Words in the left-hand columns obey the rule "I before E except after C"; those in the right-hand columns break it.
The green and red cells are the true and false instances of the restricted case in which the rule is most reliable, namely cases where the sound of the EI/IE grapheme is "EE": i.e. the lexical sets FLEECE, NEAR, or happY which spring from a common underlying archiphoneme (EE is the most unambiguous spelling for this archiphoneme: BEE, BEEF, BEER, CHEERFUL, COFFEE, COMMITTEE).
The thicker-bordered cells are words always pronounced with EE; the thinner borders have varying pronunciation.
The darker-bordered cells are for the broader codicil "or when sounded with A, as in neighbor or weigh". That version is misleading in particular with regard to spelling the PRICE vowel, where EI is more likely than IE except morpheme-finally.
| Sound | IE not after C: common | IE not after C: proper | EI after C: common | EI after C: proper | EI not after C: common | EI not after C: proper | IE after C: common | IE after C: proper |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FLEECE | achieve believe bonhomie bourgeoisie brief chief diesel fief field fiend frieze grief klieg lied lief liege lien mien niece piece priest relieve reprieve retrieve reverie shield shriek siege sortie spiel thief wiener wield yield | Baddiel Brie Dnieper Frieda Friel Galashiels Genevieve Gielgud Gottlieb Kiefer Kiel Liebermann Marie Niemoller Nielson Piedmont Schliemann Shiel Siemens Siegfried Van Diemen | ceiling conceive conceit deceive deceit perceive receive receipt | buddleia meiosis plebeian seize -p(o)eia (pharmacopoeia onomatopoeia ...) | Cassiopeia Eid Keith Leibowitz Leigh Leith McLeish Monteith Neil(l) Reid Sheila | |||
| NEAR | bier fierce pier pierce tier tierce -ˈier (bombardier brigadier cashier cavalier chandelier frontier fusilier gondolier grenadier vizier) | Algiers Kieran Kierkegaard Tangier | madeira oneiric speir weir weird | Keir | financier | |||
| happY | aerie boogie caddie calorie camaraderie caries collie coterie eerie hygiene prairie rabies series zombie -ie (auntie cookie goalie indie movie nightie sweetie yuppie ...) | Aries Geordie Indies McKenzie Siegfried Sophie Tolkien -ie (Charlie Jackie Julie Maggie ...) | counterfeit forfeit surfeit | Burleigh Raleigh | specie species -cy>-cies/-cied (policies fancied ...) | Gracie Runcie | ||
| FACE | ceilidh | abseil beige eight feign freight neighbour reign rein reindeer seine skein sleigh surveillance veil vein weigh | Hussein Leighton Leila Meiji Nikkei Pompeii Taipei Teignmouth | |||||
| SQUARE | capoeira cruzeiro heir their | Beirut Perreira | ||||||
| FLEECE or FACE | lingerie | heinous obeisance sheikh | ||||||
| NEAR or SQUARE | Deirdre | |||||||
| PRICE | die lie magpie pie tie -y>ied/ies (tried sties ...) | Fiennes | apartheid deixis edelweiss eider eidetic eigenvalue Geiger counter height kaleidoscope poltergeist rottweiler seismic sleight zeitgeist | Alzheimer Durkheim Eiffel Eileen Einstein Fahrenheit Heidi Heineken Heinz Klein Leipzig Poseidon Reich Reigate Reilly Streisand | ||||
| PRICE before /r/ | fiery hierarchy | eirenic epeiric | ||||||
| FLEECE or PRICE | either neither | Pleistocene Stein -stein (Bernstein ...) | ||||||
| DRESS | friend | heifer | Leicester Leinster | |||||
| FLEECE or DRESS | hygienic | leisure | ||||||
| KIT | handkerchief mischief sieve | |||||||
| FLEECE or KIT | Davies Menzies | |||||||
| FLEECE or TRAP+nasal | R(h)eims | |||||||
| FLEECE or separate segments | medieval | -cein(e) (fluoroscein) | -ein(e) (protein caffeine ...) | |||||
| NEAR or separate segments | brassiere premier | Napier Rainier | ||||||
| reduced vowel | foreign sovereign | Blenheim Madeleine Suleiman | -cient (sufficient ancient ...) | |||||
| separate segments of a single morpheme | alien client colliery crozier diet dossier faience fiesta milieu orient quiet science sienna sierra siesta soldier soviet spaniel view ˈ-ier (barrier clothier courier courtier dossier glazier haulier hosiery hotelier sommelier terrier) | Amiens Ariel Dalziel Damien Daniel Dieppe Gabriel Pierre O'Brien Olivier Oriel Vienna Vivien Xavier | eus>ei (nuclei) lei | concierge hacienda science | Lucien | |||
| separate morphemes | bi- (biennial) di- (dielectric) -ety (gaiety moiety piety society ...) -er (harrier skier supplier ...) -y>-ier/-iest (easiest happier ...) -ient (convenient patient ...) -ience (experience ...) -iem (requiem per diem) | albeit wherein re- (reinforce reiterate ...) -ing (being eyeing ...) -ist (ageist atheist) -ity (deity) | -cy>cier/-ciest (juicier raciest ...) | |||||
| multiple non-EE variants | pimiento variegate hotelier | gneiss seigneur | Alexei Beijing Brunei Khomeini Marseille(s) Sergei | glacier | ||||
| other sound or longer grapheme | lieutenant | Beirne |