Spelling Patterns Forge
English spelling is not chaos — it is a code of grapheme-phoneme correspondences. Learn each one the sound-first way: HEAR the sound, SAY it aloud, TAP its phonemes, BUILD with letter tiles, WRITE it from memory. 38 patterns. The complete code. Free, no login, forever.
The Five-Step Sound-First Method
This is the Orton-Gillingham drill cycle — the same sequence used in $1,200-per-year clinical reading intervention, now digitized and free for every learner. Each step is interactive inside the Forge. Click HEAR to animate the mouth. Click TAP to mark each phoneme. Build shows the letter tiles. Write closes the orthographic mapping loop.
The Three Core Spelling Rules
Short vowel + /k/ at the end of a one-syllable word = always ck. back, duck, trick, block, stuck. Never just ‘k’ in that position.
F, L, S (and Z) double after a short vowel in a one-syllable word: off, bell, class, buzz. The rule name spells itself — fl-o-ss.
Vowel + Consonant + silent e = long vowel. cake, bike, note, tune. The e is silent but ‘reaches back’ to make the vowel say its name.
“GENO, what is the FLOSS rule?” · “Why does ‘have’ end in silent e if the vowel isn’t long?” · “Walk me through the sound-first method.” · “What are all the ways to spell the /k/ sound?”