how to spell: -ck or -ke

howtospell.co.uk/spelling-rul... He was quacking with fear. or He was quaking with fear
In this lesson we're looking at the difference between the -ck and -ke endings, and how it can help not only your spelling but your reading.
Mick Mike
Jack Jake
luck Luke
lick like
back bake
cock coke
whack wake
block bloke

Notice they both have one vowel before the -ck and -ke. But the -ke ending has a long vowel sound because of the magic 'e' silent 'e' at the end. We drop the 'e' with -ing and still maintain the long sound: liking, baking, making

The -ck ending indicates a short vowel sound: Mick, lick. It can be found in the middle of words: jacket, whacking, pocket, blockage, crackers, pucker

In quack and quake you can see two vowels together. In English words Q always comes with U so classed as one consonant -qu-

Let's look at those sentences from the beginning again, He was quacking was fear. He was quaking with fear. Remember -ck indicates a short vowel sound - quacking with fear. Quack! Quack!

It should be "quaking with fear" We have quake drop the 'e' add ing and it maintains the long vowel sound.
(Check out my Drop the 'e' lesson and Silent 'e' Magic 'e' lesson.)

Look at these pause then say

Stop licking the ice-cream
Stop liking ice-cream

Mike's lovely.
Mick's lovely.

I was baking a cake for Luke - long sounds
I was backing the car up and whacked a concrete block. - short sounds

So knowing all this not only helps your spelling but reading too.

If you'd like to understand more about spelling rules then check out my Spelling Rules Workbook - a step-by-step guide to the rules of spelling available on amazon and my website www.howtospell.co.uk

That's it for now. Thanks for watching and see you in the next lesson