This key facts covers Key spelling rules at a glance within Dictation spelling traps: homophones and silent endings for GCSE French. Revise Dictation spelling traps: homophones and silent endings in Dictation Technique for GCSE French with 15 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 3 of 4 in this topic. Use this key facts to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
📌 Key spelling rules at a glance
- a vs à — replace with avait: fits → no accent (a); doesn't fit → accent (à)
- et vs est — replace with était: fits → verb (est); doesn't fit → conjunction (et)
- on vs ont — replace with avaient: fits → verb (ont); doesn't fit → pronoun (on)
- son vs sont — replace with étaient: fits → verb (sont); doesn't fit → possessive (son)
- Silent -ent on ils/elles verbs — always write it even though you can't hear it
- -é not -er after avoir — il a mangé (past participle), not il a manger (infinitive)
- leurs vs leur — plural noun after it → leurs; singular noun → leur
- ç before a, o, u when sound is /s/ — français, garçon, leçon, ça
- s'appelle — double pp AND double ll — one of the most mis-spelled words at GCSE
- peut-être — always hyphenated
Practice questions for Dictation spelling traps: homophones and silent endings
In French dictation, which sentence uses 'à' (with accent) correctly?
Which sentence uses 'où' (with accent) correctly?
Quick recall flashcards
beaucoup
a lot / much — commonly misspelled: NOT 'bocoup' or 'boucoup'. Think: beau + coup (beautiful + blow)
aujourd'hui
today — commonly misspelled in dictation. Note the apostrophe. NOT 'aujourdui' or 'aujourd hui'.