circling
PronouncedSER-kuh-lihng
nounMoving in a round path, or the motion of something that goes round and round.
nounSitting together in a circle while people take turns talking about their feelings or what has happened to them.
Syllables
2 syllables
Letters
Phonics breakdown
When C comes before the letters E, I, or Y, it makes the soft /s/ sound instead of the hard /k/ sound. This is called 'Soft C'.
Tip
C is soft before E, I, Y — the city is nice!
Examples
Phonics Rule: R-Controlled IR
Sound“er”·/ɜːr/
When R comes after I, it makes the “er” sound, like in 'bird' and 'first'.
IR makes the same “er” sound as ER and UR. There's no difference in pronunciation — only in spelling.
Tip
The bird in a shirt says “er”!
Examples
Phonics Rule: CL Blend
Sound“kl”·/kl/
C and L blend together — you hear both sounds! Like in 'class' and 'clean'.
The blend CL combines /k/ and /l/ spoken quickly together.
Examples
Phonics Rule: Suffix -ING
Sound“ing”·/ɪŋ/
Adding -ING to a verb shows something is happening right now, like 'running' and 'playing'.
The suffix -ing is added to verbs to show an ongoing action (present participle). Sometimes the base word changes: drop silent E ('make' → 'making'), double final consonant ('run' → 'running').
Examples
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