Spelling rule
I before e, except after c
The answer
For the long e sound, use ie in most words (field, chief) and ei right after c (receive, ceiling). When the sound is long a, use ei (eight, vein). Our lexicon has 60 words that follow this and 7 that break it, such as either, neither, leisure.
When does the rule apply?
The rhyme fails often enough that some teachers drop it, but our data says it is worth keeping with one fix: apply it only to the long e sound. Restricted that way, ie wins easily, and the ei-after-c words come from a small set of roots (ceive, ceiling). The long a words (weigh, reign, sleigh) are a separate group, the "or when sounding like a" line of the longer rhyme. The true exceptions fit in one short table.
Words that follow the rule
ie for long e
| Word | Why | Readable after |
|---|---|---|
| brief | ie says long e | not taught |
| field | ie says long e | not taught |
| piece | ie says long e | not taught |
| movie | ie says long e | not taught |
| series | ie says long e | not taught |
| achieve | ie says long e | not taught |
| believe | ie says long e | not taught |
| chief | ie says long e | not taught |
| grief | ie says long e | not taught |
| thief | ie says long e | not taught |
| yield | ie says long e | not taught |
| priest | ie says long e | not taught |
| thieve | ie says long e | not taught |
| belief | ie says long e | not taught |
| cookie | ie says long e | not taught |
| diesel | ie says long e | not taught |
| relief | ie says long e | not taught |
| queries | ie says long e | not taught |
| relieve | ie says long e | not taught |
| relieves | ie says long e | not taught |
| retrieve | ie says long e | not taught |
| retrieved | ie says long e | not taught |
| believer | ie says long e | not taught |
| medieval | ie says long e | not taught |
| retrieval | ie says long e | not taught |
| retrieving | ie says long e | not taught |
| believable | ie says long e | not taught |
| ambiguities | ie says long e | not taught |
| unbelievably | ie says long e | not taught |
| mien | ie says long e | not taught |
| tier | ie says long e | not taught |
| fiend | ie says long e | not taught |
| niece | ie says long e | not taught |
| siege | ie says long e | not taught |
| wield | ie says long e | not taught |
| frieze | ie says long e | not taught |
| grieve | ie says long e | not taught |
| shield | ie says long e | not taught |
| shriek | ie says long e | not taught |
ei after c
| Word | Why | Readable after |
|---|---|---|
| receive | ei after c | not taught |
| ceiling | ei after c | not taught |
| conceive | ei after c | not taught |
| perceive | ei after c | not taught |
| conceivably | ei after c | not taught |
ei for long a (eight, vein)
| Word | Why | Readable after |
|---|---|---|
| eight | eigh says long a | Lesson 114 |
| weight | eigh says long a | Lesson 114 |
| vein | ei says long a | Lesson 114 |
| reign | ei says long a | Lesson 118 |
| weigh | eigh says long a | Lesson 114 |
| eighth | eigh says long a | Lesson 114 |
| eighteen | eigh says long a | Lesson 114 |
| rein | ei says long a | Lesson 114 |
| veil | ei says long a | Lesson 114 |
| deign | ei says long a | Lesson 118 |
| feign | ei says long a | Lesson 118 |
| feint | ei says long a | Lesson 114 |
| neigh | eigh says long a | Lesson 114 |
| skein | ei says long a | Lesson 114 |
| sleigh | eigh says long a | Lesson 114 |
| freight | eigh says long a | Lesson 114 |
Words that break the rule
ei for long e without a c
| Word | Why it breaks | Readable after |
|---|---|---|
| either | ei says long e, no c | not taught |
| neither | ei says long e, no c | not taught |
| leisure | ei says long e, no c | not taught |
| protein | ei says long e, no c | not taught |
| caffeine | ei says long e, no c | not taught |
| seize | ei says long e, no c | not taught |
ie for long e after c
| Word | Why it breaks | Readable after |
|---|---|---|
| inconsistencies | ie after c | not taught |
How do you teach it?
Teach it to students who already read ie and ei. Start with ie for long e: piece, field, brief. Then the c family: receive, deceive, conceive, perceive, ceiling. Point out that the four ceive verbs share a root. Last, the long a group, as a sound difference students can hear.
"Spell 'receive'. Where's the long e? Right after the c: re-CEIVE. After c, it's e-i. Now 'shield'. The long e comes after sh. No c there, so i-e: s-h-i-e-l-d."
What is the common error, and the fix?
Students write "recieve", "beleive" and "wierd". The first comes from not knowing the after-c part, the second from guessing, and the third is a true exception. The fix: say the word, find the long e, and look at the letter before it. A c there means ei.
Sort it: a hands-on activity
Use four columns: ie, ei after c, ei for long a, and exceptions. Students read each card aloud first, because the sound decides which columns a word can go in.
How this list was built
Every word comes from our lexicon of about 19,000 common words, each checked against a pronouncing dictionary and split into spelling units. Words a student meets in our assessments and progress-monitoring probes are left out, so practicing a list never rehearses a test. Rule groups are computed from each word's spelling units and its word sum (base plus suffix), then checked by hand; false word sums such as man + er for manner are removed.
"Readable after" is the first lesson in the lesson sequence at which our decodability engine finds every sound-spelling in the word taught; "not taught" means the word has a spelling the sequence does not cover, so it is read with help. You can check your own lists and passages with the free decodable text checker.
Questions people ask
Is i before e except after c true?
For the long e sound, mostly. In our lexicon 39 words use ie and 5 use ei after c, against 7 exceptions. It falls apart if you apply it to every ie and ei, because ei also spells long a and other sounds.
What are the exceptions?
Our list finds either, neither, leisure, protein, caffeine, seize, inconsistencies. Either, neither, seize and protein are the ones students meet most. Weird is another common one.
Does their break the rule?
No. The vowel in their is not long e; it is an r-controlled sound, so the rule does not apply.