Unit 19 - Spelling ge, gi and gy words - the soft g sound

The letter g is used to spell two sounds:

the hard sound /g/ as in go and gas
the 'soft' sound /j/ as in giraffe and stage

This unit covers the 'soft' sound of g.


/j/ as in giraffe	/j/ as in stage

We are now going to look at words where this sound appears at the end.

The sound /j/ can be spelled with either j or g.

No English word ends in j. The soft sound at the ends of words in English is spelled with ge.

In some words, the ge sound comes after the letter d:

badge

cadge

edge

ledge

Here, the letter d stops the vowel before it saying its name. We pronounce age with a long /a/ sound, because usually with a split digraph like a-e, the e makes the a say its name. But we say badge with a short vowel sound because the letter d stops the split digraph working.

There are three lists of -ge words below:

Words ending in ge.
Words ending in dge.
Words ending with the sound / i j/. This is usually spelled -age.


ge as in stage	dge as in bridge	age as in luggage
age cage page rage wage huge hinge fringe twinge plunge barge charge large merge verge forge gorge range change strange bulge scrounge challenge arrange emerge engage exchange diverge revenge orange	badge cadge edge dredge hedge ledge sledge wedge ridge midge dodge lodge splodge budge drudge fudge grudge judge nudge sludge smudge trudge cartridge partridge allege	baggage bandage blockage cabbage cottage courage damage foliage garbage hostage image manage message package passage postage sausage savage shortage storage village vintage voltage wreckage advantage average knowledge college privilege
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