SPELLING: Doubling consonants

Spelling matters. If you want to create a good impression in your writing and make sure you get your meaning across clearly, it’s important to get your spelling right.

Spelling: doubling consonants

We often double the final consonant of a word (b, d, g, l, m, n, p, r, t) when a suffix beginning with a vowel is added (-ed, -er, -est, -ing):

sit + -ing → sitting	swim + -ing → swimming
big + -er → bigger	thin + -er → thinner
stop + -ed → stopped	Beg + -ed → begged

When we add a suffix to a word with more than one syllable, we double the consonant only when the word ends in a stressed syllable (the stressed syllable of the base form is in bold):

Permit + -ing → permitting	Prefer + -ed → preferred
Forget + -ing → forgetting	Upset + -ing → upsetting
Begin + -er → beginner	Admit + -ance → admittance

Compare, however, visit or enter where the spoken stress is on the first syllable:

visit → visiting	enter → entered
listen →listening	open → opened

Warning:

We don’t double the final consonant before a suffix:

– if the word ends in two written consonants, e.g. export = exported, find = finding, insist =insisted, lift = lifted, persist = persistence

– if there are two written vowels together in the word, e.g. meeting, rained, weaken, trainer, repeated, reading, greatest, quieter.