What are the spelling rules for the words with the 'ei' vowel cluster?

Answer:
The old rule, "i before e, except after c" is as valid as the other nonsense rules such as not beginning a sentence with "and" or "but" or "hopefully". And that's about the validity of those bogus rules.

Words such as weird, and many others, make fools of those who think there are rigid rules to the English language - a language made up of so many borrowed words that spelling was, until quite recently, optional.

We'd have trouble reading Chaucer or Shakespeare in their original manuscripts; like other literate English people they considered the spelling of even their own names less important than the ideas they were attempting to convey. Not a bad outlook, really.

Good spelling matters today, and its effect upon people is important; they form opinions of others from spelling and grammar, and general literacy.

When in doubt, consult a dictionary. OneLook is good because it trawls many other dictionaries and also uses fuzzy searching where necessary.

God is good. :]

First answer by Patwoods. Last edit by RyanRoyalty. Contributor trust: 5 [recommend contributor recommended]. Question popularity: 3 [recommend question].