Strategies for Teaching the 111 Spelling Doubling Rule + 2 Free Games

Sharpen your pencils and get ready to learn about the fun spelling doubling rule! This handy spelling rule requires us to double the final letter in words like “running”, “tripped”, and “batter”.

It may sound simple, but mastering the doubling rule can take your students’ writing skills to the next level! So why not sprinkle a little literary magic into your lesson plans and give the doubling rule a try?

If you’re working with a word that’s just one syllable, containing only one vowel with one consonant right after it, be sure to double that final consonant if you’re adding on endings such as -ing, -ed, and -er.

The Spelling Doubling rule can make a huge difference in the pronunciation of words when reading. It’s all about understanding when to double consonants. The double consonant gives a visual clue as kids are reading. If there are double consonants in the syllable it is usually closed and then the vowel is short. Like in the words “super” and “supper.” So learning these rules can help in reading and writing goals.

When to double the ending consonant of a base word

• 1 syllable
• 1 short vowel
• 1 consonant after the vowel.
• Double the final consonant if adding a beginning with a vowel

For example, if you take the word “hit” and add the vowel suffix -er you can make the word sum <hit +er>. Let’s use it in the example sentence, The hitter hit the ball. In order to keep the vowel short in a closed syllable, we need to double the “t” to make it “hitter.” Then when we divide the word into syllables, we get “hit/ter.” Without the double <t> the word would be read hi/ter like the open syllable in la/ter with a double <t> “later” becomes two closed syllables in “latter.”

When to introduce the doubling rule

It is helpful to teach and explain the concept of doubling the last consonant later in first grade and review it early in second gradeso that students can read longer words with vowel suffixes -ing and -ed.

For teaching young children a simple version of this spelling rule is if the base word ends in CVC and you add the vowel suffixes -ing or -ed then we double the last letter and the word will be read with a short vowel. We can use the rhyme Look at the final three letters in a word. “When the final three are CVC we double the consonant before we add a vowel suffix.”

Teachers need to point out spelling patterns with the doubling rule early to young learners to give them practice with reading longer words so that they can read more natural-sounding sentences. Without inflected endings, the decodable stories maud sound stilted. For example, the story may say: “The kid did hop up on top.” Once we teach suffixes like -ing and -ed the kids can read and write “The kid hopped on top.”

How to teach the 1+ 1 + 1 spelling doubling rule to young students

Play Games in the classroom with your learners

1. Begin by doing a suffix sort- Give the students examples of vowel suffixes and consonant suffixes to sort. Some common examples of vowel suffixes are -ing,-ed,-er,-est -es
2. Use word cards and do a word sort to find words ending in 1 vowel and 1 consonant with one syllable. When teaching young learners do not give them words that have more than one syllable to practice with at first.
3. They also should be words with short vowels at first. So they can practice looking for base words ending with two consonants vs. one consonant.
4. After that practice looking for a single final consonant, you can have students practice with vowel teams, to if they have been taught those concepts.
5. Have the students write the words that fit the criteria then use some of the verbs in sentences.

How to teach the doubling rule with Multi-syllable words

When learning the doubling spelling rule with multi syllable words the student needs to understand the concept of stress or accent. Remember with one-syllable words the 111 doubling rule says if a base word has

• 1 syllable
• 1 vowel
• 1 consonant
• A vowel suffix is added then the last consonant in the base word should usually be doubled.

But the rule changes slightly when spelling a word that has more than one syllable. Because the English language is a stress-timed language stress can affect teaching certain spelling rules.

In a multi-syllable word

• The student needs to look at the last syllable in the base word.
• If the final syllable is stressed or accented with one short vowel and one consonant after the vowel then we usually double the last consonant before adding a vowel suffix.
• If adding consonant suffixes like -ly -s or -ment no change in the base word is needed.

the 2+1 +1 Spelling Rule

• 2 syllable Word
• Accent/ Stress on the second syllable
• 1 syllable
• 1 vowel
• 1 consonant
• A vowel suffix is added then the last consonant in the base word should usually be doubled.

Examples of this spelling rule are words like these with an accent on the second syllable

• begin + ing = beginning
• forget + ing = forgetting
• propel+ er = propeller
• permit (v.) + ed = permitted
• begin +er = beginner
• forget +ing = forgetting

Examples of this spelling rule are words like these with an accent on the first syllable

• cancel + ing = canceling
• pencil + ed= penciled
• object (n.)+ ing = objected
• perfect (adj.)+ed = perfected
• limit + ed = limited
• blossom +ed =blossomed
• equip +ing = equipping

Exceptions to the 2 -1-1 Spelling rule

A few words end in the letters “fit” that have the accent on the first syllable and do double the final consonant examples include words like misfit and outfit become misfitted and outfitting. But in other words with distinct Latin roots like the word “profit” do NOT double like in the word “profited”. So if presented with one of these tricky words just use a dictionary in this situation.

Doubles can occur when bases and affixes share a letter.

I also want to mention using morphology as well as rules can help students as they are practicing and learning spelling patterns. For example: If students wonder how to spell a word such as “really” or even misspell breaking the words up using morphology can help. With the word “really” the word sum looks like this real +ly and “misspell” has a word sum like this mis +spell. Word sums can give learners a visual that take the guess work out of double vowels in spelling.

I hope this article helps with your understanding of the doubling rule. Download the Free Game pack below and let me know how these activities work in your classroom. If you need some great spelling activities for your classroom then click on the spelling packs below and add some Orton Gillingham spelling games and posters to your science of reading classroom today!

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