Spelling and Homophones Focus Set 3
Spelling and Homophones Focus Set 3 covers a further set of commonly confused words, "allowed" and "aloud", "complement" and "compliment", "desert" and "dessert", "quiet" and "quite", together with the suffix rules for adding an ending to a word ending in a silent "e", usually drop the "e" before a vowel suffix, keep it before a consonant suffix, and to a word ending in a stressed short vowel plus a single consonant, double the final consonant before adding "-ing" or "-ed".
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Learn "allowed", given permission, the past tense of "to allow", and "aloud", out loud, in a voice that can be heard, which sound identical but are used in completely different situations.
- Learn "complement", something that completes or goes well with something else, as in a complement of colours, and "compliment", a nice remark, or to praise someone, and note that "compliment" contains "I" as in "I like it".
- Learn "desert", a dry, sandy area, or to abandon someone, and "dessert", a sweet course after a meal, remembering the double "s" in "dessert" because you usually want two helpings of pudding.
- Learn "quiet", making little or no noise, and "quite", fairly or completely, which are easy to mistype into one another because they share the same letters in a different order.
- For a word ending in a silent "e", drop the "e" before adding a suffix that starts with a vowel, hope becomes hoping, but keep the "e" before a suffix starting with a consonant, hope becomes hopeful.
- For a short word with one syllable, or stress on the final syllable, ending in a single consonant after a single vowel, double that final consonant before adding "-ing" or "-ed", stop becomes stopped, admit becomes admitted, but do not double when two vowels or two consonants already come before the ending, rain becomes raining, jump becomes jumped.
Worked example
Choose the correct word: "Please read the instructions (1)_______ so everyone in the room can hear them." (allowed/aloud)
- Identify the meaning needed: the sentence describes reading in a way that everyone can hear, relating to sound or voice, not permission.
- Recall that "aloud" means out loud, in a voice that can be heard, while "allowed" means given permission.
- Confirm "aloud" fits: "read the instructions aloud" makes sense as reading in a voice everyone can hear.
- Final answer: aloud.
Practice questions
Type your answer and press Check to be marked straight away, or reveal the answer and mark yourself.
Q1Choose the correct word: "Pupils are not (1)_______ to bring mobile phones into the exam hall." (allowed/aloud)Show answer
Answer: allowed
Q2Choose the correct word: "The scarf was a lovely (1)_______ to her new coat." (complement/compliment)Show answer
Answer: complement
Q3Choose the correct word: "He gave her a genuine (1)_______ on her painting." (complement/compliment)Show answer
Answer: compliment
Q4Choose the correct word: "For pudding, we chose a chocolate (1)_______." (desert/dessert)Show answer
Answer: dessert
Q5Choose the correct word: "The camels crossed the vast, dry (1)_______." (desert/dessert)Show answer
Answer: desert
Q6Choose the correct word: "The library was completely (1)_______ during the exam." (quiet/quite)Show answer
Answer: quiet
Q7Add the suffix "-ing" to "swim", applying the doubling rule, and explain why the rule applies.Show answer
Answer: swimming; the rule applies because "swim" ends in a single consonant after a single vowel, so the final consonant is doubled before adding "-ing".
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a 11+ exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Identify and correct the five spelling or word-choice errors in this passage: "The library was meant to be a quite space, but visitors were not aloud to eat there. Someone had left a half-eaten desert on the front desk, which seemed an odd compliment to such a serious room. When the librarian noticed the mess, she did not give anyone a genuine complement." (5 marks)
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Look at the words "hope" and "hopeful". Explain the suffix rule that explains why the silent "e" is dropped in "hoping" but kept in "hopeful". (3 marks)
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Free printable worksheet
Want more practice on paper? Download the spelling and homophones focus set 3 worksheet pack - 12 pages of exam-style questions with a full mark scheme. One email opens every download in this browser for 14 days - no account, no card. Print it for personal and classroom use.
This topic is chapter 15 of 11+ English Workbook 3, the whole course as one free printable PDF.
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