Myth busting - The best way to spell a word is “Sound it Out”. This is a myth that I will bust in this blog!
By the way It’s also a Myth that Good Readers Don’t Struggle With Spelling
Have you ever noticed that often when your child is sounding out a word they do not actually spell it correctly even though they really tried to sound it out. Maybe this happens to you as well.
Sometimes even people who are good readers struggle to become good spellers. This is very common. You may have read the word hundreds of times but you still do not know how to spell it. Perhaps you have been told over and over again to “sound it out,” yet spelling continues to be a frustrating struggle.
Here’s the truth that most people do not realize:
The best way to spell a word is not always to sound it out.
Sounds are certainly an important part of English spelling. But sounds are not the foundation of English spelling. Meaning is.
When you understand how English words are built and how their parts carry meaning, spelling stops being a giant memory test.
Instead of trying to memorize a long string of letters, you can begin to understand why a word is spelled the way it is.
And that understanding can help with more than spelling. It can support reading, vocabulary, and comprehension, too.
In this post, I’ll explain why “sound it out” doesn’t work very well and really breaks down as words become more complicated. I’ll show you what meaning has to do with spelling, why multisyllable words are particularly challenging, and what you must understand to become a more confident reader and speller.
Ready? Let’s dig into it.
Why Is It So Easy to Believe That Spelling Is All About Sounds?
It is what most people are taught. You learned this in school. Everybody did. Almost all reading curriculums are based on sounds first. And of course learning the names and sounds of the letters is very important. But they actually are not the only important thing to learn about spelling.
Reading and spelling are taught as though sounding out should be the primary strategy for everything. This seems to make sense when children are in 1st and 2nd grade because most of the words they want to spell are short, one-syllable words. Words like cat, jump, stop, and run. These words are relatively straightforward to spell from their sounds.
So a child learns an understandable lesson:
If I want to spell a word, I listen to the sounds and write the letters that represent those sounds.
But right from the start there are already problems. The high frequency words do not always follow the “sound it out rules”. Then the children are told that those words are just “rule breakers” and they will have to memorize the hard part.
For someone who has a good visual memory this seems to be easy but for some children all this rote memory is way too much.
There is nothing to make the memory stick. There is nothing to understand - it just has to be memorized. And there are hundreds of things to memorize. It can be an impossible task.
Many people struggle with spelling their entire lives. Even people who read well and are very successful in life can find all that memorizing of spelling to be impossible.
They may know the word. They may know what it means. They can easily read it. But when they have to write it, they aren't sure of some of the letters.
And unfortunately, people are often judged by their spelling.
A child who struggles with spelling can begin to feel like they aren't smart. As they get older, spelling difficulties can affect confidence, schoolwork, and even the kinds of jobs they feel comfortable pursuing.
But the problem isn't that poor spellers are not smart.
The problem may be that they have been taught to rely on a strategy that doesn't explain how English spelling actually works.
When “Sound It Out” Stops Working
Think about the word stopped.
A young child who is sounding out this word would spell it <stopt>.
And that makes perfect sense based on the sounds.
The ending <-ed> in <stopped> sounds like /t/.
So why don't we spell it <stopt>?
Because spelling is telling us something that sound alone cannot tell us.
The suffix -ed carries meaning. It tells us that something happened in the past.
"Stopped" means that the stopping already happened.
And we spell that past-tense suffix <-ed>, even though in this particular word it sounds like /t/.
In fact, -ed can make three different sounds in English.
That's a pretty big problem if you have been told that the sound is always the key to spelling.
But it makes much more sense when you understand that the spelling is connected to meaning.
This is one of the reasons I want all of my students to understand instead of simply memorizing words or listening for individual sounds.
When you understand the structure of a word, you have something meaningful to remember.
And that's much more powerful than trying to memorize a random string of letters.
Memorizing is hard but when something makes sense and we understand then we automatically remember.
English Spelling Is More Interesting Than You May Think
Sounds are part of English spelling. An important part.
But they are only part of the story. They aren’t even the most important part. English spelling is based on meaning.
Another important factor is accent.
And there are two different ways I use that word.
First, people from different parts of the country—or different parts of the English-speaking world—may pronounce words differently. You might say a word a little differently than I do, but we still spell the word the same way because we mean the same thing.
Second, we use accent to talk about which syllables in a word receive emphasis. That syllable is a little louder than the others.
This becomes particularly important as words get longer.
In an accented syllable, the vowel usually makes the sound you expect. That's one reason one-syllable words tend to be easier to sound out. One syllable words are accented and the vowel is making the sound you would expect.
But in an unaccented syllable, vowels can become much less clear.
The vowel sound in an unaccented syllable makes a "schwa sound".
A schwa is sometimes described as a “lazy” vowel sound. It can sound a lot like a short u, a short i, or may be difficult to hear clearly at all.
And this is a big problem because
All five vowel letters can represent a schwa sound.
So if you are trying to spell a word entirely by listening to its sounds, you will get stuck when you hear that schwa sound.
Take the word excavation for example.
The first <a> in excavation has a sound that is much like a short /u/ sound.
So how would you know which vowel to write if you were relying only on the sound?
