Mark's spelling mazes

The letter 'g' is a hard sound /g/ in words like 'ago' but a soft sound in words like ages. It's usually soft before 'i' or 'e', but there are some very common exceptions like 'get', 'give' or 'girl'.

A single letter 'e' typically has the same vowel sound as in the words 'best' and 'yes'. But there are plenty of exceptions. For example, it often has a different vowel if it's in an unstressed syllable, or at the end of a word, or before 'y' or 'r', or part of a vowel digraph like 'ea'.

A single letter 'o' typically has the same vowel sound as in the words 'top' and 'stop'. But there are plenty of exceptions. For example, look out for a 'magic e' later in the word, for example 'home'. Or if there's a 'y' or 'w' or an 'r' after the 'o'.

The letter 'u' has a long form as in 'tube', but this is usually spelt with a second vowel letter (in this example, the 'e' at the end). A single 'u' may be the equivalent short vowel sound as in 'push' and 'pull', but usually it's a different vowel sound altogether - the one found in 'up'.

Funny letter, Y – sometimes more like a consonant, other times more like a vowel – as in this maze. Go from Try to Fly only if the ‘y’ sounds like ‘eye’. Easy!

A. Where now? Moscow! B. Loads of snow? Moscow! Which rhymes for you – A or B? For me, it’s B, but for many American speakers it’s A. Ok, it’s not earth-shattering news, but the question is the tip of an iceberg when it comes to the pronunciation of the spelling OW.

You have to get from house to out only stepping on stones with that same vowel sound. Trouble is, all of the words contain the treacherous vowel digraph OU, which has many other pronunciations apart from the 'out' vowel. So it's a phonic awareness game!

This maze focuses on the single letter i, and how it's pronounced. Short vowel usually, but not when it's in a vowel digraph, a 'magic e', and 'r' and a few other oddities. Note that the 'magic e' rule doesn't work in the case of 'give', for some reason.

This maze focuses on the vowel digraph 'ea'. Usuailly, this represents the /i:/ sound, as in 'teach', but there are also plenty of exceptions which often trip learners up, like 'pear'!

The vowel sound in FAT is usually spelt with the single vowel letter ‘a’. Sadly, the opposite is not true: sometimes a single letter ‘a’ may be pronounced as a different vowel sound.