1.1.9

Hard & Soft 'c' Sounds

Test yourself on Hard & Soft 'c' Sounds

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Hard ‘c’ Sounds

Words that are spelt with a ‘c’ are pronounced with either a 'k' sound (which sounds hard) or an 's' sound (which sounds soft).

‘__k__’ sound

‘k’ sound

  • If the word that is spelt with a ’c’ has an ‘a’, ‘u’ or ‘o’ straight after the 'c', the 'c' makes a 'k' sound.
    • 'Cat' is pronounced with a 'k' sound.
    • 'Catch' is pronounced with a 'k' sound.
    • 'Curtain' is pronounced with a 'k' sound.
    • 'Cucumber' is pronunced with a 'k' sound.
    • 'Community' is pronunced with a 'k' sound.
    • 'Computer' is pronunced with a 'k' sound.
'__cc__'

'cc'

  • For a 'cc' in a word to form a 'k' sound, all of the following must be true:
    • The word has more than 1 syllable.
    • The 'cc' sound is in-between 2 vowels.
    • The 1st vowel is a short sound.
      • E.g. occupy, succulent, tobacco.
'__k__'

'k'

  • The 'k' sound is spelt with a 'k' if:
    • The 'k' sound follows a consonant or a long vowel.
    • Or the 'k' sound follows a long vowel sound.
      • E.g. milk, make, tank, soak, bark.

The Hard ‘c’ Sound from a 'ck'

Words that are spelt with a ‘c’ are pronounced with either a 'k' sound (which sounds hard) or an 's' sound (which sounds soft).

'__ck__'

'ck'

  • If a word has one syllable and the 'k' sound comes after a short vowel sound, then the 'k' sound is spelt ‘ck’.
    • 'Sack' is one syllable and the 'c' comes after a short vowel sound so 'ck' is used.
    • 'Back' is one syllable and the 'c' comes after a short vowel sound so 'ck' is used.
    • 'Clock' is one syllable and the 'c' comes after a short vowel sound so 'ck' is used.
'__ck__'

'ck'

  • 'ck' is used instead of 'cc' if the letter after the 'k' sound is a ‘y’, ‘e’, or ‘i’.
    • E.g. lucky, blackest, picking, ticking.

Soft 'c' Sounds

Words that are spelt with a ‘c’ are pronounced with either a 'k' sound (which sounds hard) or an 's' sound (which sounds soft).

'c' followed by an 'e'

'c' followed by an 'e'

  • You pronounce 'c' with an 's' sound if the ‘c’ has an ‘e’ straight after. For example:
    • Celery.
    • Ceiling.
    • Receive.
    • Receipt.
    • Censored.
'c' followed by an 'i'

'c' followed by an 'i'

  • You pronounce 'c' with an 's' sound if the ‘c’ has an ‘i’ straight after. For example:
    • Pencil.
    • Circle.
    • Precise.
'c' followed by a 'y'

'c' followed by a 'y'

  • You pronounce 'c' with an 's' sound if the ‘c’ has an ‘y’ straight after. For example:
    • Cycle.
    • Cyclops.
Jump to other topics
1

Spelling

1.1

Spelling

1.1.1Hard 'U' & 'I' Sounds1.1.2Words Ending in '-sure', & '-mure'1.1.3Words Ending in '-sion'1.1.4'Ei', 'Eigh' & 'Ey' Spellings1.1.5Spelling Words with 'Ch'1.1.6Spelling Words with 'Sc'1.1.7Silent Letters1.1.8i Before e Rule1.1.9Hard & Soft 'c' Sounds1.1.10End of Topic Test - Spelling
1.2

Prefixes

1.2.1'Anti-' & 'Auto-'1.2.2Not & 'Inter-'1.2.3'Mis-', 'Dis-' & 'Re-'1.2.4'Sub-' & 'Super-'1.2.5End of Topic Test - Prefixes
1.3

Suffixes

1.3.1Vowel Suffixes1.3.2Short Vowel Suffixes1.3.3Suffixes: '-ous'1.3.4Rules for Suffixes: '-ous'1.3.5Rules for Suffixes: '-ous' 21.3.6Suffixes: '-ly'1.3.7Suffixes: '-ation'1.3.8Suffixes: '-ation' 21.3.9Spelling: '-tion' Endings1.3.10Spelling: '-sion' Endings1.3.11Spelling: '-ssion' Endings1.3.12Spelling: '-cian' Endings1.3.13End of Topic Test - Suffixes1.3.14End of Topic Test - Spelling
1.4

Making Words Plural

1.4.1Plurals1.4.2End of Topic Test - Plurals
1.5

Homophones

1.5.1Accept & Except1.5.2Affect & Effect1.5.3Ball & Bawl1.5.4Berry & Bury1.5.5Brake & Break1.5.6Fair & Fare1.5.7Grate & Great1.5.8Groan & Grown1.5.9Hear & Here1.5.10Heal, Heel & He'll1.5.11Knot & Not1.5.12Mail & Male1.5.13Main & Mane1.5.14Meat & Meet1.5.15Medal & Meddle1.5.16Missed & Mist1.5.17Peace & Piece1.5.18Plain & Plane1.5.19Rain & Reign & Rein1.5.20Scene & Seen1.5.21Weather & Whether1.5.22Whose & Who's1.5.23End of Topic Test - Homophones1.5.24End of Topic Test - Homophones 21.5.25End of Topic Test - Homophones 3
1.6

