Moderate and minor spelling problems

Exceptions to the patterns for:

consonants   c/k,  f,   g,  j,   m,  n,   r,  t, w  and se for
Z-sound, long vowels a-e, i-e, u-e, ou and the blends ar and air,
short vowels a, e, i, o and u, endings and prefixes and assorted minor irregularities

The spelling of the C/K-sound is governed by 10 different rules.
They all have some exceptions   (at least 104 between them).

1.)  8 words do not use k for the K-sound before e or i (like keep, kept, kid):
         ache, architect, bronchial, chemical,  orchestra, orchid,  scheme, quay;

2.) 18 words do not use c before a, o and u, as cat, cod and cup do):
         anchor, chameleon chaos, character, chasm, cholesterol, chorus,
         mechanical,  psychological,  school;                
         kaleidoscope, kangaroo, karate, kayak;
         bouquet, queue, quoit, turquoise.

3.)  6 words do not use ck after a short vowel, at the end of a short word,
         like  deck and duck:  mac, sac,  rec,   trek,  yak,   cheque.

4.)  5 words do not use k after a long vowel, as in 'leak' or 'peek':
         antique,   boutique,   technique,   unique,   opaque.

5.)  8 words do not spell the final K-sound with c at the end of multi-
         syllable words, (e.g. comic, maniac):
         attack,  barrack,  ransack,  rucksack,  shuttlecock, 
         kayak, anorak, stomach.

6.)  10 words do not use just c  before a consonant, (e.g. clip, crane, cactus):
         chlorine, Christmas, chrome, chrysalis, chrysanthemum, technical,
         cockney, cocktail,    mackerel [macrel], chocolate [choclat].

7.)  10 words do not use k  after a consonant, (e.g. ankle, dark,  dusk):
         disc,   mollusc, circle, uncle ;
           conquer, marquee,  mosquito,   mosque, picturesque ;  monarch.

8.)  21 words do not use ck after a short, stressed medial vowel
         (e.g. racket, cricket, rocket, bucket):
         crocodile, decade, documents, executive, recognise, record, second,
         secular, vacuum;      
         accurate, occupy, piccolo, soccer, succulent, tobacco;
         echo, mechanism;   chequered, lacquer,  liquor.

9.)  4 words do not spell the KW-sound with qu as in queen:
         acquaint,   acquire,   acquit,     choir.

10.) 14 words do not spell the KS-sound simply with x (e.g. exit, tax, taxi).
          accelerate, accent, accept, access, eccentric, success, succeed,   accident;        
         exceed, excellent, except, excess, excite;       exhibition.

The F-sound (fluff) is spelt unpredictably in 43 words.

Hard G-sound

* The ue endings here serve to indicate a long vowel before g,
   as well as indicating a hard g.

The J-sound is spelt unpredictably before  e, i  or y..
     At the end and in the middle of words, it is spelt almost invariably
as in cage, agent and engine, but this pattern has 10 exceptions too.

The M-sound (mum) has 17 unpredictable spellings.

The N-sound (nun) has 34 unpredictable spellings.

*  In some accents 'genuine' is pronounced with a long IE-sound, in all the words
    the -e after the final n serves no function.

The R-sound (rat) has 26 exceptions.

The T-sound (tot) has 5  clearly exceptional spellings:
                                     debt, doubt, subtle, pterodactyl, two.

Longer words ending with a T-sound, are spelt predominantly –ate,
irrespective of pronunciation (e.g. calculate, climate). This creates
reading problems in 24 words, like 'to separate into separate [separat] groups'.
 11 words do not have –ate endings.

The W-sound (wet) as a consonant has 33 unpredictable spellings.

The Z-sound occurs chiefly at or near the end of words and is spelt mainly –se,
     or with s followed by another vowel, (e.g. cheese, absorb,)
       but some words do not follow this pattern.

The 'se / s for z' pattern has been slightly diluted by the use of the suffix
 -ize in America (UK: 'idolise, legalise' - US: 'idolize, legalize').

The few words which start with a Z-sound use z, except 'xylophone':
zany, zap, zeal, zebra, zenith,  zero, zest,  zigzag, zinc,  zip,  zodiac, zone,  zoo,  zoom,  Zulu.

Exceptions to the patterns of long vowels  a-e,  i-e,  u-e,  ou and ar and air

The a-e pattern, as in cake (a with magic e) is used by 338 common English words,
                             but only 10 of those use the syllable –ane and 13 –ale, in contrast to
                             38 –ain and 22 –ail.    Another 53 words do not use the a-e pattern either.

The stressed ending -ay, is used in 35 common words: array, astray, away, bay, betray, bray, clay, day, decay, delay, dismay, display, essay, fray, Friday, gay, hay, lay, may, midday, okay, pay, play, pray, ray, say, slay, spray, stay, stray, Sunday, sway, today, tray, way.

19 words disobey the –ay pattern.

The i-e pattern (of bite)  is  disobeyed by 80 words.

*With more than one pronunciation

In word endings, the IE-sound is completely unpredictable.

The u-e pattern (cube, tube, tune) is not followed by 23 words.

The  -ue ending is totally unpredictable: 20 words use -ue, but 22 do not.

The pattern of out  is not used in 23 words.

The AR-sound is spelt predominantly, as in arm, art and  car.
In US English this spelling has just 4 exceptions: are, heart, hearth, sergeant.
In standard UK English another 88 words are pronounced with the same sound as arm, although they do not contain the ar grapheme. For learners of standard UK English the spellings of the following words are unpredictable.

     + The words 'promenade' and 'vase' tend to be pronounced with an AY-sound in the US, as the spelling suggests - (like 'lemonade'). In UK English 'promenade' has an AY-sound only when used as a verb, but an AR/AH-sound when used as a noun.
     * The word mass has two different sounds in some UK accents (with ah for mass as a church service, but ordinary a when meaning amount, or plenty).

The spelling of the AIR-sound unpredictable:
31 words spell it with are, or with ar followed by another vowel (e.g Mary),
27 words spell it differently.

  * 'Tear' has 2 different pronunciations (teer and tair).

Unpredictable spellings of short vowels a, e, i, o and u.

The short E-sound of  'bed' is not spelt with e in 64 words.

bread	endeavour	measure	against	jealous*	any*
breadth	feather	read	answer	meadow*	many*
breakfast	head	realm	every	peasant*
breast	health	spread	friend	pheasant*	heifer*
breath	heather	stealthy	leisure +	pleasant*	bury*
cleanliness	heaven	sweat	lieutenant +	ready*
cleanse	heavy	thread	said	steady*	jeopardy*
dead	instead	threat	says	weapon*	leopard*
deaf	lead	treacherous	Wednesday	zealous*
dealt	leant	treadmill		already*
death	leapt	treasure		* Apart from having unpredictable vowels, these words are also without doubled consonants.
dread	leather	wealth
dreamt	meant	weather

+ 'Lieutenant' is pronounced [leftennant] in the UK and [lutenant] in the US,

 The short I-Sound of 'bit'  is not spelt with i in 53 words.

                                                             * With missing double consonants

The short O-sound of 'hot' is not spelt o in 36 words.