English orthography comprises the set of rules used when writing the English language,^[1][2] allowing readers and writers to associate written graphemes with the sounds of spoken English, as well as other features of the language.^[3] English's orthography includes norms for spelling, hyphenation, capitalisation, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation.

As with the orthographies of most other world languages, written English is broadly standardised. This standardisation began to develop when movable type spread to England in the late 15th century.^[4] However, unlike with most languages, there are multiple ways to spell every phoneme, and most letters also represent multiple pronunciations depending on their position in a word and the context.

This is partly due to the large number of words that have been loaned from a large number of other languages throughout the history of English, without successful attempts at complete spelling reforms,^[5] and partly due to accidents of history, such as some of the earliest mass-produced English publications being typeset by highly trained, multilingual printing compositors, who occasionally used a spelling pattern more typical for another language.^[4] For example, the word ghost was spelled gost in Middle English, until the Flemish spelling pattern was unintentionally substituted, and happened to be accepted.^[4] Most of the spelling conventions in Modern English were derived from the phonemic spelling of a variety of Middle English, and generally do not reflect the sound changes that have occurred since the late 15th century (such as the Great Vowel Shift).^[6]

Despite the various English dialects spoken from country to country and within different regions of the same country, there are only slight regional variations in English orthography, the two most recognised variations being British and American spelling, and its overall uniformity helps facilitate international communication. On the other hand, it also adds to the discrepancy between the way English is written and spoken in any given location.^[5]

Letters in English orthography positioned at one location within a specific word usually represent a particular phoneme. For example, at consists of 2 letters ⟨a⟩ and ⟨t⟩, which represent /æ/ and /t/, respectively.

Sequences of letters may perform this role as well as single letters. Thus, in thrash , the digraph ⟨th⟩ (two letters) represents /θ/. In hatch , the trigraph ⟨tch⟩ represents /tʃ/.

Less commonly, a single letter can represent multiple successive sounds. The most common example is ⟨x⟩, which normally represents the consonant cluster /ks/ (for example, in tax ).

The same letter (or sequence of letters) may be pronounced differently when occurring in different positions within a word. For instance, ⟨gh⟩ represents /f/ at the end of some words (tough ) but not in others (plough ). At the beginning of syllables, ⟨gh⟩ is pronounced /ɡ/, as in ghost . Conversely, ⟨gh⟩ is never pronounced /f/ in syllable onsets other than in inflected forms, and is almost never pronounced /ɡ/ in syllable codas (the proper name Pittsburgh is an exception).

Some words contain silent letters, which do not represent any sound in modern English pronunciation. Examples include the ⟨l⟩ in talk, half, calf, etc., the ⟨w⟩ in two and sword, ⟨gh⟩ as mentioned above in numerous words such as though, daughter, night, brought, and the commonly encountered silent ⟨e⟩ (discussed further below).

Another type of spelling characteristic is related to word origin. For example, when representing a vowel, ⟨y⟩ represents the sound /ɪ/ in some words borrowed from Greek (reflecting an original upsilon), whereas the letter usually representing this sound in non-Greek words is the letter ⟨i⟩. Thus, myth is of Greek origin, while pith is a Germanic word. However, a large number of Germanic words have ⟨y⟩ in word-final position, especially when deriving from an Old English -iġ (modern -y).

Some other examples are ⟨ph⟩ pronounced /f/ (which is most commonly ⟨f⟩), and ⟨ch⟩ pronounced /k/ (which is most commonly ⟨c⟩ or ⟨k⟩). The use of these spellings for these sounds often marks words that have been borrowed from Greek.

Some researchers, such as Brengelman (1970), have suggested that, in addition to this marking of word origin, these spellings indicate a more formal level of style or register in a given text, although Rollings (2004) finds this point to be exaggerated as there would be many exceptions where a word with one of these spellings, such as ⟨ph⟩ for /f/ (like telephone), could occur in an informal text.

Spelling may also be useful to distinguish in written language between homophones (words with the same pronunciation but different meanings), and thus resolve potential ambiguities that would arise otherwise. However in most cases the reason for the difference is historical, and it was not introduced to resolve ambiguity.

Examples

• heir and air are pronounced identically in most dialects, but spelled differently.

• pain and pane are both pronounced but have two different spellings of the vowel /eɪ/. This arose because the two words were originally pronounced differently: pain used to be pronounced as /peɪn/, with a diphthong, and pane as /peːn/, but the diphthong /eɪ/ merged with the long vowel /eː/ in pane, making pain and pane homophones (pane–pain merger). Later /eː/ became a diphthong /eɪ/.

• break and brake: (She's breaking the car vs. She's braking the car).

Nevertheless, many homophones remain that are unresolved by spelling (for example, the word bay has at least five fundamentally different meanings).

Some letters in English provide information about the pronunciation of other letters in the word. Rollings (2004) uses the term "markers" for such letters. Letters may mark different types of information.

⟨e⟩ often marks an altered pronunciation of a preceding vowel. In the pair mat and mate, the ⟨a⟩ of mat has the value /æ/, whereas the ⟨a⟩ of mate is marked by the ⟨e⟩ as having the value /eɪ/. In this context, the ⟨e⟩ is not pronounced, and is referred to as a "silent e".

Also, ⟨e⟩ in once indicates that the preceding ⟨c⟩ is pronounced /s/, rather than the more common value of ⟨c⟩ in word-final position as the sound /k/, such as in attic .

A single letter may even fill multiple pronunciation-marking roles simultaneously. For example, in the word ace, ⟨e⟩ marks not only the change of ⟨a⟩ from /æ/ to /eɪ/, but also of ⟨c⟩ from /k/ to /s/. In the word vague, ⟨e⟩ marks the long ⟨a⟩ sound, but ⟨u⟩ keeps the ⟨g⟩ hard rather than soft.

Doubled consonants usually indicate that the preceding vowel is pronounced short. For example, the doubled ⟨t⟩ in batted indicates that the ⟨a⟩ is pronounced /æ/, while the single ⟨t⟩ of bated gives /eɪ/. Doubled consonants only indicate any lengthening or gemination of the consonant sound itself when they come from different morphemes, as with the ⟨nn⟩ in unnamed (un+named).

Any given letters may have dual functions. For example, ⟨u⟩ in statue has a sound-representing function (representing the sound /u/) and a pronunciation-marking function (marking the ⟨t⟩ as having the value /tʃ/ opposed to the value /t/).

Like many other alphabetic orthographies, English spelling does not represent non-contrastive phonetic sounds (that is, minor differences in pronunciation which are not used to distinguish between different words).

Although the letter ⟨t⟩ is pronounced by most speakers with aspiration [tʰ] at the beginning of words, this is never indicated in the spelling, and, indeed, this phonetic detail is probably not noticeable to the average native speaker not trained in phonetics.

However, unlike some orthographies, English orthography often represents a very abstract underlying representation (or morphophonemic form) of English words.^[7][8][9]

[T]he postulated underlying forms are systematically related to the conventional orthography ... and are, as is well known, related to the underlying forms of a much earlier historical stage of the language. There has, in other words, been little change in lexical representation since Middle English, and, consequently, we would expect ... that lexical representation would differ very little from dialect to dialect in Modern English ... [and] that conventional orthography is probably fairly close to optimal for all modern English dialects, as well as for the attested dialects of the past several hundred years.^[10]

In these cases, a given morpheme (i.e., a component of a word) has a fixed spelling even though it is pronounced differently in different words. An example is the past tense suffix -⟨ed⟩, which may be pronounced variously as /t/, /d/, or /ᵻd/^[a] (for example, pay , payed , hate , hated ). As it happens, these different pronunciations of -⟨ed⟩ can be predicted by a few phonological rules, but that is not the reason why its spelling is fixed.

Another example involves the vowel differences (with accompanying stress pattern changes) in several related words. For instance, photographer is derived from photograph by adding the derivational suffix -⟨er⟩. When this suffix is added, the vowel pronunciations change largely owing to the moveable stress:

Spelling	Pronunciation
photograph	or
photographer
photographical

Other examples of this type are the -⟨ity⟩ suffix (as in agile vs. agility, acid vs. acidity, divine vs. divinity, sane vs. sanity). See also: Trisyllabic laxing.

Another example includes words like mean and meant , where ⟨ea⟩ is pronounced differently in the two related words. Thus, again, the orthography uses only a single spelling that corresponds to the single morphemic form rather than to the surface phonological form.

English orthography does not always provide an underlying representation; sometimes it provides an intermediate representation between the underlying form and the surface pronunciation. This is the case with the spelling of the regular plural morpheme, which is written as either -⟨s⟩ (as in tat, tats and hat, hats) or -⟨es⟩ (as in glass, glasses). Here, the spelling -⟨s⟩ is pronounced either /s/ or /z/ (depending on the environment, e.g., tats and tails ) while -⟨es⟩ is usually pronounced /ᵻz/^[a] (e.g. classes /ˈklæsᵻz/). Thus, there are two different spellings that correspond to the single underlying representation |z| of the plural suffix and the three surface forms. The spelling indicates the insertion of /ᵻ/ before the /z/ in the spelling -⟨es⟩, but does not indicate the devoiced /s/ distinctly from the unaffected /z/ in the spelling -⟨s⟩.

The abstract representation of words as indicated by the orthography can be considered advantageous since it makes etymological relationships more apparent to English readers. This makes writing English more complex, but arguably makes reading English more efficient.^[11][12] However, very abstract underlying representations, such as that of Chomsky & Halle (1968) or of underspecification theories, are sometimes considered too abstract to accurately reflect the communicative competence of native speakers. Followers of these arguments believe the less abstract surface forms are more "psychologically real" and thus more useful in terms of pedagogy.^[13]

Some English words can be written with diacritics; these are mostly loanwords, usually from French.^[14] As vocabulary becomes naturalised, there is an increasing tendency to omit the accent marks, even in formal writing. For example, rôle and hôtel originally had accents when they were borrowed into English, but now the accents are almost never used. The words were originally considered foreign—and some people considered that English alternatives were preferable—but today their foreign origin is largely forgotten. Words most likely to retain the accent are those atypical of English morphology and therefore still perceived as slightly foreign. For example, café and pâté both have a pronounced final ⟨e⟩, which would otherwise be silent under the normal English pronunciation rules. Moreover, in pâté, the acute accent is helpful to distinguish it from pate.