Word Meanings

1.6.1Homonyms1.6.2End of Topic Test - Homonyms
2

Punctuation

2.1

Punctuation

2.1.1Full Stops2.1.2Capital Letters2.1.3Commas2.1.4Commas 22.1.5Using Apostrophes with Regular Plurals2.1.6Using Apostrophes with Irregular Plurals2.1.7Question Marks & Exclamation Marks2.1.8Brackets2.1.9Dashes2.1.10Colon2.1.11Semi-Colon2.1.12Direct Speech2.1.13Indirect Speech2.1.14Hyphens2.1.15Ellipses2.1.16End of Topic Test - Punctuation2.1.17End of Topic Test - Punctuation 2
2.2

Writing Structure

2.2.1Paragraphs2.2.2Headings & Subheadings2.2.3Columns2.2.4Bullets2.2.5Tables2.2.6End of Topic Test - Writing Structure
3

Grammar

3.1

Word Classes

3.1.1Nouns3.1.2Pronouns3.1.3Verbs3.1.4Adjectives & Adverbs3.1.5Qualifiers & Quantifiers3.1.6Determiners3.1.7Prepositions3.1.8Synonyms & Antonyms3.1.9End of Topic Test - Word Classes
3.2

Conjunctions

3.2.1Coordinating Conjunctions3.2.2Subordinating Conjunctions3.2.3End of Topic Test - Conjunctions
3.3

Writing Coherently

3.3.1Building Cohesion in Writing3.3.2Avoiding Ambiguity in Writing3.3.3End of Topic Test - Cohesion
3.4

Verbs

3.4.1Subject-verb Agreement3.4.2End of Topic Test - Subject-verb
3.5

Modal Verbs

3.5.1Modal Verbs3.5.2Can & Could3.5.3May & Might3.5.4Should & Shall3.5.5Will & Would3.5.6Must & Have To3.5.7End of Topic Test - Modals
3.6

Phrasal Verbs

3.6.1Phrasal Verbs3.6.2End of Topic Test - Phrasal Verbs
3.7

Subjunctive Verbs

3.7.1Subjunctive Verbs3.7.2End of Topic Test - Verbs
3.8

Sentences

3.8.1Subject of a Sentence3.8.2Object of a Sentence3.8.3Main & Subordinate Clauses3.8.4Simple Sentences & Compound Sentences3.8.5Complex Sentences3.8.6Relative Clauses3.8.7Relative Clauses Without Relative Pronouns3.8.8Participle Clauses3.8.9Run-on Sentences3.8.10Sentence Functions3.8.11End of Topic Test - Sentences
3.9

Tenses

3.9.1Present Tense3.9.2Past Tense3.9.3Past Tense Using Have3.9.4Future Tense3.9.5Present vs Past vs Future3.9.6Continuity of Tenses3.9.7End of Topic Test - Tenses
3.10

Adverbials

3.10.1Adverbial3.10.2Saying Where & When3.10.3Saying How Often3.10.4Saying How & Why3.10.5Using Commas for Fronted Adverbials3.10.6End of Topic Test - Adverbials
3.11

Language Techniques

3.11.1Figurative & Emotive Language3.11.2Active & Passive Voice3.11.3Idiomatic Expressions3.11.4End of Topic Test - Language Techniques
4

Decoding Words

4.1

Common Word Roots

4.1.1Saving4.1.2Certainty & Clarity4.1.3New & Alone4.1.4Believing & Thinking4.1.5Carrying & Leading4.1.6Shape & Place4.1.7Doing & Making4.1.8Climbing & Going4.1.9End of Topic Test - Common Root Words4.1.10End of Topic Test - Common Root Words 2
4.2

Common Prefixes

4.2.1For & Against4.2.2All & Same4.2.3Away & Far4.2.4Colour & Shape4.2.5Back & Down4.2.6Numbers4.2.7Across & Through4.2.8Life & Earth4.2.9Empty & Broken4.2.10Great & Greater4.2.11Hearing & Speaking4.2.12Apart & Together4.2.13Over & Under4.2.14In4.2.15Less & Smaller4.2.16Before & After4.2.17End of Topic Test - Common Prefixes 24.2.18End of Topic Test - Common Prefixes
4.3

Common Suffixes

4.3.1Characterised By4.3.2Disease4.3.3Lover & Lacking4.3.4Belief & Study4.3.5People4.3.6State & Quality4.3.7Sound & Colour4.3.8Capable & Relating4.3.9End of Topic Test - Common Suffixes4.3.10End of Topic Test - Common Suffixes 2
5

Reading & Writing

5.1

Reading Formats

5.1.1Speeches5.1.2Famous Letters5.1.3Diary Entries5.1.4Autobiographical Text5.1.5Opinion News Articles5.1.6Literary Non-Fiction5.1.7Creative Fiction Methods5.1.8Newspaper Articles5.1.9Personal & Formal Letters5.1.10Famous Diaries5.1.11End of Topic Test - Reading Formats
5.2

Writing Formats

5.2.1Features of a Script5.2.2Poems Structure5.2.3Writing a Poem5.2.4Writing an Informational Article5.2.5Writing an Opinion Article5.2.6Writing a Formal Letter5.2.7Writing Personal Letters5.2.8Poetry5.2.9Features of a Speech5.2.10Writing a Script5.2.11End of Topic Test - Writing Formats

Practice questions on Hard & Soft 'c' Sounds

Can you answer these? Test yourself with free interactive practice on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.

  1. 1
    When does 'cc' in a word sound like a 'k', as in 'succulent'?Fill in the list
  2. 2
    Which of these is the correct spelling of a word that describes a hot drink that contains caffeine?Multiple choice
  3. 3
    Which of these is the correct spelling of a word that describes a place you would go to talk about saving money?Multiple choice
  4. 4
    How do you spell the item of clothing you put on your foot under your shoe?Multiple choice
  5. 5
    Which of these is the correct spelling of a word that would describe someone who had been running through mud?Multiple choice
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i Before e Rule

End of Topic Test - Spelling