words follow the rule: 'i' before 'e' except after 'c' where the sound is 'ee'.
The 'ie' spelling can also break other learnt rules or be used when the sound is not 'ee'.
The letter string ‘ie’ can represent a range of different sounds.
How to spell the curriculum words: sufficient, variety and achieve.

Common misconception

Some children may think a letter string can only represent one sound.

Remind pupils of the key phonics principles: a sound can be represented by more than one letter, one sound can be represented by more than one spelling and one spelling can represent more than one sound. It is why the English language is so hard!

Keywords

Phoneme - the smallest unit of sound that can change a word's meaning
Grapheme - the letter or group of letters that represent a sound (the spelling)
Letter string - a group of letters that are written together in a word