The rune for W is ᚹ.
Notice that this rune looks like a P, but it is not. Maybe think of a flag waving in the air ᚹ.
will
wheel
wick
week / weak
That last one was interesting, right? Since we are spelling according to sound, we will have more homophones (words that sound the same, but mean different things) look the same. Puns are about to get a lot more fun.
The rune for the vowel in dress is ᛖ.
pet
well
wreck
Remember the y rune that turned “i” into “ee”? We can also attach that on the end of this one! Try to guess what sound it will make:
lay
tray / Trey
wait
pale / pail
Did that last one sound like “pay-ul”? Just like “teal” from last lesson, when an L sound comes after a Y sound we sometimes pronounce a little “uh” in between.
tale / tail
The rune for the y sound at the end of happy is ᛄ.
kitty
picky
Why not just use “ᛁᛡ” or “ᛁ”? Well, this “happY” sound could be either of those (or something else all together!), depending on your accent. So this rune represents “whichever sound you make for that”.
leaky
The rune for M is ᛗ.
mitt
meek
milk
met
tame
male / mail
When an ᚱ comes after ᛖ, it can have two different sounds. It could sound like the word “merry” or the name “Mary”. Some accents don’t distinguish between these two and they both sound like “Mary”! But since some accents do distinguish them, we must account for it.
merry
Mary
It’s sort of like the situation with ᛁᛁᚱ, remember?
If you’re not sure which spelling to use, just use ᛖᛖᚱ. But there are some hints.
ᛖᚱ is spelled in Latin letters with “-er-“ or “-err-“.
ᛖᛖᚱ is usually spelled in Latin letters with “-ar-“, “-air-“, or “-ear-“
care
rare
air / heir
where / ware