Kilo Lingo
Spanish grammar Part of Chapter 50

CEFR B2

4 min read

Test yourself (27 questions)

Spanish Spelling Traps: b vs v, g vs j and the Silent h

By Michael McGettrick and Sergio Linares-HernandesUpdated 12 October 2026

Spanish is easy to read aloud: each letter has its sound. Spelling is the hard direction, because a few letters share one sound and your ear cannot choose between them:

Quick check

Three quick questions on what you have just read. The full practice is further down.

Spot the mistake

0/3

Tap the misspelt word.

the letter to learnwritten, not saidWhat do the colours mean?
  • . - The water comes out of the pipe.
  • . - Yesterday he/she had an exam. (same sound as )

Spanish spelling traps at a glance

Five traps are spelling only. The last one, r and rr, is a sound you can hear:

LettersSame sound?ExampleEnglish
b, valways, tube, had
hnever said, hello, wave
ll, yfor most speakers, went quiet, fell
g, jbefore e and i, people, boss
c, s, zin Latin America, Canaries, house, hunt
r, rrno: you can hear it, but, dog

B and V: one sound, two letters

the letter to learnwritten, not saidWhat do the colours mean?

Spanish b and v are the same sound. There is no English v anywhere in the language, so these pairs sound identical:

PairEnglish
, tube, he/she had
baca, roof rack, cow
, vellobeautiful, body hair
botar, to bounce, to vote
  • cowcow
  • tube, pipetube, pipe

Most words you simply learn. Three rules cover a good share of the rest:

RuleExamplesEnglish
b before a consonant, to speak, white
-aba (imperfect)I/he/she was singing
mb and nv, change, winter
  • . - In winter I used to talk to my neighbour.

Silent h, and ll or y

the letter to learnwritten, not saidWhat do the colours mean?

In standard Spanish the h is never said in native words. sounds exactly like :

  • ¡! . - Hello! Look at that wave.

That makes small words with the same sound:

SpellingMeaningExample
to . I'm going home.
has () . He/she has arrived.
oh¡, ! Oh, it's you!

(the verb behind ha and ) also sounds like (let's see):

  • . - There are going to be problems.
  • , ¿ ? - Let's see, what's going on?

The h inside ch belongs to a different sound (, boy), and a few loanwords such as hámster keep a breathy h.

For most speakers ll and y have merged into one sound too (yeísmo), so these two past tenses sound alike:

  • . - He/she fell off the bike. ()
  • . - He/she suddenly went quiet. ()

G and J before e and i

the letter to learnwritten, not saidWhat do the colours mean?

Before e or i, g and j are the same rasping sound, so you learn the word:

  • . - My boss is a really nice person.

Before a, o and u there is no clash: j rasps and g is hard. The vowel after the g decides its sound:

SoundBefore a, o, uBefore e, i
the j sound,
hard g
g + said u

To keep a g hard before e or i, Spanish adds a silent u. When that u is said, it wears two dots (the diaeresis):

  • . - I play the guitar.
  • . - I'm embarrassed.

Verbs change their spelling to keep their sound:

llegar, llegué: gu keeps the g hard before e
escoger, escojo: j keeps the rasp before o

Z, C and S

the letter to learnwritten, not saidWhat do the colours mean?

How these sound depends on where you are. In Latin America, the Canary Islands and much of Andalusia, c (before e or i), s and z are all an s sound (seseo). In the rest of Spain, z and c before e or i are the th of English think. Both are correct:

  • . - My house is nearby.
  • . - He/she likes hunting. (sounds like in seseo areas)

The spelling is the same everywhere, with one rule: z almost never stands before e or i, so it becomes c. And c turns into qu before e or i to keep its k sound:

luz, luces: z becomes c before e
BaseBefore eEnglish
light, lights
fish, fish (plural)
to start, I started
to look for, I looked for
  • . - Turn off the lights.

R and RR: the one you can hear

the letter to learnwritten, not saidWhat do the colours mean?

