Rule Breakers: The 3 Patterns Behind Tricky Spellings
The 85 words that don't follow any spelling rule, grouped by the pattern that makes them tricky. Teach the pattern once, recognise it everywhere.
Rule breakers are English words that no spelling rule predicts. Almost all of them fall into three patterns: doubled letters (accommodate, embarrass, occurrence), silent or unexpected vowels (separate, definitely, miniature), and tricky consonants or vowel teams (rhythm, conscience, weird). This page teaches the 3 patterns and shows 85 rule breakers grouped by pattern. Want a memory trick for one specific word? Each example below links to its per-word mnemonic page.
The 3 patterns behind tricky spellings
These are not really “rule” words. They are the words English spelling rules do not predict. Most are loanwords from French, Latin, or Greek that kept their original spelling even when the pronunciation drifted in English. The good news: they fall into three repeatable patterns. Teach the pattern once and a learner can recognise it in any new word they meet. The word list further down this page is grouped by these same three patterns.
Pattern 1: Doubled-letter traps
Doubled-letter traps catch people because we say the word with one of each letter even though the spelling has two. Once you see that accommodate, embarrass, and occurrence all share the same trap (doubled letters that you only hear as single sounds), you can attack them as a group instead of one at a time. The brain learns patterns faster than it learns isolated facts.
Pattern 2: Silent or doubled vowels
Silent-vowel traps catch people because we drop the vowel when we speak the word at normal pace: sep-rate rather than sep-a-rate, which is why separate gets written as seperate. The same trap sits inside definitely (no a anywhere) and miniature (the second i vanishes in speech). Say the word slowly, syllable by syllable, and the hidden vowel reappears.
Pattern 3: Tricky consonants and vowel teams
Consonant-and-vowel-team traps are mostly loanwords where the spelling does not match standard English phonics: rhythm (Greek, no normal vowels), conscience (Latin, silent c), and weird (Old English, flips the usual ie order). These cannot be sounded out, so each one needs its own memory hook.
You will not learn all 85 by heart in one sitting, and you do not need to. Pick the five you misspell most, work through them daily for a week with audio, then add five more. Two weeks of five-minute sessions usually eliminates the worst of the errors.
Examples that follow the rule
| Word | Why it follows the rule |
|---|---|
| necessary | Doubled-letter trap: one c, double s. The shirt mnemonic: one collar, two sleeves. |
| separate | Silent-vowel trap: a in the middle, not e. There is a rat in sepARATe. |
| definitely | Silent-vowel trap: no a anywhere. Two i sounds, both spelled i. |
| accommodate | Doubled-letter trap: double c AND double m. Sound only suggests one of each. |
| occurrence | Doubled-letter trap: double c, double r, plus -ence (not -ance). |
| rhythm | Tricky consonant pattern: no vowels except the y, from Greek rhuthmos. |
| conscience | Tricky pattern: silent c, then -science ending. From Latin conscientia. |
| embarrass | Doubled-letter trap: double r, double s. Most people remember only one. |
Rule breakers: free printable list
85 words to work through. Click Print / Save as PDF for a printer-friendly version, or work through them online with audio.
 litspelling.com |
Audio-first spelling practice online at litspelling.com. Hear every word, then spell it. |
Rule breakers: free printable list85 words grouped by trap type Merged from the Commonly Misspelled Words and Doubled-Letter Traps lists in our spelling app. Sorted alphabetically inside each group. Doubled-letter traps
Silent or doubled vowels
Tricky consonants and vowel teams
Other traps
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Common mistakes to avoid
“neccessary” → “necessary” (one c, double s, not double c)
“seperate” → “separate” (a in the middle, not e)
“definately” → “definitely” (no a anywhere)
“accomodate” → “accommodate” (double c AND double m)
“recieve” → “receive” (ei after c)
“embarass” → “embarrass” (double r and double s)
“occurence” → “occurrence” (double c, double r, then -ence)
“tommorow” → “tomorrow” (one m, double r)
Quick tip: When you doubt a doubled letter, default to TWO of the consonant. The brain underestimates doubled letters more often than it overestimates them.