Here is a list of Hard C & soft C words. It includes the hard C soft C themed 2nd grade spelling list.
Hard C Soft C Rule
The general rule is:
If the vowel after the C is A, O, or U, the C has a hard sound. If the vowel after the C is E, I, or Y, its sound is soft.
A Silly Trick
To help my daughter remember which vowels make the C soft or hard, I came up with a bit of a silly saying. It’s silly but it does help her always remember which vowels are which.
We call them “Riley” letters. “There’s a little girl named Riley and she’s so soft and sweet, everybody else is hard.”
The vowels in the name Riley are I E and Y. They make the C soft. All the other vowels A, O & U make the C hard.
The same rule also applies for the letter G, and also both C and G in french as well, so it’s a rule she’s had to learn well.
If you have any tricks to remembering the rule, feel free to share in the comments below.
Hard C Words
Here is a list of hard C words:
CA words
- cake
- calm
- camel
- castle
- car
- card
CO words
- cobra
- cold
- comb
- cone
- corn
- cotton
CU words
- cub
- cube
- curb
- curl
- cup
- curtain
- curve
- cut
Soft C Words
Here is a list of soft C words:
CE words
- bounce
- celery
- cell
- cement
- cent
- cereal
- cedar
- ceiling
- celery
- cement
- center
- dance
- face
- fence
- ice
- juice
- lace
- lettuce
- mice
- police
- price
- princess
- rice
- sentence
- slice
- space
- trace
- twice
CI words
- acid
- cider
- cinema
- cinnamon
- citrus
- city
- decide
- icing
- pencil
- recipe
CY words
- cyan
- emergency
- fancy
- icy
- juicy
- mercy
- spicy
Hard C and Soft C Words
Some words have both a hard C and a soft C. Here are some of those words:
- cancel
- circle
- circus
- concern
- concert
- cycle
- cyclone
- circumstance
- inconvenience
Hard C / Soft C Spelling Words
Here are the hard C and soft C 2nd grade spelling words for week 9:
Hard C
- because
- cake
- care
- cook
- cry
Soft C
- city
- nice
- place
- race
Hard and Soft C
- circus
Review Words
Here are the optional review words, or words previously learned, that you can include as a review in this weeks spelling if you so desire. They all are hard c & soft c words.
Grade 1 Review Words
Grade 2 Review Words
Here’s a fun hard c soft c word search perfect for 2nd graders learning the two sounds the letter C makes.