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These are general rules which apply regardless of the country or dialect, along with a few examples and exceptions.
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Rule
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Examples
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Exceptions
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i before e
Except after c,
Or when sounded as a
As in neighing and weigh.
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believe, relief, priest, friend, field
receive, perceive, ceiling
weight, freight, beige, neigh, vein
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seize, weird, heir, caffeine, foreign, protein, reign, sovereign, leisure, either, neither, height, sleight, forfeit, heifer
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Final consonants of verbs (EXCEPT h, w, x or y) are doubled before a suffix which begins with a vowel
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pat/patted/patting, big/bigger/biggest, occur/occurred/occurring, admit/admitted/admitting, cut/cuttable
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show/showed/showing, vex/vexed/vexing, toy/toyed/toying, bus/bused/busing, prefer/preference, confer/conference
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Final consonants of verbs are NOT doubled before suffixes when the word ends in more than one consonant
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frown/frowned/frowning, help/helped/helping, match/matched/matching
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Final consonants of verbs are also NOT doubled when the preceding vowel is unstressed (EXCEPT in the case of l in Britain and Canada)
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enter/entered/entering, visit/visited/visiting, benefit/benefited/benefiting, devil/devilish, cancel/cancelled/cancelling (Br./Can.)
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handicap/handicapped/handicapping, kidnap/kidnapped/kidnapping, focus/focussed/focussing (can be spelled with single or double s), worship/worshipped/worshipping (can be spelled with single or double p)
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Final consonants of verbs are also NOT doubled when the preceding vowel sound is spelled with 2 vowels
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shout/shouted/shouting, dread/dreaded/dreading, reveal/revealed/revealing
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Verbs ending in a vowel then -c, add a k before suffixes like -ed, -ing and -er
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mimic/mimicked/mimicking, frolic/frolicked/frolicking, picnic/picnicked/picnicker
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Verbs ending in an unpronounced -e, keep the e before a suffix which begins with a consonant
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care/careful, time/timeless, appease/appeasement, like/likeness
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true/truly, whole/wholly, due/duly, argue/argument, awe/awful, nine/ninth, wise/wisdom
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Verbs ending in an unpronounced -e, drop the e before a suffix which begins with a vowel
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bake/baking, guide/guidance, craze/crazy, note/notable, lustre/lustrous, creative/creativity
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canoeing, hoeing, shoeing, singeing, dyeing,
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Words ending in a consonant then -y change the y to i before a suffix (UNLESS the suffix starts with i)
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beauty/beautiful, defy/defiance, merry/merrier, heavy/heaviness, salary/salaried
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cry/crying, study/studying
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Words ending in a vowel then -y, keep the y before a suffix
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obey/obeying, gay/gayest, journey/journeying, annoy/annoyance, day/daytime
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Verbs ending in -ie, change the ie to y before adding -ing
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tie/tied/tying, die/died/dying
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Nouns ending in a soft -ce or -ge, keep the e before the suffixes -able and -ous
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peace/peaceable, notice/noticeable, courage/courageous
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Nouns ending in -s, -z, -x, -sh or -ch, add -es for plural, not just -s
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glass/glasses, buzz/buzzes, box/boxes, fez/fezes, bush/bushes, switch/switches
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quiz/quizzes
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Nouns ending in -o, add -es for plural, not just -s
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potato/potatoes, echo/echoes, tomato/tomatoes, hero/heroes
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studios, pianos, radios, solos, zoos, kangaroos
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Nouns ending in -y, change the y to i and add -es for plural (EXCEPT if preceded by e)
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baby/babies, poppy/poppies, spy/spies, try/tries
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key/keys, monkey/monkeys, alley/alleys, valley/valleys, chimney/chimneys
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Nouns ending in -f or -fe, change the f to v and add -es for plural (EXCEPT if ending in "-ff")
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thief/thieves, wolf/wolves, knife/knives, elf/elves
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chiefs, handkerchiefs, beliefs, oafs, roofs, proofs, safes
sheriffs, plaintiffs, staffs, tariffs
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Nouns ending in -is change to -es for plural
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crisis/crises, analysis/analyses, thesis/theses, synopsis/synopses
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Full becomes -ful when added to the end of a word
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spoon/spoonful, wish/wishful
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All becomes al- and well becomes wel- when added to the start of word
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also, already, although, altogether
welcome, welfare
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Verbs ending in the sound -cede are spelled -cede apart from 4 exceptions
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intercede, accede, concede, precede, recede, secede
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succeed, exceed, proceed, supersede
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