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Adding -ie- or -ei-

Sometimes it is difficult to remember whether a word is spelled with -ie- or -ei-. There is a very simple rule about this:

• I before E
  Except after C

Of course, there are some exceptions to this rule.

1. When the sound rhymes with "may", the spelling is -ei-:

• beige, feint, freight, inveigle, neighbour, sleigh, vein, weigh, weight

2. Here are a few more common exceptions:

• either, neither, caffeine, codeine, counterfeit, foreign, forfeit, height, leisure, protein, their, weird, seize, seizure

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