Spelling	As in (Words in brackets indicate the spelling is representing two sounds, not just one)
a	cat	last	table	want	all
	hangi	sofa	any	naïve
aa	baa
a…e	came	village	Thames	(sesame)
ae	sundae	algae	maestro	haemorrhage
aer	aeroplane
ah	galah	cheetah	Fahrenheit	dahlia
ai	rain	bonsai	plait	again	(mosaic)
aigh	straight
aille	Versailles
air	hair
aire	millionaire
al	half	walk	salmon
ao	Maori	gaol
ar	farm	warm	scarce	dollar	(carol)
are	care	are
arr	charred
au	caution	fault	kauri	aunt	mauve
	gauge
aud	Benaud
augh	caught
augha	Vaughan
aul	baulk
ault	Renault
aur	dinosaur
aw	saw	(away)
awe	awesome
awy	lawyer
ay	say	quay	kayak	says
aye	aye
ayer	prayer
ayor	mayor
b	bib
bb	rubber
bh	Bhutan
bt	debt
bu	buy
c	cat	cell	cello	appreciate
ç	façade
cc	soccer	focaccia
cch	zucchini
ce	piece	crustacean
ch	chip	school	chef
che	panache
ci	special	ciao
ck	duck
cq	acquit
cqu	racquet
ct	indict
d	did	hoped	educate
dd	add
de	aide
dg	budgie
dge	bridge
dh	jodhpurs
di	soldier
dj	adjective
dt	Leichhardt
e	red	me	café	entrée	erupt
	Cheyenne
e…e	these	fete	creme fraiche
ea	sea	head	great	Sean	bream
	(idea)
eah	yeah
ear	hear	learn	bear	heart
eau	bureau	bureaucracy	beauty
ed	bagged	locked
ee	see	matinée	breeches
eer	beer
ei	vein	feisty	seize	leisure	chow mein
	reveille
eigh	weight	height	Leigh
eir	their
eo	leopard	people	yeoman	cheongsam	McLeod
	(neon)
eou	Seoul
er	her	butter	zero	clerk	metier
	sombrero
ere	here	there	were
err	preferred	Herr
erre	guerre
eu	feud	sleuth	milieu	Freud
eur	poseur
ew	chew	new	sew	(rewrite)
ey	chimney	they	Reynold	Cheyenne	Anne Boleyn
eye	eye
f	fin	of
fe	carafe
ff	off
ffe	giraffe
ft	soften
g	got	gel	aubergine	Bundestag
ge	large	beige	renege
gg	biggest	suggest
gh	ghost	cough	Callaghan
gi	region
gl	imbroglio
gm	paradigm
gn	sign	lasagna
gu	guess	(penguin)
gue	league
h	hot	hour
i	in	hi	ski	onion	timbre
	lingerie
ia	marriage	Chiang Mai	diamond
i…e	time	sardine	(recipe)
ie	chief	pie	friend	sieve	lingerie
	(alien)
ier	tier
igh	high
ir	bird	souvenir	iron	(pirate)
irr	stirred
j	jump	deja vu	fjord	jojoba	hallelujah
k	look
ke	Bourke
kh	khaki	Khomeini
kk	trekking
kn	knit
l	leg
le	battle
ll	bell	tortillas	carillon
lle	grille
m	met
mb	lamb
mbe	bombe
me	gendarme
mm	summer
mme	femme
mn	column
n	not	wink
ñ	El Niño
ne	caffeine
ng	wing	Pekingese
nn	running
nne	julienne
o	got	no	front	do	offend
	wolf	women	Dostoevsky
o…e	home	gone	done	move	(abalone)
oa	boat	broad
oar	roar
oe	toe	phoenix	shoe	does	Goethe
	(poem)
oh	doh	John	bohrium
oi	coin	coiffure	(stoic)
oir	boudoir	choir
oire	armoire
ol	yolk
oo	boot	book	blood	brooch	(coopt)
ooh	pooh
oor	poor
oore	Moore
or	for	word	tractor	(forest)
ore	more
ou	out	soup	jealous	cousin	soul
	cough	Houston	ouija
ough	bought	dough	drought	through	thorough
	(rough)	(cough)
oui	bouillon
oul	could
oup	coup
our	four	(our)	colour	journal
ow	how	low	knowledge
owe	owe	Howe
oy	toy	coyote
p	pop
pb	cupboard
pe	troupe
ph	phone	Stephen
phth	phthalates
pn	pneumonia
pp	hopping
ppe	steppe
pph	sapphire
ps	psychologist
pt	receipt
q	quit	Qantas	Qigong
qu	(quit)	mosquito
que	cheque
r	run	sour
re	centre
rh	rhino
rr	hurry
rrh	cirrhosis
s	set	is	treasure	sugar	chablis
sc	science	fascism	viscount
sce	coalesce
sch	schnitzel	(school)
sci	conscious
se	horse	please
sh	shop
shi	cushion
si	mansion	version	business
ss	fuss	dessert	tissue
sse	mousse
ssi	passion	brassiere
st	castle
sth	asthma
sw	sword
t	top	nature	ballet	negotiate
tch	catch
te	route	righteous
th	thigh	thy	Thomas
the	(the)	soothe
ti	motion	question	equation
tsch	kitsch
tt	rattle
tte	serviette
u	cup	put	flu	tuna	quit
	bury	busy	assurance
u…e	tune	rude	(museum)
ue	blue	cue	Brueghel
ui	suit	nuisance
uo	fluoride
ur	fur
ure	(cure)	picture	sure
urr	purred
v	van	Chekhov
ve	groove
vv	skivvy
w	will	Wagner
wh	when	who	Whakapapa
wo	two	twopence
wr	wrist
x	(fix)	xylophone	excellent	(example)	indexes
	(luxury)	faux	Don Quixote
xe	(axe)
xi	(anxious)
y	yes	my	baby	gym	Yogyakarta
ye	bye
y…e	type
yr	myrtle
yrrh	myrrh
z	zip	pretzel	Nazi	seizure
ze	ooze
zz	buzz	pizza

If the spelling you’re interested in doesn’t appear here, you might be thinking of a spelling that actually represents two or more sounds, not just one. Or it might be very obscure, in which case please tell me about it, and I will add it to these lists.

 

© Alison Clarke 2012