Further examples of words sometimes retaining diacritics when used in English are: ångström—partly because its symbol is ⟨Å⟩—appliqué, attaché, blasé, bric-à-brac, Brötchen,^[b] cliché, crème, crêpe, fiancé(e), flambé, jalapeño, naïve, naïveté, né(e), papier-mâché, passé, piñata, protégé, résumé, risqué, and voilà. Italics, with appropriate accents, are generally applied to foreign terms that are uncommonly used in or have not been assimilated into English: for example, adiós, belles-lettres, crème brûlée, pièce de résistance, raison d'être, and vis-à-vis.

It was formerly common in American English to use a diaeresis to indicate a hiatus, e.g. coöperate, daïs, and reëlect. The New Yorker and Technology Review magazines still use it for this purpose, even as general use became much rarer. Instead, modern orthography generally prefers no mark (cooperate) or a hyphen (co-operate) for a hiatus between two morphemes in a compound word. By contrast, use of diaereses in monomorphemic loanwords such as naïve and Noël remains relatively common.

In poetry and performance arts, accent marks are occasionally used to indicate typically unstressed syllables that should be stressed when read for dramatic or prosodic effect. This is frequently seen with the -ed suffix in archaic and pseudoarchaic writing, e.g. cursèd indicates the ⟨e⟩ should be fully pronounced. The grave being to indicate that an ordinarily silent or elided syllable is pronounced (warnèd, parlìament).

In certain older texts (typically British), the use of the ligatures ⟨æ⟩ and ⟨œ⟩ is common in words such as archæology, diarrhœa, and encyclopædia, all of Latin or Greek origin. Nowadays, the ligatures have been generally replaced by the digraphs ⟨ae⟩ and ⟨oe⟩ (encyclopaedia, diarrhoea) in British English or just ⟨e⟩ (encyclopedia, diarrhea) in American English, though both spell some words with only ⟨e⟩ (economy, ecology) and others with ⟨ae⟩ and ⟨oe⟩ (paean, amoeba, oedipal, Caesar). In some cases, usage may vary; for instance, both encyclopedia and encyclopaedia are current in the UK.

Partly because English has never had any official regulating authority for spelling, such as the Spanish Real Academia Española, the French Académie française, the German Council for German Orthography, the Danish Sprognævn, and the Thai Royal Society, English spelling is considered irregular and complex compared to that of other languages. Although French, Danish, and Thai, among other languages, present a similar degree of difficulty when encoding (writing), English is more difficult when decoding (reading), as there are clearly many more possible pronunciations of a group of letters. For example, in French, /u/ (as in "true", but short), can be spelled ⟨ou, ous, out, oux⟩ (ou, nous, tout, choux), but the pronunciation of each of those sequences is always the same. However, in English, while /uː/ can be spelled in up to 24 different ways, including ⟨oo, u, ui, ue, o, oe, ou, ough⟩ (spook, truth, suit, blues, to, shoe, group, through) (see Sound-to-spelling correspondences below), all of these spellings have other pronunciations as well (e.g., foot, us, build, bluest, so, toe, grout, plough, sew). Thus, in unfamiliar words and proper nouns, the pronunciation of some sequences, ⟨ough⟩ being the prime example, is unpredictable even for educated native speakers.

Attempts to regularize or reform the spelling of English have usually failed. However, Noah Webster promoted more phonetic spellings in the United States, such as flavor for British flavour, fiber for fibre, defense for defence, analyze for analyse, catalog for catalogue, and so forth. These spellings already existed as alternatives, but Webster's dictionaries helped standardize them in the United States.^[15] (See American and British English spelling differences for details.)

Besides the quirks the English spelling system has inherited from its past, there are other irregularities in spelling that make it tricky to learn. English contains, depending on dialect, 24–27 consonant phonemes and 13–20 vowels. However, there are only 26 letters in the modern English alphabet, so there is not a one-to-one correspondence between letters and sounds. Many sounds are spelled using different letters or multiple letters, and for those words whose pronunciation is predictable from the spelling, the sounds denoted by the letters depend on the surrounding letters. For example, ⟨th⟩ represents two different sounds (the voiced and voiceless dental fricatives) (see Pronunciation of English th), and the voiceless alveolar sibilant can be represented by ⟨s⟩ or ⟨c⟩.

It is, however, not (solely) the shortage of letters which makes English spelling irregular. Its irregularities are caused mainly by the use of many different spellings for some of its sounds, such as /uː/, /iː/ and /oʊ/ (too, true, shoe, flew, through; sleeve, leave, even, seize, siege; stole, coal, bowl, roll, old, mould), and the use of identical sequences for spelling different sounds (over, oven, move).

Furthermore, English no longer makes any attempt to anglicise the spellings of loanwords, but preserves the foreign spellings, even when they do not follow English spelling conventions like the Polish ⟨cz⟩ in Czech (rather than *Check) or the Norwegian ⟨fj⟩ in fjord (although fiord was formerly the most common spelling). In early Middle English, until roughly 1400, most imports from French were respelled according to English rules (e.g. bataille–battle, bouton–button, but not double, or trouble). Instead of loans being respelled to conform to English spelling standards, sometimes the pronunciation changes as a result of pressure from the spelling, e.g. ski, adopted from Norwegian in the mid-18th century. It used to be pronounced /ʃiː/, similar to the Norwegian pronunciation, but the increasing popularity of the sport after the mid-20th century helped the /skiː/ pronunciation replace it.^{[citation needed]}

There was also a period when the spelling of a small number of words was altered to make them conform to their perceived etymological origins. For example, ⟨b⟩ was added to debt (originally dette) to link it to the Latin debitum, and ⟨s⟩ in island to link it to Latin insula instead of its true origin, the Old English word īġland. ⟨p⟩ in ptarmigan has no etymological justification whatsoever, only seeking to show Greek origin despite being a Gaelic word.

The spelling of English continues to evolve. Many loanwords come from languages where the pronunciation of vowels corresponds to the way they were pronounced in Old English, which is similar to the Italian or Spanish pronunciation of the vowels, and is the value the vowel symbols ⟨a, e, i, o, u⟩ have in the International Phonetic Alphabet. As a result, there is a somewhat regular system of pronouncing "foreign" words in English,^{[citation needed]} and some borrowed words have had their spelling changed to conform to this system. For example, Hindu used to be spelled Hindoo, and the name Maria used to be pronounced like the name Mariah, but was changed to conform to this system. This only further complicates the spelling, however. On the one hand, words that retained anglicised spellings may be misread in a hyperforeign way. On the other hand, words that are respelled in a 'foreign' way may be misread as if they are English words, e.g. Muslim was formerly spelled Mooslim because of its original pronunciation.

Commercial advertisers have also had an effect on English spelling. They introduced new or simplified spellings like lite instead of light, thru instead of through, and rucsac instead of rucksack.^{[citation needed]} The spellings of personal names have also been a source of spelling innovations: diminutive versions of women's names that sound the same as men's names have been spelled differently: Nikki and Nicky, Toni and Tony, Jo and Joe. The differentiation in between names that are spelled differently but have the same phonetic sound may come from modernisation or different countries of origin. For example, Isabelle and Isabel sound the same but are spelled differently; these versions are from France and Spain respectively.^[16]

As an example of the irregular nature of English spelling, ⟨ou⟩ can be pronounced (depending on vowel mergers) in as many as nine different ways: /aʊ/ in out, /oʊ/ in soul, /uː/ in soup, /ʌ/ in touch, /ʊ/ in could, /ɔː/ in four, /ɜː/ in journal, /ɒ/ in cough, and /ə/ in famous (See Spelling-to-sound correspondences). In the other direction, /iː/ can be spelled in at least 18~21 different ways: be (cede), ski (machine), bologna (GA), algae, quay, beach, bee, deceit, people, key, keyed, field (hygiene), amoeba, chamois (GA), dengue (GA), beguine, guyot, and ynambu (See Sound-to-spelling correspondences). (These examples assume a more-or-less standard non-regional British English accent. Other accents will vary.)

Sometimes everyday speakers of English change counterintuitive spellings, with the new spellings usually not judged to be entirely correct. However, such forms may gain acceptance if used enough. An example is the word miniscule, which still competes with its original spelling of minuscule, though this might also be because of analogy with the word mini.^[17][18]

The tetragraph ⟨ough⟩ can be pronounced in at least ten different ways, six of which are illustrated in the construct, Though the tough cough and hiccough plough him through, which is quoted by Robert A. Heinlein in The Door into Summer to illustrate the difficulties facing automated speech transcription and reading. Ough itself is a word, an exclamation of disgust similar to ugh, though rarely known or used. The following are typical pronunciations of this string of letters:

• (as in so) in though and dough
• (as in cuff) in tough, rough, enough, and the name Hough
• (as in off) in trough, cough, and Gough
• (as in blue) in through
• (as in saw) in thought, ought, sought, nought, brought, etc.
• (as in comma) in thorough, borough, and names ending in -borough; however, American English pronounces this as
• (as in how) in bough, sough, drought, plough (plow in North America), doughty, and the names Slough and Doughty
• (as in loch; mainly in words of Gaelic origin) in the word lough (an anglicised variant of loch used in Ireland) and in Irish place names, such as Ardclough, Glendalough, Loughmoe, Loughrea, etc.

The following pronunciations are found in uncommon single words:

• hough: (more commonly spelled "hock" now)
• hiccough (a now-uncommon variant of hiccup): as in up
• Oughterard (Irish place name):

The place name Loughborough uses two different pronunciations of ⟨ough⟩: the first ⟨ough⟩ has the sound as in cuff and the second rhymes with thorough.