You wouldn't.
And that's not the only challenge. If you did not already know better you might reasonably try to spell the sounds at the end <shun>.
But what if you understood the word instead?
Excavation can be understood as:
ex + cave /+ ate/ + ion--> excavation
The base is <cave>. And the word has 1 prefix and 2 suffixes. When we add the suffixes that begin with vowels we drop the silent e's.
A cave is a hollowed-out place in the earth.
Now the spelling of excavation isn't just a ten-letter string you have to sound out and memorize the hard parts.
You understand how the word is built.
You understand its meaning.
You can connect it to the word cave.
Now you know that even though the 2nd vowel sounds like a short /u/ it is an <a> because cave is spelled with an <a>.
And that gives your brain something meaningful to hold onto.
Even though the vowel in the unaccented 2nd syllable is difficult to hear, you can still know what to write because you understand the structure and meaning of the word.
That's the difference between memorizing spelling and understanding spelling.
And that is not all. When you understand this you can learn about a whole family of words and you can remember how to spell them because all of the words in the family have the same base and that base is always spelled <cave> no matter what sound the letters are making. So now you can spell "cavity" and "cavern" as well. ( I am not taking time here to explain everything but these words are dropping the silent e in cave because the suffixes begin with vowels.)
Understanding will make bigger words easier to read, spell and remember.
This becomes especially important as children move beyond the short, simple words of early reading in 1st and 2nd grade.
Many of the words that children encounter in academic subjects are multisyllable words. In fact, about 60% of English comes from the Latin language and have multiple syllables.
Those words can be pretty much impossible to spell if your only strategy is to listen to the sounds.
But it is not impossible to learn to spell these words if you understand that they are built from meaningful parts.
One of those meaningful parts is the base.
We often hear teachers talk about prefixes and suffixes, but bases don't always receive the same attention.
I think base words deserve much more attention.
Consider the Latin base <tract>.
<tract> is not a word all by itself but it is the Latin base for many words.
Once you understand that base, you can begin to connect it to words such as:
tractor
traction
attractive
When you learn that the base <tract> means to pull or draw suddenly all of these seemingly unrelated words have more meaning and you realize they are not unrelated at all.
You're seeing relationships between words.
And as those relationships become clearer, your vocabulary will grow.
You may encounter a new word and recognize part of it. You may be able to connect that word to something you already know. You may even be able to figure out some of its meaning without immediately reaching for a dictionary.
That's one of the beautiful things that happens when you begin to notice and understand how English actually works.
Your vocabulary, spelling, reading, fluency and comprehension can all benefit from that understanding.
What is different about what I do at Defeating Dyslexia with Darci?
Trying to spell by memorizing the spelling of all the words on your spelling list is not a very helpful strategy. It would be impossible to memorize the spelling of every English word.
Instead, we learn to understand how words are formed.
That means learning about:
base words
prefixes
suffixes
syllables
accents
schwa sounds
and the ways these pieces work together
It also means learning 3 spelling rules that are genuinely useful.
There are only three important spelling rules that need to be learned. They are suffixing rules. The names of these rules are:
Dropping. Doubling. Changing.
These rules teach what happens when suffixes are added to words. They are actual rules that you will not need to learn exceptions for.
Of course, students still need to learn letter names and sounds. Those matter.
But we don't stop there.
We go beyond sounds so that students can begin to understand the structure and foundation of the English language. The foundation of English spelling is meaningful word parts (morphology) not sounds.
And this is particularly valuable for students with dyslexia who have spent years working on phonics and never making very much progress. If the hardest part for them is hearing all the sounds in a word, and if memorizing things is difficult for them why are we focusing on that as the main way to teach those students to read?
My goal is to help students understand the meaning and structure of the English language because when we understand something it is much easier to remember it.
How I Help Students Become Better Spellers at Defeating Dyslexia With Darci.
In my online reading tutoring, I work with students of all ages to build that deeper understanding of the English language.
We absolutely learn letter names and sounds. But we also learn about bases, prefixes, suffixes, syllables, and the patterns that change the way words sound but don’t change the way they are spelled.
I don't want a student to simply memorize a word today and forget it next week. You know that is what happens when students study for spelling tests.
I want them to understand enough about the word that they have a reason to remember it.
That takes time.
I can't download an understanding of the English language into someone's brain instantly.
But with consistent instruction and practice, students can make meaningful progress.
I generally require that students meet with me at least twice a week. Some families choose to meet more often when their schedule and budget allow.
The reason for that consistency is simple: understanding develops over time.
And when students begin to understand the language instead of constantly trying to memorize it, something exciting happens.
Spelling improves.
Reading improves.
Comprehension improves.
Vocabulary grows.
And perhaps just as importantly, a student can begin to feel differently about themselves.
Confidence increases.
Instead of thinking, “I'm just bad at spelling,” they can begin thinking, “Oh! I understand why this word is spelled this way.”
That's a very different experience.
I've Seen This Work for Both Children and Adults
You don't have to take my word for it. Here are a couple of reviews from students and families I've worked with.
