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Double Consonants—Spelling Rules

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Doubling the Last Consonant — CVC Rule
One-Syllable Words — Double Consonants
Words With Two Syllables or More — Double Consonants
One-syllable words — Single consonants
Words with two syllables (or more) — Single consonants
Double Consonants in the Middle of a Word
Double Consonants at the End of a Word
The Silent E Rule
Consonants Never Doubled
Double Consonants—Spelling Rules Exercises
See Also

Definition

A consonant is a letter representing a sound.

The consonants are the letters:

b	c	d	f	g	h	j
k	l	m	n	p	q	r
s	t	v	w	x	y*	z

*y is sometimes also used as a vowel.

When spelling a word, some consonants are doubled.

Doubling the Last Consonant: CVC Rules		Double Consonants in the Middle of a Word — the Rabbit Rule

Double Consonants at the End of a Word	The Silent E Rule		Consonants Never Doubled — H J Q V W X Y

Doubling the Last Consonant — CVC Rule

Rule

The last consonant of a word can sometimes be doubled.

The CVC rule helps us to remember which consonants are doubled and which ones aren’t.

The last consonant of a word is doubled when it follows the CVC rule.
CVC means a word’s last 3 letters are a consonant, a vowel and a consonant.
The CVC rule indicates if a consonant is doubled when adding letters to the end of a word.

Letters are added to word in	Letters added	Words ending in CVC	Become
the simple past	-ed	plan	planned
continuous tenses	-ing	fit	fitting
comparative adjectives	-er	big	bigger
superlative adjectives	-est	sad	sadder

Consonants are doubled when a word meets certain conditions.

Conditions are different depending if a word is:

short — words with one syllable
long — words with two syllables or more

One-Syllable Words — Double Consonants

Consonants are doubled when the word:

ends in CVC

The word big +er becomes bigger. The word step +ed becomes stepped. The word let +ing becomes letting.

Words With Two Syllables or More — Double Consonants

Consonants are doubled when the word:

ends in CVC
is stressed* on its last syllable

*The stress is the emphasis placed on a syllable when pronouncing a word.

The word prefer +ed becomes preferred. The word occur +ing becomes occurring.

Consonants are not doubled when certain conditions aren't met.

One-syllable words — Single consonants

Consonants are not doubled when a one-syllable word:

ends in VVC
ends in VCC

The word mean +er becomes meaner. The word look +ed becomes looked. The word coach +ing becomes coaching. The word check +ed becomes checked.

Words with two syllables (or more) — Single consonants

Consonants are not doubled when a two-syllable (or more) word:

ends in CVC
is stressed* on any syllable but not the last one.

*The stress is the accentuation placed on a syllable when pronouncing a word.

The word listen +ed becomes listened. The word offer +ing becomes offering.

Double Consonants in the Middle of a Word

Rule

Some words are spelled with double consonants and some with a single one.

This rule helps to figure out which ones are.

Words are spelled with double consonants in the middle when they:

have 2 syllables
include a short* vowel in the first syllable
include a vowel in the second syllable

*Short vowels have a short sound, as opposed to long vowels that have a long sound.

Double consonants		Single consonant
Short vowels	Sound like	Long vowels	Sound like
tapping	[t-ah-ping]	tape	[t-AY-p]
written	[r-ih-ten]	write	[r-AYE-t]
sitting	[s-ih-t-ing]	site	[s-AYE-t]
cutting	[c-uh-t-ing]	cute	[k-YOU-t]

The words rabbit, kitty and puppy are spelled with double consonants. The words baby, pilot and music are spelled with single consonants.

Double Consonants at the End of a Word

Tip

Many words end in double consonants.

Here are some guidelines to help figure out which ones.

Words that end in double consonants:

have 1 syllable
contain a short vowel
end in -ss, -ll, -ff or -zz

The words small, kiss, staff and buzz end in double consonants.

The Silent E Rule

Tip

Words ending with a silent -e usually take a single consonant.

The silent -e at the end of a word does not make a sound.

Words only take a single consonant when they:

end in a silent -e
contain a long vowel in the previous syllable

The words use, dime, cane and note take a single consonant and end in a silent -e.

Consonants Never Doubled

Rules

Some consonants are never doubled.

Those consonants are:

Consonant	Examples
h	ahead	behave	rehearse
j	ajar	Cajun	hijack
q	liquid	plaque	equal
v	give	avoid	above
w	away	tower	blowing
x	axe	exact	flexing
y	staying	enjoying	player