Notes:

• In the tables, the hyphen has two different meanings. A hyphen after the letter indicates that it must be at the beginning of a syllable, e.g., ⟨j⟩- in jumper and ajar. A hyphen before the letter indicates that it cannot be at the beginning of a word, e.g., -⟨ck⟩ in sick and ticket.
• More specific rules take precedence over more general ones, e.g., "⟨c⟩- before ⟨e, i, y⟩" takes precedence over "⟨c⟩".
• Where the letter combination is described as "word-final", inflectional suffixes may be added without changing the pronunciation, e.g., catalogues.
• The dialects used are Received Pronunciation and General American. When pronunciations differ idiosyncratically, a pronunciation that only applies to one of the dialects is noted as being (RP) or (GA). When pronunciations differ systematically in a way that is not accounted for by the diaphonemic transcription system (i.e. the trap-bath and lot-cloth splits), the pronunciations in both dialects are given.
• Isolated foreign borrowings are excluded.
• ∅ means the letter is silent

Spelling		Major value (IPA)	Examples of major value	Other values	Examples of other values
b, bb			bit, ebb, limber, bombe, obtain, blood, bring	∅	combe, bdellium, debtor, doubt
c	before ⟨e, i, y, ae, oe⟩		cellar, city, cyst, face, prince, nicer caesium, coelacanth		cello, vermicelli
					special, liquorice
					coercion
					Celts, chicer, syncing
					letovicite
	word initial before ⟨n, t⟩	∅	cnidarian, ctenoid
	elsewhere		cat, cross, predict, opuscule, picture		facade blancmange, indict, muscle
				∅	victual
cc	before ⟨e, i, y⟩		accept, eccentric, occidental		soccer, recce, siccing
					bocce, breccia, cappuccino
					flaccid
	elsewhere		account, accrue, occur, yucca
ch	after ⟨n⟩		branch, truncheon, franchise, trenchant		inchoate, synchronise, elasmobranch
					enchant, enchilada, chinchilla
					penchant
	in words of Greek origin		chasm, chimera, chord, lichen	∅	drachm
	in words of Modern French origin		chaise, machine, cached, parachute		chemist, choir, machination
					chassis (GA), cheque, chowder, niche (GA)
	elsewhere		chase, chin, attached, chore		ached, anchor, leprechaun
					machete, pistachio, welch
					chutzpah (also with )
					sandwich, Greenwich
					loch
				∅	yacht, Crichton
ck			tack, ticket
d, dd, dh			dive, ladder, jodhpurs		ached, creased, iced, puffed, raked
					graduate, gradual (both also in RP)
					gorsedd, edh
				∅	Wednesday, handsome, sandwich, ceilidh
dg	before ⟨e, i, y⟩ or a suffix		lodger, pidgin, edgy, abridgment, acknowledgment, judgment, lodgment, fledgling		headgear
f, ff			fine, off, affinity		of
g	before ⟨e, i, y, ae, oe⟩		gel, pager, algae (GA), gin, gentle, rage, gigantic, regimen		get, eager, algae (RP), gig
					genre, barrage, gigue, regime
	before ⟨m⟩	∅	phlegmy, diaphragm		pigmy
					judgment
	elsewhere		go, great, leg, margaric		margarine, gaol
					witgat
gg	before ⟨e⟩		dagger, smuggest, staggering		suggest (GA)[i]
			agger, exaggerate, suggest (RP)
	elsewhere		giggle, egg, ziggurat, beggar		arpeggio
gh	word-initial		ghost, ghastly, ghetto
	elsewhere	∅	daughter, through, fraught, brougham eight, higher, straight, sighed		burgh
					lough, saugh
					hough
					laughter, trough, draught, rough
					burgher, ogham, yogh
					leghorn, pigheaded
					hiccough
gn		/n/	gnome, signed, poignant, reign	/gn/	signet, indignant
h	syllable-initial		honey, heist, house, manhandle doohickey, vehicular		posthumous (RP)
					Nahuatl
				∅	honest, heir, hours, piranha, annihilate, vehicle, dinghy, exhaust
	elsewhere	∅	oh, ohm, rhubarb, rhyme		sinh
j			jump, ajar jonquil, Julian jalap, cajole bijugate		Hallelujah, fjord
					jongleur, julienne, bijou
					jalapeno, fajita
				∅	marijuana
k, kk, kh	elsewhere		key, bake, trekking, sheikh, weeknight	∅	beknave, camiknickers
kn			knee, knife, knock		knish, Knoebel
l, ll			valve, balcony, almost, valley, flotilla, line, colony	∅	halve, balk, salmon
					tortilla
					colonel (in rhotic accents)
m, mm	word-initial before ⟨n⟩	∅	mnemonic
	elsewhere		mine, hammer
mb			climber, numbing, bombed	/mb/	nimb, number
n, nn	word-final after ⟨m⟩	∅	hymn, autumn, damningly
	before		inkling, bangle, anchor, minx		incline, vanguard, mankind
	elsewhere		nice, funny, enzyme monsignor, damnable, tin		anxiety
				∅	monsieur
ng	word-final non-silent letter		long, tongue, kingly, singer, clingy		longer, strongest
					stingy
					strength, amongst
	medially otherwise		congress, singly, finger, language		congrats, engage, vanguard
			binging, wharfinger, dingy, engaol		hangar, lingonberry, angst
					ingenue, lingerie
	word-initial		ngana, ngultrum, Nguni		ngaio, Ngati
p, pp	word-initial before ⟨n, s, t⟩	∅	pneumonia, psyche, ptomaine		psst
	elsewhere		pill, happy, soup, corpse, script	∅	coup, corps, receipt, raspberry
ph, pph			photograph, sapphire		Stephen
					shepherd
					kniphofia, drophead
				∅	apophthegm
q	in words of Chinese origin		qi, qigong, guqin
	elsewhere		Iraq, waqf, yaqona, mbaqanga, qiviut
r, rr, rh, rrh	before a consonant finally before final ⟨e⟩	, ∅ in non-rhotic	cart, hurt fir, walker, tear, burr, myrrh care	∅	sarsaparilla, forecastle
	elsewhere		ray, parrot, rhyme, diarrhoea	∅	iron, croissant (RP), hors d'oeuvre (some pronunciations)
See below for combinations of vowel letters and ⟨r⟩
s	word-final -⟨s⟩ morpheme after a fortis sound		pets, shops
	word-final -⟨s⟩ morpheme after a lenis sound		ines
	between vowels		phrases, prison, pleasing		bases, bison, leasing
					vision, closure
	elsewhere		song, ask, misled		is, lens, raspberry
					sugar, tension
				∅	island, aisle, debris, mesne
sc	before ⟨e, i, y⟩		scene, scepter, scissors, scythe		sceptic, scirrhus
					fascism
					crescent (RP), discern
sch			schedule (RP), schist, eschalot		school, scheme, schizoid, ischemia, eschar
					schism (RP), schism (RP)
					mischief, eschew
sh			shin, fashion, wish, Lewisham, foreshore, kinship		mishap, mishit
					hogshead
					tranship
					threshold
					dishonour
ss			boss, assign, narcissus dissert, posses, brassier, finesse, cesspool, missout		tissue, passion
					rescission, scissure
					dessert, possess, brassiere, scissor
					disseat, misspell, missort
sw			swore, swan, swift		sword, answer
					menswear
				∅	coxswain
t, tt	in -⟨sten, stle⟩	∅	hasten, listens, rustling, thistles		tungsten, listless
	elsewhere		ten, bitter, etiology, nastier, tune, piteous, cation, softer, wallet, gristmill, haste, dishearten		ration, martial, cautious
					bastion, nature, fortune, righteous
					equation, transition (RP)
					kindergarten (GA)
					tanh
				∅	soften, ballet, Christmas, mortgage
tch			batch, kitchen		shortchange
th			absinthe		thyme
					eighth
			bother, soothe		outhouse, potherb (RP)
					posthumous
				∅	asthma
v, vv			vine, heavy, savvy, reveled, revved
w	before ⟨r⟩	∅[ii]	wrong, wrist, awry
	elsewhere		sward, swerve, wale	∅	two, sword, answer, gunwale
					Weltanschauung, witgat
wh-	before ⟨o⟩		who, whole	[iii]	whopping, whorl
	elsewhere	[iii]	wheel		whew (RP), whanau
wr		/r/	wrench
x	word- or compound-initial, Greek or Latin origin		xylophone, xenon, axenic, chromoxylography
	after ⟨e⟩-, and before a vowel		example, exist, exotic, exult existential, exultation, exit[iv]		exogenous
	elsewhere		boxes, mixes, expect, taxation, tuxedo, proximity, jinxed, next, six, taxi		Alexander, auxiliary
					luxury (GA)[v] anxiety
					anxious, luxury (RP), sexual (GA) luxurious[v]
					plateaux, chateaux
				∅	faux-pas, roux
					Xavier
	in words of Chinese or Mesoamerican origin		xiangqi, xoloitzcuintle
xc	before ⟨e, i⟩		excellent, except, excited
xh			exhale, foxhole		exhibition, Vauxhall
					exhaust, exhibit, exhilarating, exhortation
				,	exhume
y-			yes, young		ye (mock archaic)
z, zz	after ⟨t⟩		waltz, ditzy, pretzel, tzatziki		tzar
	elsewhere		gazump, seized, crazier, rhizoophagous, pizzazz, zoo, quiz		azure, seizure, brazier (GA)
					schizophrenic, pizzas
					jiaozi
				∅	rendezvous

In a generative approach to English spelling, Rollings (2004) identifies twenty main orthographic vowels of stressed syllables that are grouped into four main categories: "Lax" (similar to the "short" vowels taught in classrooms), "Tense" (the "long vowels"), "Heavy" (their correlated <r>-colored vowel sound), and "Tense-R" (the second and third combined).

