Travel or travelled?
travelled is the simple past and past participle of travel. travel is also a noun: “The act of traveling; passage from place to place”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) travel is about 10 times as common as travelled.
What is the difference between travel and travelled?
| travel | travelled | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun | adjective, verb |
| Meaning | To be on a journey, often for pleasure or business and with luggage; to go from one place to another To pass from one place to another; to move or transmit The act of traveling; passage from place to place A series of journeys | simple past and past participle of travel UKStandard spelling of traveled |
| Example | John seems to spend as much time travelling as he does in the office | none recorded |
| Forms | travels, traveling, travelling, traveled, travelled | none |
| Pronunciation | /ˈtɹævəl/ | /ˈtɹævl̩d/ |
| In writing | 100 times per million words | 9.5 times per million words |
Sources: travel and travelled in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of travel and travelled
travel
- 1
To be on a journey, often for pleasure or business and with luggage; to go from one place to another
John seems to spend as much time travelling as he does in the office
- 2
The act of traveling; passage from place to place
I like travel, but it’s always too tiring
- 3
To pass from one place to another; to move or transmit
Soundwaves can travel through water
- 4
A series of journeys
I’m off on my travels around France again
- 5
To move illegally by walking or running without dribbling the ball
- 6
An account of one's travels
He released his travels in 1900, two years after returning from Africa
- 7
To travel throughout (a place)
I’ve travelled the world
- 8
The activity or traffic along a route or through a given point
travelled
- 1
UKStandard spelling of traveled
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, travel or travelled?
travel appears 100 times per million words; travelled 9.5 times per million words.
travel 100 times per million wordstravelled 9.5 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).