Children often struggle with the spelling of confusing word pairs. The confusion can arise because the words are homophones, or because they are spelled similarly, or both. A previous post, Confusing Word Pairs, offered suggestions to help your child understand the differences in meaning between similar words, but spelling them can still be a challenge. There are creative ways you can help your child remember which word is which when it comes to spelling by using association.
Example
A frequently used example is the spelling of principle and principal.
A principle is a rule. --- A principal is the head of a school, and your pal.
This example associates the spelling of principal with the word pal.
Associations
When coming up with ways to help your child remember spellings through association, look for words within words, letters that could stand for words, or anything that you think would help your child. Once you see the following examples, you should be able to create spelling associations for words that your child finds tricky.
More Examples
peace: opposite of war. --- piece: a portion (like a slice of pie)
desert: a geographical area --- dessert: food, usually sweet (dessert has an extra S for sweet)
stationary: in a fixed position (a for always the same position) --- stationery: paper to write on (e for easy to write on)
loose: not tight --- lose: to misplace; to be defeated (lose an O to spell lose)
passed: past tense of pass --- past: an earlier time ( past ends in T for time)
Be Creative
As you can see from the examples, you can be as creative as you want. You should also encourage your child to help create associations because it is fun, and children are more likely to remember spellings when they help create the associations.
About Laura Payne
A self-confessed language nerd, Laura Payne is the mother of two boys, and she is a part-time English teacher. She has also done freelance writing about several topics including the structure and grammar of English.