Letter	Lax (short)		Tense (long)		Heavy		Tense-R
	IPA	example	IPA	example	IPA	example	IPA	example
a		man		mane		mar		mare
e		met		mete		her		here
i		win		wine		fir		fire
o		mop		mope		for[i]		fore[i]
u		hug		huge		cur		cure
		push		rude	[ii]			sure

Digraph	Lax		Tense		Heavy		Tense-R
	IPA	example	IPA	example	IPA	example	IPA	example
ai, ay	–			bait	–			air
				essay				Ayr
au, aw	–			audio	–			aura
				draw				rawr
ea		dreamt		dream		learn		hear
ee	–			see	–			beer
eu, ew	–			feudal	–			neurotic
				few				Newry
oa	–			boat	–			soar
oo		foot		goose	–			poor
	–		–		–			floor
ou, ow		southern		south		scourge		hour
	–			now	–			dowry
	–			soul	–			four
		knowledge		know			–
oi, oy	–			point	–			coir
				boy				Moyra

For instance, ⟨a⟩ can represent the lax vowel , tense , heavy /ɑː/, or tense-r /ɛə/. Heavy and tense-r vowels are the respective lax and tense counterparts followed by ⟨r⟩.

Tense vowels are distinguished from lax vowels with a "silent" ⟨e⟩ that is added at the end of words. Thus, ⟨a⟩ in hat is lax , but when ⟨e⟩ is added in the word hate ⟨a⟩ is tense . Heavy and tense-r vowels follow a similar pattern, e.g. ⟨ar⟩ in car is heavy , ⟨ar⟩ followed by silent ⟨e⟩ in care is . ⟨u⟩ represents two different vowel patterns, one being , the other . There is no distinction between heavy and tense-r ⟨o⟩, and ⟨u⟩ in the pattern does not have a heavy vowel.

Besides silent ⟨e⟩, another strategy for indicating tense and tense-r vowels is the addition of another orthographic vowel forming a digraph. In this case, the first vowel is usually the main vowel while the second vowel is the "marking" vowel. For example, man has a lax ⟨a⟩ (), but the addition of ⟨i⟩ (as the digraph ⟨ai⟩) in main marks the ⟨a⟩ as tense (). These two strategies produce words that are spelled differently but pronounced identically, which helps differentiate words that would otherwise be homonyms, as in mane (silent ⟨e⟩ strategy), main (digraph strategy) and Maine (both strategies).

Besides the 20 basic vowel spellings, Rollings (2004) has a reduced vowel category (representing the sounds ) and a miscellaneous category (representing the sounds and +V, +V, V+V).

To reduce dialectal difficulties, the sound values given here correspond to the conventions at Help:IPA/English. This table includes ⟨h, w, y⟩ when they represent vowel sounds. If no information is given, it is assumed that the vowel is in a stressed syllable.

Deriving the pronunciation of an English word from its spelling requires not only a careful knowledge of the rules given below (many of which are not explicitly known even by native speakers: speakers merely learn the spelling of a word along with its pronunciation) and their many exceptions, but also:

• a knowledge of which syllables are stressed and which are unstressed (not derivable from the spelling: compare hallow and allow)
• which combinations of vowels represent monosyllables and which represent disyllables (ditto: compare waive and naive, creature and creator)

The underscore (_) in a vowel-consonant-⟨e⟩ spelling is the place where the next spelling in a word goes in.

The pronunciation of vowel letters when followed by ⟨r⟩ is covered in a separate table below.

