There are a handful of mneumonic tricks for keeping track of these sorts of 'difficulties' with the language.
As in "I before E except after C or sounding like A as in neighbor and weigh".*
Many find it equally difficult to differentiate between Accept and Except; so I offer this: remember that to Accept is a very Active operation.
Perhaps that is a poor example but the firs that comes to mind.
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*This relates directly to one of my personal peeves. The song that is associated with the US Navy is "Anchors Aweigh" but so often (mis)stated as Anchors Away.

"I am certain there is too much certainty in the world" -Michael Crichton