K or C… Which Should It Be?

When you hear the /k/ sound,
When should it be…
The letter K or the letter C?

There’s one thing that can be said for the English language… it likes to confuse us!

One of the ways it does this is by allowing the same phoneme (sound) to be created by different graphemes (letters, or combinations of letters). One example of this is the /k/ sound, as in “kite” and “cat”. The /k/ sound can be made by two letters – C and K. So how are our little learners to know when to use which letter?

Thankfully, there are simple guidelines that can help young readers and writers to identify when the letter C should be used to make /k/, and when the letter K should be used. The rule “K takes the vowels i and e, C take the other three” is one such guideline. While it may not apply in every possible situation, this rule can be helpful in guiding students through the process of decoding and encoding unfamiliar words.

How to Make the Most of This Spelling Rule Poster

This poster has been created to support literacy instruction in your classroom. You may wish to use it in the following ways:

1. Print the poster and display it in your classroom as a reminder of when to use the letter C and when to use the letter K to make a /k/ sound.
2. As you teach this spelling rule, provide students with a smaller version of the poster to paste into their workbooks.
3. Use the resource as a word wall display by adding examples of other words that follow the letter C or K spelling rule around the poster.

Download the File Format That Best Suits Your Classroom!

Use the dropdown menu next to the Download button to select from the PDF or Google Slides version of this resource.

This resource was created by Kendall Britnell, a teacher in Colorado and Teach Starter collaborator.