When I was in the 5th grade, my girlfriend, Ana Maria del Rio was the smartest kid at our school. I suspect she let me win that year. TBH, the English language is a mess.
Cite, site, sight????
Threw, through???
How do you pronounce "lead" and "read"??? Reed, led......
I feel bad for people who have to learn English as a second language. When I learned Spanish later on, it became clear just how difficult English is.
I learned to read at a very early age (before 5.....my older sister taught me) and, early on, I was always mispronouncing words because I would speak them phonetically (ex When I read Thor comic books, puny mortal rhymed with funny mortal LOL). My family always got a big kick out of that, but I had a lot of encouragement. With English, you just have to learn the crazy. It doesn't have to make sense.
AND, BTW, swimsuit competitions need a separate thread.