The manual, which is introduced by a chapter on the teaching of spelling, is divided into five sections: "Testing" - graded lists of words for testing spelling knowledge, with parallel lists for monitoring consolidation of learning; "Vowels" - word lists for use in teaching, covering all the vowel sounds of English and their related spelling patterns; "Consonants" - a similiar section covering all the consonant sounds and their related spelling patterns; "Homophones and Silent Letters"; and "Word Structure" - a section covering the more complex orthographic rules with lists of words for use in teaching.

There are page references throughout the manual and a complete word index at the end of the book, so teachers should have no difficulty in finding individual words.