Spelling			Major value (IPA)	Examples of major value	Minor values	Examples of minor value	Exceptions
a	in closed syllables before multiple consonants final vowel in word			hatchet, banner, tally acrobat, cat		ancient, chamber, pastry, bass	yacht, restaurant catch (GA) apsaras ∅ forecastle
					(RP), (GA)	aft, ask, dance, past
	followed by 2+ unstressed syllables next syllable contains			national, camera, reality acid, granite, palace		nationhood, scathingly basis, aphasic	∅ sarsaparilla
	in open syllables before single consonant before heterosyllabic vowel			ache, opaque, savor, status table, hatred, April chaos, aorta, mosaic		plaque, manor, statue macle, sacrifice, theatrical	many, any naive (also with ) sati
						debacle gala, lava, slalom, sonata
	before final -⟨nge, ste⟩			range, exchange, haste		flange, caste (GA)
						melange
	after except before closed syllables			want, watch, swamp, swastika, wallet	(RP), (GA)	squash, wasp, wash wall, walnut, walrus wastage	qualm (also ), suave, swami swam, aquatic (RP) was (GA), what (GA)
	after except before open syllables			persuade, swathe		quality water
	word-final			bra, cha-cha, schwa, spa
	unstressed	in -⟨ace, age, ase, ate⟩ (except verbs)		palace, damage, forage, garbage, pirate, private		RP: garage, barrage chocolate, purchase, solace	rampage, primate
		elsewhere		about, an, salary, woman, blancmange, opera, via	to ∅ (RP), (GA)	artistically, ordinary, necessary probate, folate, kinase anorak, rectangle, abscond contrast (n), flabbergast, reprimand	karaoke, bologna (GA) Assam chaprassi
a_e				gave, mate, flake		have	ate (RP)
aa, ah				baa, naan, blah		Isaac, bar mitzvah	Quaalude
ae				encyclopaedia, paediatrician, Caesar		aesthetic	reggae, sundae, Gael Michael, polkaed maestro paella Scottish Gaelic
ai	stressed			daisy, laid, paisley, regain, waif		aisle, bonsai, daimon, krait said, again, against dais, laic, mosaic, papain	plaid, plaited, daiquiri naif, caique archaism (RP)
	unstressed			bargain, mountain, portrait		certain, coxswain, spritsail
ao				manoao, miaow, Maoism, cacao (GA)		gaol kaon, chaos kaolin karaoke baobab
au				cause, fraud, haul, sauce, slaughter	(RP), (GA)	because (RP), sausage (RP), leprechaun (GA) aunt, draught, laughter degauss, graupel, trauma (GA) chauffeur, gauche, mauve	gauge because (GA) meerschaum ∅ restaurant
aw				awed, flaw, hawk, tawny			Mawlid
ay				bayonet, essays, grayer, hayride		aye, bayou, kayak, papaya mayor, prayer, says	cay, quay, parlay gayal
e	in closed syllables before multiple consonants final vowel in word			petty, lethargy, trebleget, watershed		axes (plural of axis), lethal, reflex, Stephen, feces, legally	pretty ennui, entourage, genre eh feng shui
	bef. 2+ unstressed syllables next syllable contains			legacy, elegant, delicate, metric, crevice, epic		devious, premium, evil, scenic, strategic	English
	in open syllables before single consonant before cons. + ⟨r⟩ + vowel final, only vowel in word before heterosyllabic vowel			even, demon, fetal, recombine metre, secret, egret, secretion be, she museum, neon, theater (GA)		ever, lemon, petal, recollect petrol, debris (RP), discretion	crepe, suede, ukulele repel, debris (some dialects)
						seance, deity (some pronunciations)	yeah (GA)
	unstressed	word-final	∅	discipline, recites, smile, limitrophe		recipes, simile, apostrophe, deled	latte, mores, protege zanze
		before heterosyllabic vowel		create, area, atheism, video		fideism, realpolitik
		elsewhere		market, ticket, honest, college, boxes, perfect, express, believe		taken, decency, moment	contest, alphabet, princess
ea	in closed syllables before multiple consonants			dreamt, cleanse, wealth		feast, yeast realty, fealty	ealderman poleax seance
	in open syllables before single consonant before cons. + ⟨r⟩ + vowel final, only vowel in word before heterosyllabic vowel			read (infinitive), leaf, zeal, dreams, cleans		read (past simple), deaf, zealot break, great, eagre, yea hydrangea, likeable, ocean ideal, real, cereal idea urea, laureate creating, protease, reagent	orgeat /ɛə/ yeah (RP) whereas caveat mileage lineage beatify, reality real
eau				bureau, plateau, tableau		beauty	bureaucracy bureaucrat
ee				bee, breech, feed, trainee		breeches, been (GA)	matinee, fiancees, nee bungee, coffee freest, weest reecho, reelect threepence (also or )
eh				eh, prehnite, tempeh		yeh	feh , keffiyeh
ei, ey	usually			veil, weight, heinous, obey		caffeine, seize, key, either geyser, height, heist, heinie, eye albeit, being, cysteine, deist	heifer, leisure, seigneur reveille, serein fideist, deice
	after ⟨c⟩			deceive, ceiling, conceit			ceinture, enceinte glaceing, haecceity
	unstressed	word-final		monkey, volley, curtsey, jersey			survey (n)
		elsewhere		foreign, counterfeit, forfeit		mullein, villein	ageist, herein, ogreish
eo	usually bisyllabic			eon, geology, reoffer, teleost creole, geode, leonine, video galleon, leotard, peon, theory		feoffee, jeopardy, leopard feoff, people luncheon, pigeon, embraceor	yeoman, ceorl feodary, geoduck rodeo, teosinte thereon whereof someone
eu, ew (ieu, iew)	usually			deuce, feudal, queue, dew, ewe, view		berceuse, danseuse museum	sew ∅ fauteuil
	after after  (GA)			rheumatism, sleuth, jewel, blew, leukemia, lewd, lieu		nucleus, pileus	shew lieutenant (RP) milieu (RP) reuse reutters pileup whereupon Freudian
i	in closed syllables before multiple consonants final vowel in worded			dissent, mislaid, slither kiss, sic, bit, inflict, hint, plinth		dissect, island, indict, pint, ninth	meringue, timbre, absinthe (also ) artiste, chenille, skis, chic, ambergris
	bef. 2+ unstressed syllables next syllable contains before cons. + ⟨e, i⟩ + vowel			litany, liberal, chivalry, misery finish, limit, minute (n) hideous, position, Sirius		blithely, irony, libelous, rivalry, miserly, whitish, writing, shinier, tidied
	in open syllables before single consonant before cons. + -⟨le⟩ or ⟨r⟩ + vowel before -⟨gh, gn⟩ word final before heterosyllabic vowel			cited, dive, mica, rise, fire idle, trifle, nitrous, mitres sighed, signage alumni, alibi, radii vial, quiet, prior, pious		city, give, vicar, risen triple, citrus, giblets pighead, signal
						ski, macaroni, litres, in vitro, chignon, Monsignor clientele, fiat, lien, skiing
	before -⟨nd, l⟩			wilder, remind		bewilder, rescind
	unstressed	before heterosyllabic vowel		onion, minion		biology, diameter	∅ parliament, lieu, nostalgia liaison, alien, radii, idiot
		elsewhere		divide, permit (n), livid, typical		giraffe, pencil, cousin, Cheshire	∅ business director, minute (adj) sapphire
i_e				polite, shine		police, elite, give
ie	word-finally			belie, die, untie, vie		goalie, oldie, auntie, movie	lingerie (GA), kyrie
	elsewhere			field, siege, rabies, skied	to	allied, pied, skies client, diet, science, sliest ambient, alien, oriel, ugliest orient (v), acquiesce	sieve, mischief, kerchief friend, hygienic (GA) biennial diene clientele medieval lien
o	in closed syllables before multiple consonants final vowel in word			doctor, bother, donkey dot, bomb, wonk, font		won, monkey, front gross, comb, wonted, both	tomb, womb wolf once  (GA) long, broth
	bef. 2+ unstressed syllables next syllable contains			opera, colonise, botany topic, solid, promise		brokenly, probity, diplomacy meiosis, aerobic
	in open syllables before single consonant before cons. + -⟨le⟩ or ⟨r⟩ + vowel word-final before heterosyllabic vowel (inc. unstressed)			omen, grove, total noble, cobra banjo, go boa, poet, stoic cooperate, proactive		proper, gone, shone (RP) to, who, move, doable come, love, done, colander	woman, bosom women one ∅ colonel, chocolate
	unstressed			eloquent, wanton, purpose, Europe			neuron, proton hydrogen
oa				boat, coal, load, coaxing		boa, inchoate coaxial, ogdoad oasis, cloaca	broad doable koala quinoa
oe	usually			amoeba, coelacanth, foetal, phoenix		doeskin, woeful shoelace, canoeing poetic, soever, orthoepic	foetid, roentgen coeval, noesis coerce poetry, orthoepy
	last vowel in word			foe, goes, toed, woe		shoes, canoe coed, noel, phloem goer loess, poem	does doeth, doer foehn diploe, kalanchoe
	unstressed			oedema, oesophagus		aloe, echoed, oboes, soloed	hoopoe
oeu				manoeuvre			hors d'oeuvre
oh	final or before a consonant			oh, kohlrabi, ohm, pharaoh		John, johnny	bohrium matzoh
oi				boing, moist, coin, envoi		going, egoist, heroin, stoic bourgeois, coiffeur, patois connoisseur, porpoise, tortoise	doing croissant (RP) chamois ghettoise, oroide
oo	usually			cool, sooth, boot, goosebumps		wool, soot, foot, gooseberry	brooch coopt, zoology, oocyte (RP)
	before ⟨k, d⟩			cook, shook, wood, stood		kook, spook, food, brood	flood, blood
ou	before single consonant before cons. + -⟨le⟩ or ⟨r⟩ + vowel before -⟨nd, ld, gh, gn⟩ word final before heterosyllabic vowel			out, aloud, bough		soup, you, through touch soul, dough	(GA): ampoule, coupon
	before multiple consonants final vowel in word bef. 2+ unstressed syllables next syllable contains before cons. + ⟨e, i⟩ + vowel			could, should		trouble, country boulder	cough, fount (printing)
	unstressed			camouflage, labour, nervous		bivouac, bedouin, potpourri detour, fourchette	hiccough ratatouille, ouabaine
ow	stressed			owl, bow, row, sow, allow		own, bow, row, sow, alow	acknowledge or rowlock
	unstressed			yellow, teabowl, landowner		peafowl, sundowner	cassowary, toward (RP)
oy				boy, doyenne, foyer, voyage		voyeur, noyade	oyez coyote (GA) buoy (GA)
u	in closed syllables before multiple consonants final vowel in word			budding, cuckold, mullet but, gull, fuss		pudding, cuckoo, bullet, put, full, puss	ruthless, brut butte, debut, fuchsia, tulle
	in open syllables before single consonant before cons. + -⟨le⟩ or ⟨r⟩ + vowel before heterosyllabic vowel word-final			mute, student, puny, union, fuses bugle, hubris, nutrient (RP) duo, nuance, pursuant, ensuing menu, emu, impromptu (RP)		study, punish, bunion, buses butler, cutlery, subrogate super, lunar, absolute, revolution suet, lucrative, lugubrious hindu, tutu, tofu, truth	busy, business
	in open syllables after , or cons. + before single consonant before cons. + -⟨le⟩ or ⟨r⟩ + vowel before heterosyllabic vowel word-final			rule, chute, June, recluses scruples, rubric truant, fluent, cruelty flu, guru		overuse, underused	runaway, truculent, clubroom sugar
	after ⟨g⟩	before ⟨e, i, y⟩	∅	guest, guide, vaguer		segue, distinguish	ambiguity
		before ⟨a, o⟩		language	∅	guard, languor	jaguar (RP)
	after ⟨q⟩			quail, conquest, banquet, quite	∅	quay, conquer, bouquet, mosquito
	unstressed			support, industry, useful, medium		debut guffaw, unruly, upend, vulgarity	minute, lettuce
ue	after ⟨g⟩	word final	∅	league, tongue		ague	merengue, dengue
		word medial		guest, guessed, baguette guerrilla, beleaguered	∅	vaguely, intrigued argued	segued, guenon unguent, ungues arguer Portuguese
	after ⟨r⟩, or cons. + ⟨l⟩			true, clue, gruesome, blues		influence, cruel, fluent, bluest	cruet, influential
	elsewhere (except after ⟨q⟩)			virtue, cue, valued, hue, muesli		fuel, constituent, rescuer innuendo, statuesque, minuet Sue, snafued (GA: due, revenue) GA: duel, pursuer	suet, muezz|in tenues, habitue puerile, muenster suede, Venezuelan pueblo, desuetude
ui	after ⟨g⟩			guild, guitar, intriguing, roguish guide, guise, beguile		anguish, penguin, linguist, sanguine	beguine, linguine arguing, aguish, contiguity
	after ⟨j, r⟩ or cons. + ⟨l⟩			juice, cruise, sluice, fruiting		fruition, fluid, ruin, druid, truism, incongruity	alleluia Cruickshank
	elsewhere (except after ⟨q⟩)			conduit, cuing, genuine, Buick, circuitous, Jesuit build, circuit, biscuit, pursuivant		suit, suitable, nuisance (GA) intuitive (RP), promiscuity nuisance (RP), puisne suicide, tui, Inuit, Hinduism	duiker, circuitry cuisine, suint suite, ennui, tuille sui generis feng shui
uu				continuum, residuum		menstruum	duumvir vacuum muumuu
uy				buy, buyout, guyed		guyot, cliquy, plaguy obsequy, soliloquy	toluyl thuya, gruyere puy tuyere
w						cwm
y	before multiple consonants bef. 2+ unstressed syllables next syllable contains			myth, cryptic, system, symbol cylinder, typical, pyramid, dynasty cynic, lyric, lytic, syringe, yttrium		cyclone, hyphen, psyche, python hydrogen, dynasty (GA) cyclist, hybrid, psychic, typist
	before single consonant before cons. + -⟨le⟩ or ⟨r⟩ + vowel word-final			typing, style, paralyze, nylon cycle, cypress, hydrate, lycra awry, by, deny, sky, supply		byzantine, synod, synagogue, Cypriote, sycophantic
	unstressed	word-final		any, city, happy, only, supply (adv)			ally (n)
		elsewhere		bicycle, oxygen, polymer, dyslexia, physique, synonymous		sibyl, pyjamas dynamics, hypothesis, typhoon anyway, everything

Spelling			Major value (IPA)	Examples of major value	Minor values (IPA)	Examples of minor value	Exceptions
ar	before a vowel	next syllable contains within the same morpheme		apparent, arid, guarantee, mariners, parish		parent, garish
		followed by a morpheme boundary		carer, scary, sharing, rarity		comparable, comparative faraway, tsarist
		otherwise		area, care, pharaoh, vary, wariness		aria, are, safaris	quarantine, waratah
	elsewhere	stressed		argyle, car, farce			scarce sarsaparilla (GA) dharna
		after		war, award, dwarf, warning, quarter
		unstressed		circular, pillar
aer				aerial, aeroplane		chimaera	anaerobe
air				cairn, millionaire, dairy			hetaira zaire
aor				aorta		Maori extraordinary
arr	before a spoken vowel			marry, barrel, arrow, barren, carrot		starry, barring
	elsewhere			scarred, Parr
aur				dinosaur, aural, aura, Laura		laurel, Laurence
awer				gnawer, rawer, thawer			drawer
ayer, ayor				layer, mayor, soothsayer
er	before a vowel			here, series, query, merely		compere, there, werewolf derelict, heresy, perish, very derail, reremind	were, weregild
	elsewhere	stressed		her, jerk, coerced, merchant		berceuse	clerk, sergeant
		unstressed		starter, fewer, Berber, arguer, shower	(or )	dossier, foyer
ear	before a consonant	before a morpheme boundary		dearly, fearless, tearful, yearling		bearskin, swearword	heard
		elsewhere		pearly, hearse, yearning, earth		hearken, hearty, hearth	beard, peart bearnaise rearm
	elsewhere			fear, year, appear, hearing,		pear, bearish, wearing linear, nuclear, stearin	tearoom
eer				cheering, beer, eerie		freer, seers
eir				heir, madeira, their		weird, weir, eyrie	oneiric, eirenic
eor				deorbit, reorganise		theory
err	before a spoken vowel			error, merry, terrible, herring, ferret		referring
	elsewhere			err, preferred
eur	after , cons. +			pleurisy
	elsewhere			euro, liqueur, neural		masseur, voyeur	theurgy
ir	before a spoken vowel	usually		pirate, virus, iris, spiral		mirage, virile, iridescent, spirit
		derived from a word with silent ⟨e⟩ following		wirable, aspiring
	before silent ⟨e⟩			hire, fires, mired
	elsewhere	stressed		bird, fir			menhir
		unstressed		elixir, kefir, triumvir
ier				cashier, fierce, frontier, pier		shier, fiery, hierarchy, plier busier, rapier, glacier, hosiery	concierge, premiere atelier, bustier, dossier skier
irr	before a spoken vowel			mirror, squirrel, cirrus, tirret		stirrer
	elsewhere			whirred
or	after ⟨w⟩			word, work, worst		worn, sword, swore
	elsewhere	stressed		ford, boring, more		forest, moral	whorl borough ∅ comfortable
		unstressed		gladiator, major, equator
oar				boar, coarse, keyboard, soaring			cupboard, starboard coarctate
oer				partygoer, forgoer		undoer, canoer	oersted
oir				reservoir, memoir, moire, soiree		coir, loir, Moira	choir avoirdupois
oor				poor, moor, boorish, roorback		door, flooring	whippoorwill coordinate
orr	stressed	after ⟨w⟩		worry
		elsewhere		horrid, porridge, torrent, correlate	(RP), (GA)	borrow, sorry	Andorra
	unstressed			correct, corrupt, haemorrhage, horrific
our	stressed			four, courtesan, discourse		hour, flour, scours journey, courtesy, scourge tour, courier, gourd, velour	courage, flourish
	unstressed			labour, colourful		entourage, potpourri detour, fourchette
ur	before a vowel	elsewhere		lure, purity, curing		allure, guru, Silurian	bury, burial
		after , cons. +		rural, jury, plural, sure, assurance, allure
	elsewhere	stressed		turn, occur, curdle			langur
		unstressed		sulphur, jodhpur, bulgur, murmur
urr	before a spoken vowel			current, hurry, flurry, burrow, turret		furry, blurring
	elsewhere			burr, blurred
yr
	before a spoken vowel	bef. 2+ unstressed syllables next syllable contains		syrup, Pyrenees, lyric, pyramid, Syria, myriad, syringe, tyranny, pyrrhic
		elsewhere		tyrant, gyrate, pyrotechnic, thyroid
	before silent ⟨e⟩			lyre, pyre, tyres, gyred
	elsewhere	stressed		myrtle, myrrh
		unstressed		martyr

