Why is there a double "ll" in "bell"?

I am trying to understand some of the idiosyncrasies of the English language. One is the use of double consonants. Why does the word bell have two letter L?

Solution 1:

A handful of English consonant letters are often doubled when they come after a single vowel at the end of a word, especially in single-syllable words, or words that are stressed on the last syllable. The website "Logic of English" describes this:

We often double F, L, and S after a single vowel at the end of a base word.

If you follow the link, you'll see a list of many other common words ending in "ll"; this may help you to learn this spelling pattern. Note that it says "often" and not "always"; there are common words like "pencil" where the l is not doubled.

Here are other resources that describe this spelling pattern:

• http://www.allaboutlearningpress.com/content/downloads/AAS-L1-Step18.pdf
• http://www.phonicslessons.co.uk/englishspellingrules.html

There are many other reasons double consonants may be used in English. For example, double "ll" may also show up when you add a verb ending to a word ending in a single l (explained here: http://www.dailywritingtips.com/one-l-or-two/; there is also a Stack Exchange question about it here: When is "L" doubled?).