It is, after all, an extremely difficult language. Consider this –

Banana. A word with 3 different “a” sounds in one word.

Pedal and petal. One pronounced “dle” and the other, with the same spelling, “tal”.

And these with different spellings but the same sound.

paws & pause

aloud & allowed

hair & hare

horde & hoard

kernel & colonel

knead & need

right & write

stationery & stationary (tip: remember pens and pencils have an “e” and they are station-e-ry)

chili & chilly

led & lead (the metal). Compare lead, the present tense of led.

lye and lie

piece & peace

one & won

two & too & to

for & four & fore

eight & ate

It’s interesting that there’s no such thing as a spelling test in Italy, because that language is spelt exactly the way it is spoken and spoken exactly the way it is spelt.