Between vowels, r is a single tap and rr a roll, and the difference changes the word:

  • . - The car is very expensive. (: Latin America)
  • , . - I have a dog, but I don't have a cat.
  • dogdog
  • carcar

Where r stands in the word decides the rest:

PositionWrittenExample
between vowelsr or rr (but), (dog)
start of a wordr, rolled (red)
after n, l or sr, rolled (around)

So rr is only ever written between two vowels, and never at the start of a word:

  • . - The rose is red. (both rolled, one r each)

Mistakes English speakers make

WrongRightWhy
imbiernon before v, never m
gefelearnt with j
a has is ha ()
(to greet)the silent h
luzesz becomes c before e
empezéz becomes c before e
buscéc becomes qu before e
rrosano rr at the start

What to do next

  1. Learn new words with their spelling, not just their sound: b or v, h or not.
  2. Do the sort and the word-build below.
  3. Then punctuation and capitalisation: the opening ¿ and ¡ and lowercase days and months.

Practise: test yourself

Sort into groups

0/6

Is the g hard (as in gato) or does it sound like j (as in gente)?

Tap a word, then the group it belongs in.

Spot the mistake

0/5

Tap the misspelt word.

Build the word

0/4

Build the word. Keep the sound, change the letter.

  1. lights (luz + plural)

    Accents optional

    Your word is empty.

  2. I started (empezar, yo, past)

    Accents optional

    Your word is empty.

  3. I looked for (buscar, yo, past)

    Accents optional

    Your word is empty.

  4. I arrived (llegar, yo, past)

    Accents optional

    Your word is empty.

Pick the right one

0/6

Choose the correctly spelt word for each sentence.

  1. Ayer un examen difícil. (he/she had)

  2. El domingo vamos a . (to vote)

  3. ¡! ¿Qué tal? (hello)

  4. Se de la bicicleta. (he/she fell)

  5. Quiero ver la . (giraffe)

  6. El ladra toda la noche. (dog)

Fill in the blank

0/6

Write out the correctly spelt word from the pair in brackets.

  1. El agua sale por el . (tubo or tuvo) (the pipe, not the past of tener)

    Accents count here

  2. La da leche. (baca or vaca) (the animal)

    Accents count here

  3. Hay mucha en la plaza. (gente or jente) (people)

    Accents count here

  4. La rompe en la playa. (hola or ola) (a wave, not a greeting)

    Accents count here

  5. Encendió la de la cocina. (lus or luz) (the light)

    Accents count here

  6. El vive en el hielo. (pinguino or pingüino) (the u is said, so it needs the two dots)

    Accents count here

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Frequently asked questions

Are b and v pronounced differently in Spanish?
No. In standard Spanish b and v are the same sound, and there is no English v anywhere in the language. That is why (tube) and (he/she had) sound identical. A few rules help: b before another consonant (, ), b in the -aba imperfect (), m before b and n before v (, ). The rest you learn word by word.
How do you know when to write g or j in Spanish?
Before e or i, g and j sound the same, the rasping sound in and , so you learn the word. Before a, o or u there is no clash: , , ju rasp (, , ) and ga, go, gu are a hard g (, ). For a hard g before e or i, Spanish adds a silent u: , . When that u is said, it takes two dots: .
Why is the h silent in Spanish?
It stopped being pronounced centuries ago, but the spelling kept it. In standard Spanish it is never said in native words: sounds exactly like (wave), and ha (has) like a (to). The h inside ch is part of a different sound, as in . Only a few loanwords, such as hámster, keep a breathy h.
Do c, s and z sound the same in Spanish?
In Latin America, the Canary Islands and much of Andalusia, yes: c before e or i, s and z are all an s sound (seseo), so (house) and (hunt) sound alike. In the rest of Spain, z and c before e or i are the th of English think. Both are correct, and the spelling is the same everywhere.
What is the difference between r and rr in Spanish?
Between vowels, r is a single tap and rr a roll, and the difference changes the word: (but) and (dog), (expensive) and (car). At the start of a word, or after n, l or s, a single r is already rolled: , , . So rr is only ever written between two vowels.