Spelling		Major value (IPA)	Examples of major value	Minor values (IPA)	Examples of minor value	Exceptions
al	Excluding before ⟨f, k, l, m, t⟩ (see below)		pal, talcum, algae, alp		bald, Nepal, always, walrus	falcon (also with , or ) false (RP; also )
alf	before a vowel		alfalfa, malfeasance
	elsewhere	(RP)  (GA)	calf, half			palfrey halfpenny
alk	morpheme-final		stalk, walking, talkative, chalkboard
	elsewhere		alkaline, grimalkin, valkyrie	[i]	balkanise
all	morpheme-final		call, fallout, smaller		shall, pall-mall (RP)	pall-mall (GA)
	elsewhere		alley, callus, shallow		wallet, swallow allow, dialled	marshmallow (GA)
alm	morpheme-final		alms, palm, calmer, embalming			halm
	elsewhere		palmate, salmonella, talmud		almanac, almost , instalment	salmon almond (GA)[ii] signalment almond (RP), balmy, palmistry.
alt		[iii]	alter, malt, salty, basalt		alto, shalt, saltation, asphalt (RP)	gestalt (GA) royalty, penalty
ange	word final		arrange, change, mange, strange		flange, phalange	melange blancmange orange
aste	word final		chaste, lambaste, paste, taste		cineaste, caste (GA), pleonaste	(out)caste (RP) namaste
-ci	unstressed before vowel		special, gracious	(also )	species
-cqu			acquaint, acquire		lacquer, racquet
ed	word final after or		loaded, waited
	word final after a voiceless sound		piped, enserfed, snaked		biped, underfed	naked
	word final after a lenis sound		limbed, enisled, unfeared		imbed, misled, infrared	beloved
es	word final after a fricative		mazes, washes, axes, bases, pieces		axes, bases, feces, oases
ex-	unstressed before ⟨h⟩ or a vowel		exist, examine, exhaust		exhale
gu-	before ⟨a⟩		bilingual, guano, language		guard, guarantee
(a)isle	word final		aisle, isle, enisle, lisle
le	word final after non ⟨r⟩ cons.		little, table		orle, isle	boucle
ngue	word final		tongue, harangue, meringue		merengue, distingué	dengue
old			blindfold, older, bold		scaffold, kobold (also ) doldrums, solder (RP)
olk			yolk, folklore		polka (RP), kolkhoz	polka (GA)
oll			dollhouse, pollen, trolley, holly		tollhouse, swollen, troller, wholly	atoll (GA) cholla caroller, collide
olm			olm, dolmen		enrolment, holmium	holm (oak)
ong	morpheme-final	(RP)  (GA)	songstress, along, strong, wronger		tonger, bong, dugong, tongs	among
	elsewhere		congress, jongleur, bongo, conger, ongoing, nongraded		congeries, longevity, pongee monger, humongous, mongrel sponger, longe, spongy	tongue congratulate, lemongrass congeal, congestion allonge congé (GA)
ought			bought, brought, fought, nought, ought, sought, thought, wrought		doughty, drought
qu-			queen, quick		liquor, mosquito
que	word final		mosque, bisque		manque, risqué	barbeque pulque
re	word final after non ⟨r⟩ cons.		timbre, acre, ogre, centre	,	cadre (GA), compadre, emigre genre, oeuvre, fiacre
ron	word final after vowel		neuron, moron, interferon, aileron		baron, heron, environ	iron chaperon
sci-	unstressed before a vowel		conscience, luscious, prosciutto		sciatica, sciamachy, sciential	conscientious, fasciated  (RP) omniscient, prescience
scle	word final		corpuscle, muscle		mascle
-se	word final after vowel (noun)		house, excuse, moose, anise, geese		prose, nose, tease, guise, compromise	marchese
	word final after vowel (verb)		house, excuse, choose, arise, please		grouse, dose, lease, chase, promise
-si	unstressed after a vowel		vision, occasion, explosion, illusion		easier, enthusiasm, physiological
	unstressed after a cons.	/ʃ/	pension, controversial, compulsion			/si/ tarsier, Celsius
-ssi	unstressed before a vowel		mission, passion, Russia, session		potassium, dossier, messier
-sti	unstressed before a vowel		question, Christian, suggestion
-sure	unstressed after a vowel		leisure, treasure
	unstressed after a cons.		tonsure, censure
-the	unstressed		scathe, spathe
-ti	unstressed before a vowel		cautious, patient, inertia, initial, ration		patios, consortia, fiftieth, courtier ratios, minutia, initiate, negotiate	cation, cationic equation rentier (GA)
-ture	unstressed		nature, picture
-zure	unstressed		seizure, azure

The following table shows for each sound the various spelling patterns used to denote it, starting with the prototypical pattern(s) followed by others in alphabetical order. Some of these patterns are very rare or unique (such as ⟨gh⟩ for /p/, ⟨ph⟩ for /v/, ⟨i⟩ for /ɑː/). An ellipsis (⟨…⟩) stands for an intervening consonant.

Arranged in the order of the IPA consonant tables.

Phoneme	Spelling	Usage	Example
/m/	m	Most of the time	mine, jam
	mm	double consonant rule[20]	hammer
	mb	End of a few words	thumb
/n/	n	Most of the time	nice, pin
	nn	double consonant rule[20]	winning
	kn	Start of some words of Germanic origin	knee
	gn	Start and end of a few words	gnome, sign
/ŋ/	ng	Most of the time	sing
	n	right before a /k/ spelling	link
/p/	p	Most of the time	pond, hip
	pp	double consonant rule[20]	clapping
/b/	b	Most of the time	blue, cab
	bb	double consonant rule[20]	rubbing
/t/	t	Most of the time	ten, lit
	tt	double consonant rule[20]	knitter
/d/	d	Most of the time	din, pad
	dd	double consonant rule[20]	hidden
/k/	k	word or syllable-initial: right before e, i, or y root or word-final: after a consonant, vowel team or within a VCe spelling	kid, Ken, sky, milk, book, make
	c	right before a, o, u, or a consonant	cat, cob, cut, clap
	ck	root or word-final: right after a short vowel	pick, lacking
	cc	in the middle of words before 'a', 'o', or 'u'	hiccup, raccoon
	ch	usually in words of Greek origin	chemistry, stomach
	x	right before 'c' /s/	excite
	que	end of words	boutique
/g/	g	most cases	goat, tag
	gg	double consonant rules[20]	begging
/f/	f	most cases	fly, leaf
	ff	double consonant rule[20]	huff, bluffing
	ph	Ancient greek words	phone, graph
/v/	v	most cases	vine
	ve	end of words when not right before a long VCe spelling	give, sleeve, twelve
/θ/	th	Most of the time	thin, bath
/ð/	th	Most of the time	them, feather
/s/	s	often at the beginning, or right after an unvoiced consonant or short vowel	slime, cups, disk
	ss	double consonant rule	hiss
	c	right before 'e', 'i', 'y'	cent, city, cymbal
	se	end of a word or root right after a vowel team	horse
	ce	end of word or root right after a short vowel and consonant	dance
	sc	beginning of some words	scissors
	st	within the syllables /sən/ or /səl/	listen, whistle
/z/	z	word-initial	zoo
	s	right after a voiced consonant or non-short or r-colored vowel	cans, bees
	zz	double consonant rule[20]	jazz, buzzy
	ze	end of words when not right before a long VCe spelling	sneeze
	se	end of words right after a vowel team	pause
	x	beginning of a few words	xylophone
/ʃ/	sh	most of the time	ship, fish
	ti	in words of Latin origin	attention, ratio
	ci	in words of Latin origin	special, delicious
/ʒ/	s	usually before -ure	treasure, leisure
	si	usually before -on	vision, explosion
/h/	h	most of the time	helmet
/r/	r	most of the time	road
	wr	word-initial	wreck
	rh		rhino
/l/	l	most of the time	lamp
	ll	double consonant rule[20]	well
/y/	y	most of the time	yes
	i	glide before a unstressed vowel or vowel team in a syllable	onion
/w/	w	most of the time	water
/tʃ/	ch	most of the time	chop, each
	tch	after a short vowel	catch, itch
/dʒ/	j	mostly before <a>, <o>, or <u>	jam, joy, jug
	g	before <e>, <i>, or <y> between a magic <e> spelling from <ge> where the <e> is dropped before adding a suffix	gem, giraffe, energy cage, huge changing
	ge	word-final after a non-short vowel	large
	dge	word-final after a short vowel	bridge
	dg	from <dge> where the <e> is dropped before adding a suffix	judging
/ks/	x	word-final	six
	Most other /ks/ spellings are clusters of a /k/ and /s/ spelling. check the "Rarer graphemes" table to see them.
/kw/	qu	Most of the time	queen
/gz/	x	after a vowel and right before a short vowel	exam

