Vessel - trestle, wrestle, bristle, gristle, thistle, whistle,

                    apostle, jostle,

     bustle, hustle, rustle. - Muscle/mussel.

-ff, -ll, -ss - (cliff, well, fuss) – are used at the end of

                    many short words, except:

Chef, clef, if, of.   Cough, rough, slough, tough, trough;   

graph, laugh;    bus, gas, plus, us, yes.

E - (bed, bend) - has  64 exceptions, mainly ea:

       Bread/bred, breadth, breast, breath, dead, deaf, dealt, death, dread, dreamt, head, health, lead x2[leed/led], leant, leapt, meant, readx2[reed/red], realm, spread, sweat, thread, threat, wealth.   Breakfast, cleanliness, cleanse, endeavour, feather, heather, heaven, heavy, instead, leather, measure, stealthy, treacherous, treadmill, treasure, weather.

   Friend. Leisure, lieutenant [lesure, leftennant in UK].

Against, said, says, every, Wednesday.

   The following are also without a doubled consonant after their short e-sound (as in 'jelly, teddy, penny'):

Jealous, meadow, peasant, pheasant, pleasant, ready, (already), steady, weapon, zealous.

   Any, many. Jeopardy, leopard. Berry/bury. Heifer.

Ee / ea / e-e ... – (deed, lead, concede, siege, conceive, police,

                                       people, key, ski )

Spelling of the ee-sound is predictable only when it is

a stressed ending (agree, chimpanzee).

In other words the spellings for it are highly unpredictable,

and 48 words have two spellings.

   Bee/be,  beech/beach,  been/bean,  beet/beat,  breech/breach,  cheep/cheap,  creek/creak,  deer/dear, discreet/discrete,  eerie/eyrie,  eve/eaves,  feet/feat,  flee/flea,  freeze/frieze,   jeans/genes,  Greece/grease,  heel/heal,  hear/here,   key/quay,  leech/leach,  leek/leak,  meet/meat,  need/knead, pee/pea,  peace/piece, peek/peak,  peel/peal,  peer/pier,  reed/readx2[reed/red],   reek/wreak,  reel/real,  sealing/ceiling,  seamen/semen,  see/sea,  seem/seam,   seen/scene,   serial/cereal,  sheer/shear, sheikh/chic,   steel/steal,   sweet/suite,   tee/tea,  teem/team,  wee/we,  week/weak,  wheel/weal.

In uk English also: geezer/geyser, leaver/lever.

       The other 360 words with an ee-sound are spelt as follows.

       Beef, beer, beetle, between, bleed, bleep, breed, breeze, career, cheek, cheer, cheese, cheetah, creep, deed, deep, eel, exceed, feeble, feed, feel, fleece, fleet, geese, greed, green, greet, indeed, jeep, jeer, keel, keen, keep, kneel, meek, needle, peep, pioneer, preen, proceed, proceedings, proceeds, queen, queer, reef, screech, screen, seed, seek, seep, seesaw, sheep, sheet, sleek, sleep, sleet, sleeve, smithereens, sneer, sneeze, speech, speed, squeeze, steep, steeple, steer, street, succeed, sweep, sweet, teeth, teetotal, thirteen, tweed, tweezers, weed, weep, wheedle, wheeze, wildebeest.

   Appeal, beacon, bead, beak, beam, beard, beast, beaver, beneath, bleach, bleak, bleat, breathe, cease, cheat, clean, clear, colleague, conceal, congeal, cream, crease, creature, deal, dean, decrease, defeat, disease, dream, dreary, each, eager, eagle, ear, ease, east, Easter, eat, fear, feast, feature, freak, gear, gleam, glean, heap, heat, heath, heathen, heave, increase, leadx2, leaf, league, lean, leap, lease, leash, least, leave, meagre, meal, mean, measles, near, neat, ordeal, peach, peat, plead, please, pleat, preach, queasy, reach, really, reap, rear, reason, release, repeat, retreat, reveal, scream, seal, sear, season, seat, sheaf, sheath, smear, sneak, speak, spear, squeak, squeal, squeamish, steam, streak, stream, teach, teak, tearx2, tease, theatre, treacle, treason, treat, treaty, veal, wean, weary, weasel, weave, wheat, wreath, year, yeast, zeal.