“Defeating dyslexia with Darci is one of the best teachers I've ever experienced. Her knowledge of the English language is incredible. Going all the way back to the beginning building blocks. Like understanding how letters interact with one another to make a word. Being able learn the rules of the English language that allow you to build words and spell them correctly. Understanding prefixes, suffixes, vowel teams, and open and closed syllables. Made a huge difference in my spelling and reading. I'm 33 years old, and I've struggled with spelling my whole life. Being able to go back to the beginning and understand the rules of the English language really helps. So, regardless if you're young or old, I Strongly recommend.”
This review is especially meaningful because it comes from an adult who had struggled with spelling for his entire life. Learning to understand the building blocks and structure of English made a difference in both his spelling and reading.
And this approach isn't just helpful for adults. Here's what one parent shared after returning for spelling help several years after we first worked together on reading:
“We initially met and used Darci for reading help for our son who has dyslexia. She was absolutely amazing. Now we are back with Darci for help with spelling (4.5 yrs later) as it was still a struggle even though his reading has greatly improved. We have seen some really solid progress in only 5 months! Plus our son looks forward to his time with Darci twice a week! Would highly recommend her! She is fantastic and an answer to prayer!”
— Beth Anderson
“Isn't This Too Complicated for a Young Child?”
You might be wondering if this is too complicated especially if your child is in first grade or is just beginning to learn to read.
It can sound complicated but understanding these concepts is not too complicated for young children.
Think about a preschooler who says: “I runned all the way!”
That child has figured out something important about English.
They understand the suffix <-ed> is connected to the past tense. They know exactly what it means. They have applied this regular suffixing convention to an irregular verb.
It's evidence that the child is noticing how our language works.
We can build on that natural understanding. Even though they will have to learn that in the case of run we say “ran” instead of “runned” it is actually even more natural to learn that “stopped” is spelled with <-ed>, even though the ending sounds like /t/.
And this way of thinking can also make those tricky high-frequency words much more understandable.
I will give an example. Think about the word done.
If a child is told to "sound it out", they might reasonably think it should be spelled something like <dun>.
Usually they're told, “No, this is one of those crazy English words you just have to memorize.”
(Think about the message that children often get that English is crazy and doesn’t make sense. This message is not helpful - but maybe that is a blog for another time.)
But what if instead the child learns that “do” is the base of "done" and that “does”, and “doesn't” are related words?
Now the spelling of “done” isn't random at all . Naturally it is spelled with an <o> because the base word “do” is spelled with an <o>. “Does” and “doesn’t” are also spelled with an <o> because they are all related to the word “do”.
Even though none of these words sound like they have an <o> they are spelled with <o> because we are spelling meaning not merely sounds. All of these words are related in meaning to the word “do” and therefore the spelling is also the same.
It is easy to remember how to spell “do” and it is easy to remember that “done”, “does”, and “doesn’t” are related in meaning to “do”. That makes it much easier to remember how to spell all of these words. We are not relying on “sounding it out “, we are relying on meaning and understanding.
Of course, English has irregularities. But instead of teaching children that every difficult word is simply an exception that must be memorized, we can help them look for the meaningful structure in the word. Once they understand something meaningful they will automatically remember without having to work so hard at it.
Even if you have always believed that you were terrible at spelling you can become better at spelling.
If you've spent years thinking that you or your child just simply have a bad memory for spelling, I want you to know that you can become much better at spelling.
Once you understand some foundational things about the English language you will be able to apply these concepts to your spelling.
Sounding words out can be useful and phonics is important. But it is only one part of the picture.
English spelling is bigger than sounds alone.
When you begin to understand how meaningful parts of words and sounds work together, spellings that once seemed impossible can start to make sense.
And when something makes sense, you don't have to rely on rote memorization alone in order to remember.
You have a reason to remember it. There is meaning that provides a hook for your memory to hang on. When we understand things it is easier to remember them.
The Bottom Line is that telling children the best way to spell something is to “sound it out” is a myth.
The truth is that sounds matter, but they are not the whole story.
The foundation of English spelling is meaning.
When students understand how words are built and how their parts relate to meaning, they can begin to move away from memorizing endless strings of letters.
They can develop a growing understanding of how English behaves.
That understanding can support spelling—but it doesn't stop there.
It can also help reading, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension.
And for a person who has spent years believing, “I'm just not good at spelling,” that new understanding can change much more than a spelling test.
It can change how they see themselves as a learner.
It can help their confidence grow.
Ready to Go Beyond “Sound It Out”?
If you or your child is struggling with spelling and you want a deeper understanding of how the English language actually works, online reading tutoring can help.
In my tutoring, we don't simply memorize words and hope they stick. We work toward understanding the structure of English so that spelling becomes something you can understand and remember, rather than an endless list of letters to memorize.
I generally require that my students meet with me twice a week. This kind of understanding takes time to develop. But with consistent instruction and practice, real progress is possible.
If you're ready to take the next step to build a stronger foundation in reading and spelling, click here to make an appointment for a free 20 minute consultation with me.
Let's talk about your needs and find a tutoring schedule that works for you.
You don't have to memorize your way through spelling forever.
You can learn to understand it. Once you understand remembering will be much easier.
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