Consonants
IPA	Spelling	Examples
/m/	chm, gm, lm, mbe, me, mh, mme, mn, mp, sme	drachm, phlegm, salmon, combe, forme, mho, femme, autumn, assumption, disme
/n/	n, nn, cn, dn, gn, gne, kn, mn, mp, nd, ne, ng, nh, nne, nt, pn, sn, sne	cnidarian, Wednesday, coigne, mnemonic, comptroller, handsome, borne, ngaio, piranha, tonne, topgallant-sail, pneumonia, puisne, mesne
/ŋ/	nc, nd, ngh, ngue, nh	charabanc, handkerchief, sangh, tongue, sinh
/p/	gh, pe, (ph), ppe	hiccough, thorpe, diphthong (RP),[i] steppe
/b/	be, bh, pb, gb	barbe, bhang, cupboard, Igbo
/t/	bt, cht, ct, d, dt, ed, ght, kt, pt, phth, st, te, th, tte	doubt, yacht, victual, iced, veldt, dressed, lighter, ktypeite, ptarmigan, phthisical, cestui, forte, thyme, cigarette
/d/	ddh, bd, de, dh, ed, ld	Buddhism, bdellium, horde, dharma, abandoned, solder,
/k/	cch, ch, cq, cqu, cque, cu, ke, kh, kk, lk, q, qh, qu, (g)	zucchini, chord, tack, acquire, lacquer, sacque, biscuit, burke, khaki, trekker, polka-dotted, quorum, fiqh, liquor, (strength)
/ɡ/	ckg, gge, gh, gu, gue	gig, egg, blackguard, pogge, ghost, guard, catalogue
/f/	fe, ffe, ft, gh, lf, phe, pph, (u)	carafe, gaffe, soften, laugh, half, ouphe, sapphire, lieutenant (RP)
/v/	vv, f, lve, ph, u, w, zv, b, bh	savvy, of, halve, Stephen, quetsch, weltanschauung, rendezvous, Habdalah, kethibh
/θ/	the, chth, phth, tth, h, t	absinthe, chthonic, apophthegm, eighth, tanh
/ð/	the, dd, dh, y	breathe, gorsedd, edh, ye (mock archaic)
/s/	cc, ce, ps, sce, sch, sh, sse, sses, (sth), sw, t, th, ti, (ts), tsw, tzs, tz, (z)	song, mess, city, flaccid, ounce, psalm, coalesce, schism (RP), horse, dishonest, finesse, chausses, asthma (RP), sword, tzitzit, zizith, Kiribati, tsunami (GA), boatswain, britzska, waltz (RP), quartz
/z/	cz, (sc), se, sh, sp, ss, (sth), ts, tz, zh, zs (one pronunciation), c (some dialects)	czar, crescent (RP),[ii] tease, déshabillé, raspberry, dissolve, asthma (GA), tsarina, tzar, zho, (vizsla), (electricity)
/ʃ/	sh, c, ce, ch, che, chi, chsi, ci, s, sc, sch, sche, schsch, sci, sesh, she, shh, shi, si, sj, ss, ssi, ti, psh, zh, x	shin, speciality, ocean, machine, quiche, marchioness, fuchsia, special, sugar, crescendo, schmooze, schottische, eschscholtzia, conscience, tortoiseshell, galoshe, shh, cushion, expansion, sjambok, tissue, mission, nation, pshaw, pirozhki, paxiuba
/ʒ/	(ci), g, ge, j, s, si, ssi, ti, z, zh, zhe, (zi), zs (one pronunciation)	coercion (GA), genre, beige, bijou, leisure, division, abscission, equation, seizure, muzhik, uzhe,[iii] brazier (GA), (vizsla)
/x/	ch (in Scottish English), gh (in Irish English)	loch, lough
/h/	wh, j, ch	who, fajita, chutzpah
/r/	r, rh, wr	run, rhyme, wrong
/l/	lh, lle, gl, sle, ln (some dialects)	pelham, gazelle, imbroglio, aisle, (kiln)
/j/	y, h, i, j, l, ll, z, r (one pronunciation)	vinho verde, onion, hallelujah, llano, tortilla, capercailzie, February[iv]
/hw/	wh (in some dialects)	which
/w/	u, h, ou, ju, wh (in most dialects)	persuade, choir, ouija, marijuana, what
/ts/	ts, tz, zz	nuts, quartz, pizza
/dz/	ds, dz, z	pads, podzol, jiaozi
/tʃ/	c, cc, cch, (che), chi, cs, cz, q, t, tche, te, (th), (ti), ts, tsch, tz, tzs, tzsch, h	cello, bocce, kaccha, niche (GA), falchion, csardas, Czech, qi, nature, escutcheon, righteous, posthumous (GA), bastion (GA), britska (US), putsch, britz(s)ka (US), Nietzschean, sinh
/dʒ/	(ch), d, di, dj, dzh, gg, gi, jj, t, zh	sandwich (RP), graduate, soldier, adjust, Tadzhik, veggies, Belgian, hajj, congratulate (US)[v], guzheng
/ks/	xx, cast, cc, chs, cks, cques, cs, cz, kes, ks, lks, ques, xc, xe, xs, xsc, xsw	doxxing, forecastle, accent, tachs, backs, sacques, sacs, eczema, burkes, yaks, caulks, toques, excel, axe, exsert, exscind, coxswain
/gz/	x, ggs, gs	exam, eggs, bags

Nasal vowels used by some speakers in words of French origin such as enceinte (), are not included.

Vowels
IPA	Spelling	Examples
/æ/	a, a...e, (ag), ai, al, (ar), (au), ea, ei, i, o (one pronunciation)	hand, have, seraglio (GA), plaid, salmon, sarsaparilla (GA), laugh (GA), poleax enceinte, meringue, (chometz)
/ɑː/	a, a...e, aa, aae, aah, aahe, (ag), ah, (au), (i), o (one pronunciation), ar (one pronunciation)	father, garage, salaam, baaed, aah, aahed, seraglio (RP), blah, aunt (RP), lingerie (GA), (chometz), (schoolmarm)
/aɪ/	i...e, ae, ai, aie, (aille), ais, ay, aye, ei, eigh, eu, ey, eye, i, ia, ic, ie, ig, igh, ighe, is, oi, (oy), ui, uy, uye, y, y...e, ye	fine, maestro, krait, shanghaied, canaille (RP), aisle, kayak, aye, heist, height, deuddarn, heyduck, eye, mic, diaper, indict, tie, sign, high, sighed, isle, choir, coyote (GA), guide, buy, guyed, why, type, bye
/aʊ/	ou, ow, ao, aou, aow, aowe, au, odh, ough, oughe, owe, iao, iau	out, now, manoao, caoutchouc, miaow, miaowed, gauss, bodhrán, bough, ploughed, vowed, jiao, chiaus
/ɛ/	e, a, ae, ai, ay, e...e, ea, eh, ei, eo, ie, oe, ue, ee (one pronunciation)	met, many, aesthetic, said, says, there, deaf, feh, heifer, jeopardy, friend, foetid, guess, (threepence)
/eɪ/	a, a...e, aa, ae, ai, ai...e, aig, aigh, ais,, alf, ao, au, ay, aye, e (é), e...e, ea, eg, ee (ée), eh, ei, ei...e, eig, eigh, eighe, er, ere, es, et, ete, ey, eye, ez, (ie), (oeh), ue, uet	bass, rate, quaalude, reggae, rain, cocaine, arraign, straight, palais, halfpenny, gaol, gauge, hay, played, ukulele (café), crepe, steak, matinee (soirée), thegn, eh, veil, beige, reign, eight, weighed, dossier, espaliered, demesne, ballet, crocheted, they, obeyed, chez, lingerie (GA), boehmite (GA), merengue, bouquet
/ə/	a, e, i, o, u, y, a...e, ae, ah, ai, anc, ath, au, ea, eau, eh, ei, eig, eo, eou, (eu), gh, ia, ie, io, iou, o...e, oa, oe, oh, oi, oo, op, ou, (ough), (u...e), ua, ue, (ui), uo, wa...e	tuna, oven, pencil, pilot, opus, beryl, carcase, Messiah, mountain, blancmange, tuath, sergeant, bureaucrat, keffiyeh, mullein, foreign, truncheon, timeous, amateur (RP), burgh, spatial, deficient, legion, conscious, awesome, starboard, biocoenosis, matzoh, porpoise, whipoorwill, topgallant, callous, borough (RP), minute (GA), piquant, guerilla, circuit (GA), languor, gunwale
/ɪ/	i, y, a, a...e, ai, e, ea, ee, ei, i...e, ia, ie, ii, o, oe, u, u...e, ui	bit, myth, orange, chocolate, bargain, pretty, mileage, breeches, counterfeit, medicine, carriage, sieve, shiitake, women, oedema, busy, minute, build
/iː/	e, e...e, i, i...e, a, ae, aoi, ay, ea, ee, e'e, ei, eo, ey, eye, ie, ie...e, is, ix, oe, oi, ue, ui, uy, y	be, cede, ski, machine, bologna, algae, Taoiseach, quay, beach, bee, e'en, deceit, people, key, keyed, field, hygiene, debris, prix, amoeba, chamois, dengue, beguine, guyot, ynambu
/ɒ/	a, o, ach, au, eau, oh, (ou), ow, e, (eo)	watch, lock, yacht, sausage, bureaucracy, cough (RP), acknowledge, entrée, cheongsam (RP)
/ɔː/	a, al, au, au...e, augh, aughe, aw, awe, ea, (o), oa, oss, (ou), ough	bald, talk, author, cause, caught, overslaughed, jaw, awe, ealdorman, broad, crossjack, cough, bought
/ɔɪ/	oi, oy, eu, oll, ooi, oye, ui, (uoy), uoye, (awy)	avoid, toy, lawyer, Freudian, cholla, rooibos, enjoyed, schuit, buoyant, buoyed (RP), (lawyer)
/oʊ/	o, o...e, aoh, au, aux, eau, eaue, eo, ew, oa, oe, oh, oo, ore, ot, ou, ough, oughe, ow, owe, w	so, bone, pharaoh, mauve, faux, beau, plateaued, yeoman, sew, boat, foe, oh, brooch, forecastle, depot, soul, though, furloughed, know, owe, pwn
/ʌ/	u, o, o...e, oe, oo, ou, uddi, wo, a, au (some dialects), ee (one pronunciation)	sun, son, come, does, flood, touch, studdingsail, twopence, sati, (because), (threepence)
/ʊ/	oo, u, o, o...e, (or), oul, w	foot, full, wolf, pembroke, worsted (RP), should, cwtch
/uː/	u, u...e, oo, oo...e, eew, eu, ew, ieu, ioux, o, o...e, oe, oeu, ooe, ou, ough, ougha, oup, ue, uh, ui, (uo), w, wo	tutu, flute, too, groove, leeward, sleuth, yew, lieu, Sioux, to, lose, shoe, manoeuvre, cooed, soup, through, brougham, coup, true, buhl, fruit, buoy (GA), cwm, two
/juː/	u, u...e, ew, eau, eo, eu, ewe, ieu, iew, (ou), ue, ueue, ui, ut, uu, you	music, use, few, beauty, feodary, feud, ewe, adieu, view, ampoule (GA), cue, queue, nuisance, debut, vacuum, you

