Polish is quite similar, in a sense that if you hear a word you can write it down. However we have some letters that - while phonetically the same - are used i

Polish is quite similar, in a sense that if you hear a word you can write it down. However we have some letters that - while phonetically the same - are used in different cases. 'u' and 'ó', or 'rz' and 'ż', or 'h' and 'ch' Those are largely result of a Slavic country adapting Latin alphabet and over millennia trying to reconcile the two (clashing systems). The notations and pronunciations evolved slowly over the years and aforementioned are the remaining artifacts of the past. In primary and secondary schools you'd get orthography test when teachers dictates some silly story riddled with unusual, rare trap words where you 'guess' those interchangeable letters. (gżegżółka, or maybe: gżegrzółka, grzegżółka, grzegrzułka...) There was a push for a similar reform to sort this out but went nowhere. Partially due to tradition and partially that there would be clashes like 'może' - maybe, 'morze' - sea Both are pronounced the same, so if you drop 'rz' both words would have the same spelling.