-cede, -ceed or -sede

This is one of the few endings English settles outright. Only exceed, proceed and succeed take -ceed, and only supersede takes -sede; everything else is -cede.

Only one word ends in -sede: supersede. Three end in -ceed: exceed, proceed and succeed. The rest of the family takes -cede: accede, cede, concede, intercede, precede, recede, secede.

Precede and proceed sound alike and differ in both halves, so they are worth learning as a pair. And procedure has one E where proceed has two.

Seed, as in a plant's seed, is not part of the family; its ending only sounds the same. Supersede is the one member spelled with an S, which is why it is the one to learn first.

A closed list this short is the case where memorizing is the whole job. How memorizing a spelling works, and why testing yourself beats rereading, is on what makes spelling practice work.

• Double letters
• Unstressed vowels
• Silent letters
• Same sound, different letters
• Silent E
• I before E
• -able or -ible
• -ance or -ence
• -ant or -ent
• -tion or -sion
• -ary, -ery or -ory

All spelling traps and origins