ie or ei?

The words below are spelled correctly. Some are spelled with ie and some with ei. Can you work out what other factor distinguishes the two groups?

ei	ie
deceit	chief
perceive	retrieve
receive	brief
receipt	field
inconceivable	relief
	believe
	mischievous

The rule in operation here is often expressed as

i before e except after c

There are many more ie words than ei words, most of which derive from a single Latin root meaning take.

As usual, there are a few exceptions to the rule, which is often more fully stated as

i before e except after c and in seize

Seize is the most common exception. Others are weir, weird, either, neither. The rule is not intended to cover words with a different pronunciation, such as foreign, beige, inveigle.

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