If you’re wondering whether you should use ‘spelt’ or ‘spelled’ in your writing, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll learn the difference between the two and when to use which. In short, ‘spelt’ and ‘spelled’ are both acceptable in British English, whereas only ‘spelled’ is correct in American English. Table of Contents ‘Spelt’ or ‘Spelled’ – What Does it Mean? When to Use ‘Spelt’ When to Use ‘Spelled’ Summary for ‘Spelt’ or ‘Spelled’ ‘Spelt’ or ‘Spelled’ – What Does it Mean? Firstly, let’s discuss the meaning of the word. ‘Spelt’ and ‘spelled’ are both past indefinite or past participle tenses of the verb ‘to spell.’ The primary meaning of the verb ‘to spell’ is to name or write the letters of a word in the correct order. But it can also be synonymous with “to signify.”
You can also pair the verb
Spell’ with ‘out’ to make the verb’ spell out.’ which means to explain in simple terms. The conjugation is the same in all three cases, and the same spelling rules apply. The thing with verbs is that they can be either regular or irregular, which will affect how you conjugate them. Regular verbs always take the ending -ed in the past tense. For example: Play → played Fix → fixed Realise → Realized In British English, ‘spell’ takes on both the regular ending (‘spelled’) and an irregular one (‘spelt’) when used in the past Australia Phone Number Data indefinite or past participle. In American English, ‘spell’ is a regular verb and a regular verb only, which is why ‘spelled’ is the only correct conjugation. When to Use ‘Spelt’ So as we’ve covered, you should only use ‘spelt’ if you’re based in the United Kingdom (or any country where they conventionally use British English spellings) or if you’re writing for a British audience.
Although there is one exception
That’s when using ‘spelt’ as a noun. That’s a type of wheat, and the spelling ‘spelt’ is universal. But in this article, I’m referring only to the spelling of the verb ‘to spell.’ Here are some examples of the verb ‘spelt’ in a sentence: The verb’ spell’ is spelt differently depending on which country you’re located in. Barry knew he’d dodged a bullet: turning in his assignment late spelt disaster. She was annoyed to see he AO Lists had once again misspelt her name. As you can see in the final example, the same spelling applies to the verb ‘misspell,’ which means to spell something incorrectly. When to Use ‘Spelled’ Knowing when to use ‘spelled’ is pretty straightforward since you can pretty much use it in any situation, provided that it’s the past indefinite or participle that’s required in the particular context. You can use it in British English as well as American English.
