The final syllable of little, table, purple and candle. Three letters, one syllable, and the e is silent.
Syllable rules
-ble -dle -tle -ple -kle -gle SYLL_CLE_01
Strong rule · High reliability · Common · Intermediate · Reading and spelling
/əl/ consonant + le: little, table, purple
Where Wiggler teaches it: Skill 12: Multisyllable Decoding
Child explanation
Little, table and purple all end with a chunk that is three letters and one beat: -tle, -ble, -ple.
The rule
A consonant followed by -le forms its own final syllable, pronounced as the consonant plus a syllabic /l/. Count back three letters from the end of the word to find it.
What is really going on
The e is silent and the l is syllabic — there is no vowel sound in the final syllable of little in careful speech, only an /l/ acting as one. The 'count back three' heuristic is reliable and is the fastest way for a child to find the boundary in a word like scramble.
Position in the word
Final syllable — The only position. For example: little, table, purple, candle.
When this rule works
The word ends in a consonant followed by le.
When this rule does not work
The word ends in -el or -al instead, which sound the same but split differently: camel, travel, animal, pedal.
The l follows a vowel rather than a consonant: while, smile, rule — those are VCe.
Made-up words that follow the rule. A child who reads these has the pattern rather than the vocabulary.
fable, nipple, grumble
Exceptions
-el and -al endings: camel, travel, tunnel, level, animal, pedal, medal, local. The same sound, a different spelling, and no rule to choose between them when writing.
Contrast pairs
little versus smile — C-le versus VCe — two consonants before the le blocks magic e.
table versus camel — -le versus -el, same sound.
Teacher note
Give children the count-back-three trick and let them use it on long words: s-c-r-a-m-b-l-e becomes scram + ble. It is mechanical, it works, and it turns an intimidating word into two known chunks. Note also that this is silent e's fourth job — it is there because English does not end a word in a bare l after a consonant.