In English, there are words that sound the same but are spelled differently (such as “their,” “they’re,” and “there”); words with letters that have nothing to do with how the word is pronounced (“brought,” “although”); words that contain silent letters (“gnat,” “pneumonia”); and words that simply don’t follow any spelling rules.

Let’s revisit those spelling rules we learned long ago and the words that break those rules.

1. “I before E except after C or when sounded as A as in neighbor and weigh”

Words that break this rule:

• ancient
• species
• science
• sufficient
• society
• either
• foreign
• leisure
• protein

2. “When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking?” (Meaning when there are two vowels in a row, the first usually has a long sound and the second is silent.)

Words that break this rule:

• said
• through
• leather
• early
• piece
• build
• guide
• shoes
• does
• guest
• break

3. Final silent E makes the vowel say its name (such as “rat,” “rate,” “hid,” “hide”)

Words that break this rule:

• have
• done
• lose
• where

4. Plural nouns—add an “s” or an “es”

Words that break this rule:

• goose/geese
• man/men
• mouse/mice
• tooth/teeth
• alumnus/alumni
• series
• deer
• sheep
• species

5. If a word ends with an “ick” sound, spell it “ick” if it has one syllable (“trick”) and “ic” if it has two or more syllables (“sarcastic”)

Words that break this rule:

• candlestick
• seasick
• nitpick

6. “A” versus “an”—if the first letter is a vowel use “an”; if the first letter is a consonant, use “a.”

Words that break this rule:

• an honest
• an honorable
• a unicorn
• a united front
• a urologist
• a onetime

Readers, any other rule-breaking words to share?

Laura Hale Brockway is an Austin-based writer and editor. Read more of her work at Impertinent Remarks.

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