01/10/2026
✨ two, twice, twin, twenty, between ✨
✨ two, to, too ✨
Do you know why these words are spelt like this?
Sometimes, letters can have functions that have nothing to do with representing the sounds of words (Bowers, 2017).
The ✨ w ✨in two is an etymological marker (meaning a silent letter that doesn’t represent a spoken sound) that links it to other words that deal with two things, eg:
two times
consisting of two, double
two groups of ten
in the space which separates two things
🔎 ALSO these words all come from the same root word ‘dwo’, which means two. This is from the ancient language that English evolved from (Proto-Indo-European).
The other reason for the w in two is to distinguish it from its homophones (words that sound the same but have different meanings, and are often spelt differently):
Children learning to read and spell need to know how the writing system works (Rayner et al., 2001). This means they need to be given the necessary tools to understand:
1️⃣ The sounds that letters make (phonics)
2️⃣ The parts of words and how they work together (morphology)
3️⃣ The history of words and how they came to be (etymology).
2 and 3 can sometimes be forgotten about, but they provide so much valuable information for learners!!
