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Perplexing Words

Word Bank
camouflage
chaos
debris
dialogue
diaphragm
fatigue
ghastly
subtle
vague
vengeance
Key Concepts

  1. Although the sound of a word can often help you to spell it correctly, the spellings of many English words are difficult to remember because the spellings reflect pronunciations from other languages. For example, in Middle English, the consonant b in subtle was sounded. Modern English drops the sound but keeps the spelling.

  2. Some of the most difficult words to spell contain unpronounced vowels. These silent vowels may also reflect patterns of other languages. For example, vague and
    other -gue words come from French.


Exercises