spelling: words ending in a silent “e”

Spelling rules vary for words formed from a root ending in silent e.

Silent e before a suffix beginning with a vowel

The final e is usually dropped before a suffix beginning with a vowel.

• debate, debatable
• desire, desirable
• dine, dining
• excite, excitable
• make, makable
• subdue, subduing

but

• mile, mileage

Some words, however, can either drop or retain their final e before a suffix beginning with a vowel (the preferred spelling in Canada is the one listed first in the list below):

• age, aging, ageing
• like, likeable, likable
• love, lovable, loveable
• move, movable, moveable
• rate, rateable, ratable
• sale, saleable, salable (US)
• size, sizable, sizeable

After c or g

When e follows c or g, it is retained before the vowels a and o to preserve the soft sound of these consonants; however, it is not usually retained before i:

• change, changeable (but changing)
• courage, courageous
• gauge, gaugeable (but gauging)
• knowledge, knowledgeable
• notice, noticeable (but noticing)
• peace, peaceable
• trace, traceable (but tracing)

Note: In the case of knowledgeable, the spelling without an e after the g is also accepted: knowledgable.

Before i

Note that the e is retained even before i in some cases in order to distinguish a word from a similarly spelled one or to preserve a particular pronunciation:

• dyeing
• singeing
• shoeing
• toeing

but

• routing

Silent e before a suffix beginning with a consonant

Words ending in a silent e generally retain the e before a suffix beginning with a consonant:

• complete, completeness
• hope, hopeless
• waste, wasteful
• whole, wholesome

Exceptions

The following words do not retain the e before the suffix ly:

• due, duly
• subtle, subtly
• true, truly
• whole, wholly

Also, abridgment, acknowledgment and judgment can be spelled with or without an e after the g. In Canada, the preferred spelling is as follows:

• with the e, for abridgement and acknowledgement; and
• without the e, for judgment.