how to spell: -le patterns and rules

Another spelling video from howtospell.co.uk

Words like table, wobble, purple, apple, beetle , kettle, trifle, shuffle, dazzle, tickle, sprinkle, castle...

Do you know why we spell some of these with a single letter before the -le and some with double letters before the -le like: title / little, idle / middle, beetle / settle, trifle / shuffle, table / apple.


We double up the letters after a short vowel sound. Let's look at beetle and settle.

beetle has two vowels and is a long vowel sound while settle is a short vowel sound.

Can you remember what vowels are?

a.e.i.o.u and these can make long and short vowel sounds.

Listen to the difference between: table and apple; title and little; idle and middle. All have single vowels but one is a long vowel sound and the other short.

table, title, idle are long vowel sounds and called diphthongs which are two vowels made into one long vowel sound by the movement of the tongue.

We also have the long 'ee' sound in beetle, steeple, wheedle, needle,

All these long vowel sounds have one consonant + -le as in the patterns -tle, -ble, ple, fle...

We have the short vowel sounds in: little, middle, settle, shuffle, apple so we double up the consonant before the -le and have the patterns: -ddle, -ttle, -ffle, -pple, -zzle...

Not many people know this rule. Most good spellers know these common spellings and can see the letter patterns in them. But it's always great to know why spelling is the way it is, and helps with the questions and frustrations about spelling.

But this doubling up rule is used in other spelling rules with one vowel, one syllable, one consonant - sit sitting, put- putting.Check out my doubling up 1:1:1 rule video

Let's have a look at the difference between these sounds and spellings.
You need to look carefully and notice the patterns. But don't get too stressed about the sound if you can;t hear the differences whether it's a short or long vowel sound.

table, bible (long)
bubble, wobble (short)

title, beetle
bottle, little

idle cradle
middle fiddle


bugle,
struggle, giggle
single angle (two consonants)

purple (long but with two consonants)
apple short

trifle
shuffle


look at these
tickle
tackle
chuckle
pickle
we add the c to the k when it's a short vowel sound

Note that no letters are doubled if there are two consonants before - le: ankle, sprinkle, stumble,
bundle, gargle, bangle, bungle...


Let's look at the -stle letter pattern
**castle, wrestle, whistle, bristle (the t is silent
not castill bristol but silent t and a silent w and silent t in wrestle)

If you'd like to improve spelling using letter patterns and sounds
then visit my website www.howtospell.co.uk and
check out my Spelling Patterns and Pronunciation Masterclass
- it's a unique course

and also more on the history of -le and The reasons why English spelling is so weird and wonderful on the website too. Loads of goodies


Thanks for taking the time to listen to this and see you in the next video.