Unit 29: Word ending: -ous, -us
Page 7 of 9
As you’ve seen, adding ous to a root word ending in y
gives the ending ious:
fury + ous = furious | glory + ous = glorious |
There are words where the same /ious/ sound is spelt eous:
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When ous follows the letter u, then you can hear the u say its name clearly. We've included examples of all three in the table below.
eous as in hideous | ious as in hilarious | uous as in strenuous |
aqueous courteous erroneous gaseous instantaneous miscellaneous nauseous simultaneous spontaneous |
amphibious bilious curious copious delirious devious dubious furious harmonious impervious ingenious laborious melodious notorious oblivious obvious precarious previous rebellious serious studious supercilious tedious uproarious various victorious |
ambiguous arduous conspicuous contemptuous continuous deciduous impetuous incongruous innocuous sumptuous superfluous tempestuous tenuous tortuous tumultuous virtuous |
bounteous piteous plenteous |
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courageous gorgeous outrageous |
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Note: Words ending in the /shƏs/ sound are spelled cious or tious. These words are in Unit 30. |
You have not completed Learn the Words activities for each word list on this page.
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a final test on the endings us ous eous ious uous
The Spellzone interactive course is intended to be used online and may not be printed.
"This is a fantastic opportunity for our students! I'm sure Spellzone will be invaluable in helping them to improve their spellings and therefore improve the quality of their writing in all subject areas!"
Teacher, High School, UK