Heart Words: Learn the Tricky Part

Find the part of a word that doesn't follow the rules and learn it by heart.

Most of a word usually follows the sound rules. Sometimes one part does not. We call these heart words, because you learn the tricky part by heart. Look at 'said'. The s says /s/ and the d says /d/, just like normal.

But the ai in the middle says /e/, not /ay/. That middle part is the heart part. To learn it, say the word, spell it, and picture a little heart over the ai. You do not have to memorize the whole word, just the part that is tricky.

• 1Heart words have a part that breaks the rules.
• 2Most of the word still follows the rules.
• 3Learn just the tricky part by heart.