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6th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 12 of 17

Spelling: Endings and Sound-Alikes

-ance or -ence, doubling and homophones

What your child practices

Children practice US spelling: when to double a final consonant, -ance and -ence, -cious and -tious, words that break i before e, and commonly confused words such as their, there and they're.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 6L2 · spelling correctly with suffix rules, tricky patterns and commonly confused words

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Double the final consonant when the last syllable is stressed and ends in one vowel plus one consonant: forget → forgetting.
  2. Keep the e after soft c or g before -able: change → changeable.
  3. Learn tricky words by their parts: em-bar-rass has two r’s and two s’s.

Example: Add -ing to “forget.” Which spelling is correct? The stress is on “get,” which ends in one vowel plus t. Double the t. Answer: forgetting

Spelling: Endings and Sound-Alikes in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 12 of 17 in 6th grade English Language Arts, after Media Techniques and before Plan & Organize Writing.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which word is spelled correctly?

    • attendence
    • atendance
    • attendance
    • attendanse

  2. Question 2

    Add -ly to “basic.” Which spelling is correct?

    • basiclly
    • basicaly
    • basicly
    • basically

  3. Question 3

    Add -ous to “courage.” Which spelling is correct?

    • courageus
    • couragious
    • courageous
    • couragous

  4. Question 4

    Which word is spelled correctly?

    • weird
    • wierd
    • wiered
    • weerd

  5. Question 5

    Which word is spelled correctly?

    • appearance
    • apearance
    • appearence
    • appearanse

  6. Question 6

    Add -ence to “refer.” Which spelling is correct?

    • reference
    • referance
    • refference
    • referrence

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