The spelling rule that most people know best is "i before e except after c". Generally it's safe to follow this rule - e.g. achieve, believe, niece, siege, and yield beside ceiling, conceive, deceive, and receive. One very important exception is seize, spelled with e before i; others are caffeine and protein. Species goes the other way, with ie following c.
I and e in combination can represent a lot of sounds besides long e; you may have problems with some of these as well:
- Short e: spelled ie in friend; but ei in leisure, heifer.
- Short i: ie in mischief, sieve; ei in forfeit, counterfeit.
- eir: ie in fierce; ei in weird
- Others to remember; foreign; height and weight (spelled the same way though they sound different); hierarchy; kaleidoscope; veil.
Long
e can cause some problems when it's spelled in other ways too.
A and
e are worth noticing:
- Ea is a very common spelling for long e, as in heat or breathe. Be careful to put the a before the e in anaesthetize, haemoglobin, and leukaemia.
