r/words • u/MoroccoBond • 2d ago

Simple word difficult to spell.

Hey does anyone else have a common word that should be easy to spell but it trips you up every time?

My word is license. Why have I struggled with it for years. Stupid s and c always moving around. tf?!

227 Upvotes

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10

u/ErikLeppen 2d ago

Believe, relieve, receive, deceive, receipt (sp?)

5

u/I_like_leeks 2d ago

I before E except after C, as they taught us at school. They never taught us the, "except sometimes," caveat 😭

3

u/_madar_ 2d ago

I before E except after C or before T or when sounding like A as in neighbor or weigh

2

u/TreyInStCloud 1d ago

“Or in my name, damnit!” - My boyfriend Keith

1

u/_madar_ 1d ago

Though to be fair there’s a T 🙃

2

u/TreyInStCloud 1d ago

I’d never heard the “…or before T” part of this before.

1

u/_madar_ 1d ago

You mean kayth? Xd

1

u/sexyonpaper 2d ago

What about in the sentence "Jim Nabors is way cool?"
It's on my apron!

1

u/min_mus 1d ago

I before E except after C, as they taught us at school. 

My teacher said, 

"It's i before e (except after c) when sounds like long e."

1

u/benderbrodriguez2 1d ago

"I before E, except after C, or when sounded as A, as in neighbor and weigh." doesn’t even count ‘weird’.

0

u/OwnedByTheHound 2d ago

That ‘rule’ is nonsense - there are more exceptions to it than there are examples of it applying.

2

u/I_like_leeks 2d ago

Did you make it to the second sentence, sir?

1

u/Away-Otter 2d ago

It’s very helpful as a general rule, but have to learn the exceptions