   Open e (eve, evil, zero):  Adhesive, arena, cafeteria, cedar, chameleon, Chinese, comedian, compete, complete, concrete, convene, convenient, decent, demon, equal, era, even, evil, experience, exterior, extreme, female, fever, frequent, genie, genius, hero, hyena, imperial, inferior, ingredient, intermediate, legal, legion, lenient, material, medium, mere, meteor, meter, millipede, mysterious, obedient, period, peter, polythene, precede, previous, query, recent, recess, region, relay, scheme, sequence, sequin, series, serious, serum, species, sphere, stampede, strategic, superior, supreme, swede, tedious, theme, theory, these, torpedo, trapeze, vehicle, Venus, zero.

He, me, she.

   Open i: Albino, antique, aubergine, bikini, clementine, fatigue, guillotine, machine, magazine, margarine, marine, mosquito, plasticine, police, prestige, ravine, regime, routine, sardine, suite, tambourine, tangerine, trampoline, unique, vaseline, pizza.

    Achieve, belief, believe, brief , chief, diesel, field, fiend, fierce, grief, grieve, hygienic, medieval, niece, pierce, priest, relief, relieve, shield, shriek, siege, thief, thieve, tier, wield, yield.

    Caffeine, codeine, protein, seize, weir, weird,

conceive /coneit, deceive /deceit, receive /receipt.

       Assorted other variants: People; cathedral, secret; pizza, ski, souvenir; debris.

-en / -on / -an /-ain /-in - (fasten, certain, apron...)

   The unstressed vowel in endings, before –n is spelt mainly e,

   but with many exceptions:

Abdomen, alien, awaken, barren, batten/baton, bitten, bracken, brazen, brighten, chicken, children, chosen, christen, citizen, delicatessen, dozen, driven, eleven, even, fallen, forgotten, frighten, frozen, garden, given, glisten, golden, happen, heathen, heaven, hidden, hydrogen, kindergarten, kitchen, kitten, laden, lessen/lesson, lichen, listen, loosen, madden, mitten, often, omen, open, oven, oxygen, pollen, raven, ridden, ripen, risen, rotten, sadden, seven, sharpen*, sodden, specimen, spoken, stamen, stolen, strengthen, sudden, sullen, swollen, taken, threaten, token, vixen, warren, women, wooden, woollen, written.

   Abandon, apron, bacon, badminton, baron, beacon, beckon, bison, carbon, carton, cauldron, common, comparison, cordon, cotton, coupon, crayon, crimson, damson, demon, dragon, electron, flagon, gallon, heron, horizon, iron, jettison, lemon, mason, matron, melon, mutton, nylon, octagon, pardon, pentagon, person, phenomenon, piston, poison, prison, pylon, python, reason, reckon, ribbon, salmon, salon, Saxon, season, sermon, siphon, skeleton, summon, talon, treason, venison, wagon, wanton, weapon.

Chameleon, dungeon, luncheon, pigeon, surgeon, truncheon.

   Alsatian, amphibian, cardigan, Christian, civilian, comedian, Dalmatian, historian, hooligan, Indonesian, magician, metropolitan, musician, ocean, optician, organ, orphan, partisan, pedestrian, pelican, republican, Roman, rowan, ruffian, slogan, suburban, tartan, toucan, turban, urban, utopian, vegetarian, veteran, woman.

Hurricane.

Bargain, captain, certain, fountain, mountain, porcelain, villain.

Aspirin, basin, bulletin, cabin, catkin, coffin, cousin, dolphin, gherkin, goblin, javelin, origin, paraffin, penguin, pumpkin, raisin, robin, satin, sequin, tarpaulin, urchin, vermin.

-ence/-ance – (commence / ambulance) – The spelling of this

                             unstressed endings is unpredictable:

   Absence, adolescence, circumference, commence, competence, conference, confidence, consequence, difference, essence, evidence, existence, experience, independence, indifference, influence, innocence, insolence, intelligence, interference, licence, occurrence, offence, presence, providence, reference, science, sentence, sequence, silence, violence, conscience, patience.

   Abundance, acceptance, accordance, alliance, allowance, ambulance, appearance, appliance, assurance, balance, distance, endurance, finance, fragrance, guidance, ignorance, importance, instance, insurance, maintenance, nuisance, performance, resistance, significance, substance, vengeance.

-ent / -ant - (competent/ protestant)

        The main spelling for this unstressed ending is -ent,