Nasal vowels used by some speakers in words of French origin such as enceinte (), are not included.

Vowels
IPA	Spelling	Examples
/ær/	ar, arr, ahr, uar	arid, marry, Fahrenheit, guarantee
/ɑːr/	ar, aar, ahr, alla, are, arr, arre, arrh, ear, er, uar, our (some dialects)	car, bazaar, tahr, topgallant-sail, are, parr, bizarre, catarrh, heart, sergeant, guard, (our)
/aɪər/	ire, ier, igher, yer, yre, oir, uyer	fire, crier, higher, flyer, pyre, choir, buyer
/aʊər/	our, ower	sour, tower
/ɛr/	er, err, ur	very, merry, bury
/ɛər/	are, aer, air, aire, ar, ayer, ayor, ayre, e'er, eah, ear, eir, eor, er, ere, err, erre, ert, ey're, eyr	bare, aerial, tahr, hair, millionaire, scarce, prayer, mayor, fayre, ne'er, yeah, bear, heir, ceorl, moderne, where, err (GA), parterre, couvert, they're, eyra
/ər/	ar, er, ir, or, aur, aer	hangar, letter, elixir, author, aurora, anaerobe
/ɜːr/	er, ir, ur, ar, ear, ere, err, erre, eur, eure, irr, irre, oeu, olo, or, our, ueur, uhr, urr, urre, yr, yrrh	defer, fir, fur, dharna, earl, were, err, interred, voyeur, chauffeured (GA), birr, stirred, hors d'oeuvre, colonel, worst, adjourn, liqueur, buhrstone, purr, murre, myrtle, myrrh
/ɪr/	ir, irr, yr, yrrh, er	spirit, mirror, tyranny, pyrrhic, erase
/ɪər/	ere, aer, e're, ear, eare, eer, eere, ehr, eir, eor, er, ers, eyr, ier, iere, ir, oea, yer	here, chimaera, we're, ear, feared, beer, peered, lehr, weird, theory (RP), series, revers, eyrie, pier, premiere, souvenir, diarrhoea (RP), twyer
/ɒr/	or, orr, ar, arr, aur	orange, sorry, quarantine, quarry, laurel
/ɔːr/	or, ore, aor, ar, aur, aure, hors, oar, oare, oor, oore, our, oure, ou're, ouire, owar, ohr, uor	or, fore, extraordinary, war, dinosaur, roquelaure, hors d'oeuvre, oar, soared, door, floored, four, poured, you're, toward (GA), bohrium, fluoridate
/ɔɪər/	oir, awyer	coir, lawyer
/ʌr/	urr, ur, orr, or, our	hurry, burgh, worry, thorough, courage
/ʊr/	our	courier
/ʊər/	oor, our, ure, ur	poor, tour, sure, rural
/jʊər/	ure, ur, eur	cure, purity, neural

Inconsistencies between English pronunciation and English spelling have gradually increased ever since the late medieval and early modern period of English's history, with the greatest changes a consequence of English pronunciation naturally diverging across many centuries, while the spelling often remains frozen in an earlier period. This has resulted in modern English spelling being only somewhat phonetically representative. There are a number of contributing factors to the difficulty of modern orthography but, most importantly, gradual changes in pronunciation, such as the Great Vowel Shift, account for a tremendous number of irregularities or conservative English spellings that persist without accurately reflecting the now-current pronunciations. Also, more recent loan words generally carry their original spellings (or spellings that follow transliterations operating according to their own non-English conventions). These loan spellings are thus often not phonetic in English; this includes Romanized words from languages written using non-Roman scripts.

The fairly regular spelling system (originally, the runic alphabet, but later the Latin alphabet) of Old English was swept away by the Norman Conquest in 1066, and the English language as a whole was supplanted in some elite spheres by Norman French for three centuries, eventually emerging with its spelling much influenced by the French writing system (with its Latin letters). English also borrowed massive numbers of words from French during this period, and some kept their French spellings regardless of English pronunciation. The spelling in Middle English texts is very variable, since no standardised spelling existed then, with the same word being spelled in different ways by various authors or even the same author, sometimes even in the same sentence. Instead, spellings at the time were generally meant to more closely resemble the writer's own pronunciation (or accents of the characters they wrote about).

For example, /ʌ/, normally written ⟨u⟩, is spelled with an ⟨o⟩ in done, some, love, etc., due to Norman spelling conventions which prohibited writing ⟨u⟩ before ⟨m, n, v⟩ due to the graphical confusion that would result. (⟨n, u, v⟩ were written identically with two minims in Norman handwriting; ⟨w⟩ was written as two ⟨u⟩ letters; ⟨m⟩ was written with three minims, hence ⟨mm⟩ looked like ⟨vun, nvu, uvu⟩, etc.). Similarly, spelling conventions also prohibited final ⟨v⟩. Hence the identical spellings of the three different vowel sounds in love, move, and cove are due to ambiguity in the Middle English spelling system, not sound change.

In 1417, Henry V began using English for official correspondence instead of the Latin or French of his predecessors, the latter two languages already having standardised spelling by then. For instance, Latin had one spelling for right (rectus), Old French as used in English law had six and Middle English had 77.^{[citation needed]} English spelling gradually settled into a standardised form too, though the process took some 500 years.^[25]

There was also a series of linguistic sound changes towards the end of the late medieval period, including the Great Vowel Shift, largely responsible for transitioning Middle English into Early Modern English. One such change was the ⟨a⟩ in make, name, and case, for example, changing from a pure vowel to a diphthong. These changes for the most part did not detract from the rule-governed nature of the spelling system; but, in some cases, they introduced confusing inconsistencies, like the well-known example of the many pronunciations of ⟨ough⟩ (tough, through, though, cough, plough, etc.). Most of these changes happened before the arrival of printing in England. However, the arrival of the modern printing press in 1476 in some ways froze phonetic spellings of the time, rather than providing the impetus spelling to realign with ever-changing pronunciations.^[4] Furthermore, the press introduced further inconsistencies, partly because of the use of typesetters trained abroad, particularly in the Low Countries. For example, the ⟨h⟩ in ghost was influenced by Flemish, whereas the word was often previously spelled gost.^[4][26] The addition and deletion of a silent e at the ends of words was also sometimes used to make the right-hand margin line up more neatly^[26] (though many cases of silent e already existed by this time, having been fully pronounced in earlier varieties of Middle English).

To make matters more complex, literary scholars in the 17th century sometimes added in silent letters to words merely to hearken back to their Latin origins, such as the b in debt and doubt and the p in receipt, which, though never pronounced, were inserted during this period. In other instances, scholars even added letters under the mistaken assumption that they were once pronounced or due to mistaken etymologies (such as the relatively recent l in could, meant to mirror the spellings of would and should).

As literacy rose, and by the time dictionaries were introduced in the mid-17th century, the spelling system of English was starting to stabilise. Occasionally (though rarely), deliberate initiatives in favour of one spelling or another succeeded. In the early 19th century, for instance, American lexicographer Noah Webster, who published children's spelling books and Webster's Dictionary, was hugely influential at popularising a small number of spelling conventions that solidified in American English but that did not catch on in British English. By the 19th century, most words in the English language had set spellings. Even today, the orthographies of British, American, and other dialects of English align for the most part. In The Mill on the Floss (1860), English novelist George Eliot satirised the attitude of the English rural gentry of the 1820s towards orthography:

Mr. Tulliver did not willingly write a letter, and found the relation between spoken and written language, briefly known as spelling, one of the most puzzling things in this puzzling world. Nevertheless, like all fervid writing, the task was done in less time than usual, and if the spelling differed from Mrs. Glegg's,–why, she belonged, like himself, to a generation with whom spelling was a matter of private judgment.

The modern English spelling system, with its slightly distinct national variants, spread together with the later-19th-century expansion of public education, which has rigorously reinforced a sense of "right" and "wrong" spelling.

• False etymology
• Spelling bee
• List of English homographs
• The Chaos – a poem by Gerard Nolst Trenité demonstrating the irregularities of English spelling

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