1.1.9

Hard & Soft 'c' Sounds

Test yourself

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).

Illustrative background for ‘__k__’ soundIllustrative background for ‘__k__’ sound ?? "content

‘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.
Illustrative background for '__cc__'Illustrative background for '__cc__' ?? "content

'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.
Illustrative background for '__k__'Illustrative background for '__k__' ?? "content

'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).

Illustrative background for '__ck__'Illustrative background for '__ck__' ?? "content

'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.
Illustrative background for '__ck__'Illustrative background for '__ck__' ?? "content

'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).

Illustrative background for 'c' followed by an 'e'Illustrative background for 'c' followed by an 'e' ?? "content

'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.
Illustrative background for 'c' followed by an 'i'Illustrative background for 'c' followed by an 'i' ?? "content

'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.
Illustrative background for 'c' followed by a 'y'Illustrative background for 'c' followed by a 'y' ?? "content

'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

1Spelling

1.1Spelling

1.1.1Hard 'U' & 'I' Sounds

1.1.2Words Ending in '-sure', & '-mure'

1.1.3Words Ending in '-sion'

1.1.4'Ei', 'Eigh' & 'Ey' Spellings

1.1.5Spelling Words with 'Ch'

1.1.6Spelling Words with 'Sc'

1.1.7Silent Letters

1.1.8i Before e Rule

1.1.9Hard & Soft 'c' Sounds

1.1.10End of Topic Test - Spelling

1.2Prefixes

1.2.1'Anti-' & 'Auto-'

1.2.2Not & 'Inter-'

1.2.3'Mis-', 'Dis-' & 'Re-'

1.2.4'Sub-' & 'Super-'

1.3Suffixes

1.3.1Vowel Suffixes

1.3.2Short Vowel Suffixes

1.3.3Suffixes: '-ous'

1.3.4Rules for Suffixes: '-ous'

1.3.5Rules for Suffixes: '-ous' 2

1.3.6Suffixes: '-ly'

1.3.7Suffixes: '-ation'

1.3.8Suffixes: '-ation' 2

1.3.9Spelling: '-tion' Endings

1.3.10Spelling: '-sion' Endings

1.3.11Spelling: '-ssion' Endings

1.3.12Spelling: '-cian' Endings

1.3.13End of Topic Test - Prefixes & Suffixes

1.4Making Words Plural

1.4.1Plurals

1.5Homophones

1.5.1Accept & Except

1.5.2Affect & Effect

1.5.3Ball & Bawl

1.5.4Berry & Bury

1.5.5Brake & Break

1.5.6Fair & Fare

1.5.7Grate & Great

1.5.8Groan & Grown

1.5.9Hear & Here

1.5.10Heal, Heel & He'll

1.5.11Knot & Not

1.5.12Mail & Male

1.5.13Main & Mane

1.5.14Meat & Meet

1.5.15Medal & Meddle

1.5.16Missed & Mist

1.5.17Peace & Piece

1.5.18Plain & Plane

1.5.19Rain & Reign & Rein

1.5.20Scene & Seen

1.5.21Weather & Whether

1.5.22Whose & Who's

1.5.23End of Topic Test - Homophones

1.6Word Meanings

1.6.1Homonyms

2Punctuation

2.1Punctuation

2.1.1Full Stops

2.1.2Capital Letters

2.1.3Commas

2.1.4Commas 2

2.1.5Using Apostrophes with Regular Plurals

2.1.6Using Apostrophes with Irregular Plurals

2.1.7Question Marks & Exclamation Marks

2.1.8Brackets

2.1.9Dashes

2.1.10Colon

2.1.11Semi-Colon

2.1.12Direct Speech

2.1.13Indirect Speech

2.1.14Hyphens

2.1.15Ellipses

2.1.16End of Topic Test - Punctuation

2.1.17End of Topic Test - Punctuation 2

2.2Writing Structure

2.2.1Paragraphs

2.2.2Headings & Subheadings

2.2.3Columns

2.2.4Bullets

2.2.5Tables

3Grammar

3.1Word Classes

3.1.1Nouns

3.1.2Pronouns

3.1.3Verbs

3.1.4Adjectives & Adverbs

3.1.5Qualifiers & Quantifiers

3.1.6Determiners

3.1.7Prepositions

3.1.8Synonyms & Antonyms

3.1.9End of Topic Test - Word Classes

3.2Conjunctions

3.2.1Coordinating Conjunctions

3.2.2Subordinating Conjunctions

3.3Writing Coherently

3.3.1Building Cohesion in Writing

3.3.2Avoiding Ambiguity in Writing

3.4Verbs

3.4.1Subject-verb Agreement

3.5Modal Verbs

3.5.1Modal Verbs

3.5.2Can & Could

3.5.3May & Might

3.5.4Should & Shall

3.5.5Will & Would

3.5.6Must & Have To

3.6Phrasal Verbs

3.6.1Phrasal Verbs

3.7Subjunctive Verbs

3.7.1Subjunctive Verbs

3.7.2End of Topic Test - Verbs

3.8Sentences

3.8.1Subject of a Sentence

3.8.2Object of a Sentence

3.8.3Main & Subordinate Clauses

3.8.4Simple Sentences & Compound Sentences

3.8.5Complex Sentences

3.8.6Relative Clauses

3.8.7Relative Clauses Without Relative Pronouns

3.8.8Participle Clauses

3.8.9Run-on Sentences

3.8.10Sentence Functions

3.8.11End of Topic Test - Sentences

3.9Tenses

3.9.1Present Tense

3.9.2Past Tense

3.9.3Past Tense Using Have

3.9.4Future Tense

3.9.5Present vs Past vs Future

3.9.6Continuity of Tenses

3.9.7End of Topic Test - Tenses

3.10Adverbials

3.10.1Adverbial

3.10.2Saying Where & When

3.10.3Saying How Often

3.10.4Saying How & Why

3.10.5Using Commas for Fronted Adverbials

3.11Language Techniques

3.11.1Figurative & Emotive Language

3.11.2Active & Passive Voice

3.11.3Idiomatic Expressions

Go student ad image

Unlock your full potential with GoStudent tutoring

  • Affordable 1:1 tutoring from the comfort of your home

  • Tutors are matched to your specific learning needs

  • 30+ school subjects covered

Book a free trial lesson

i Before e Rule

End of Topic Test - Spelling