Words with double letters contain two identical letters in a row, as in apple, rabbit, letter, and balloon. Double consonants often represent a single consonant sound, and double vowels commonly work together to represent one vowel sound.
Key facts
- Double letters can be consonants or vowels.
- The BB of rabbit represents one consonant sound.
- The EE of green commonly represents long E.
- Adding a suffix can cause a word’s final consonant to double.
Double-letter vocabulary by spelling
BB: abbey, babble, bubble, cabbage, dabble, dribble, hobby, lobby, rabbit, ribbon, rubble, shabby.
CC: access, accede, accent, accept, account, accumulate, accuracy, broccoli, occasion, occupy, occur, soccer, success, tobacco.
DD: add, added, address, addition, addiction, buddy, cuddle, daddy, fiddle, hidden, ladder, middle, odd, puddle, riddle, saddle, sudden, teddy, toddler.
EE: bee, been, breeze, cheese, coffee, deer, deep, feel, feet, free, green, keep, meet, need, queen, see, seed, sheep, sleep, speed, sweet, tree, week, wheel.
FF: affable, affair, affect, affection, bluff, caffeine, cliff, coffee, cuff, different, diffuse, effort, fluff, giraffe, muffin, off, offer, office, puff, sheriff, sniff, staff, stiff, stuff, suffix, suffer, waffle.
GG: aggressive, baggage, beggar, bigger, buggy, dagger, dogged, egg, foggy, giggle, goggle, hugged, jogging, leggings, luggage, muggy, nugget, piggy, ragged, shaggy, snuggle, suggest, trigger, wiggle.
LL: all, allow, balloon, bell, bill, call, cell, chill, collect, college, doll, fall, fill, follow, full, hall, hill, ill, jelly, kill, mall, mill, pill, pull, roll, sell, shell, skill, small, smell, spell, still, tall, tell, till, wall, well, will, yellow.
MM: common, comma, command, comment, committee, grammar, hammer, immediate, immigrant, mammal, mammoth, mummy, summer, swimming.
NN: anniversary, annual, announce, banner, beginner, bunny, cinnamon, connection, dinner, funny, inner, manner, runner, sunny, tunnel, winner.
OO: balloon, bamboo, book, boot, broom, choose, cook, cool, food, foot, good, goose, look, moon, noon, pool, room, school, spoon, stool, tooth, wood, wool, zoo.
PP: apple, appear, applause, apply, appointment, appreciate, happy, happen, hopping, pepper, puppy, shopping, slipper, support.
RR: arrive, arrow, barrier, berry, carry, cherry, correct, corridor, curry, hurry, marriage, mirror, narrow, parrot, sorry, tomorrow, worry.
SS: across, assess, assistant, bass, class, dress, glass, grass, guess, kiss, lesson, miss, missing, possible, press, process, success, toss.
TT: attention, attempt, attorney, battle, better, bottle, butter, button, cattle, cotton, kitten, letter, little, matter, pattern, pretty, settle, sitting, written.
Words with more than one double-letter pair
Balloon (LL, OO), bookkeeper (OO, KK, EE), coffee (FF, EE), committee (MM, TT, EE), greenness (EE, SS), Mississippi (SS, SS, PP), possession (SS, SS), successful (CC, SS), sweetness (EE, SS), and woolliness (OO, LL, SS). Bookkeeper has three consecutive pairs.
Why does a consonant sometimes double before a suffix?
A one-syllable word ending in a single consonant after a single short vowel often doubles that consonant before a vowel-initial suffix: big → bigger, hot → hotter, run → running, sit → sitting, stop → stopped, plan → planned. But look → looking and help → helping do not double. Longer words may depend on stress: begin → beginning, visit → visiting.
Practice
Underline double letters in a paragraph. Build hop → hopping and compare hope → hoping. Fill the gaps in a _ _ le (apple), ra _ _ it (rabbit), le _ _ er (letter), ba _ _ oon (balloon), and co _ _ ee (coffee). Read each completed word aloud.
Frequently asked questions
Are double letters pronounced twice?
Usually not as separate repeated consonants in ordinary English. The BB in rabbit and the EE in tree represent one consonant or vowel sound respectively.
Which word has three consecutive double-letter pairs?
Bookkeeper has OO, KK, and EE, and bookkeeping retains that pattern.
Why does running have two Ns?
The final N of run doubles before -ing under a common short-vowel spelling pattern.
Conclusion
Words with double letters become easier to spell when students group common letter pairs, compare word families, and learn how suffixes affect consonant spelling.
