For an English speaking person it is often hard to hear the difference between ы and и sounds. 

Having learned the following spelling rule you will avoid some common mistakes in your written Russian.

 !

 After consonants г, к, х, ж, ш, щ, ч  do not write the letter ы. Whenever an [ы] or [и] sound 

 follows one of these letters, it is spelled и. This is called 7-letter spelling rule.

Practice reading words with consonants г, к, х, ж, ш, щ, ч  followed by и. Click each word to listen, then repeat.

Click the sentence to listen, then click again and say it with me. 

Kiev, guitar, gymnastics,  killer,  hippie, kilogram, kimono, giraffe, China, chips, Chicago, kilometre, chimpanzee, Chile,  chic.