Know the Rules: 'i' Before 'e' Except After 'c'

The long 'ee' phoneme can be spelt in many different ways.

for example:

beef     cheap     key     chief     deceive

It is often hard to know when to use 'ie' and when to use 'ei'.

For example, is it 'believe' or 'beleive'?

This rhyme can help:

'i before e except after c'.

For most words we use 'ie':

thief

believe

piece

However, if it comes straight after the letter 'c' then we use 'ei':

receive

ceiling

As always, there are some exceptions (protein, seize, caffeine), but the rule generally holds true.