Hidden vowels and double letters for 11 plus English

Long words hide two kinds of letter. First, vowels that vanish when you speak quickly: different, interest, chocolate. Second, double letters you cannot hear: tomorrow, embarrass, accommodate, occasion. The trick for both is a spelling voice. Say the word slowly, the way it is written. Dif, fer, ent. In, ter, est. It sounds odd, and that is why it works. Say it in a spelling voice.

Back to tomorrow, in a spelling voice: to, mor, row. One m, and two r's. Now a longer one: accommodate. Ac, com, mo, date. Two c's, and two m's. A trick: accommodate has room for both.

The trap is a letter you cannot hear. Said quickly, embarrass sounds the same with one r. So embarass looks nearly right, and it is wrong: two r's, two s's. Interest loses its first e the same way.

• 5.1Tricky words to learnLearn it in parts, and give it a trick
• 5.2HomophonesExpand it, then check the meaning
• 5.3Adding prefixes and suffixesLook at the root before you add
• 5.4Silent lettersLearn the pairs, and find a word that says it
• 5.6ie or ei, and other rules that bendRule first, then the words that bend it

Every 11 plus English topic