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PlainSpell

spelling

spell·ing/ˈspɛl.ɪŋ/noun, verb

spelling is spelled S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G: 8 letters and 2 syllables (spell·ing). It appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,121st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, spelling means “The act, practice, ability, or subject of forming words with letters, or of reading the letters of words; orthography” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of spelling is spellings.

How many letters and syllables are in spelling?

Letters8: S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G
Syllables2: spell·ing
In writing10 times per million words; the 7,121st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is spelling?

Spelling appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,121st most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce spelling?

  • US /ˈspɛl.ɪŋ/

Spelling has 2 syllables, split spell·ing in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-spelling.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of spelling

  • spellings plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does spelling mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The act, practice, ability, or subject of forming words with letters, or of reading the letters of words; orthography.

  2. 2

    The manner of spelling of words; correct spelling.

  3. 3

    A specific spelling of a word.

    [p 253] *excellent Q2’s ‘extent’ is generally dismissed as an error, probably a mis-reading of ‘exlent’, a common spelling at this time. [p 269] reverend The spellings ‘reuerent’ (Q2) and ‘Reuerend’ (F) were interchangeable at this time. [p

  4. 4

    USdatedrareA spelling test or spelling bee.

    The boys were anxious for a spelling in the evening but I said no.

  5. 5

    A choice of notation among enharmonic equivalents for the same pitch.

verb

  1. 1

    present participle and gerund of spell (a form of spell)

    [p 88] A persuasive theory about the authority of the quarto or Folio texts might shed light on how Shakespeare actually spelt these names in a particular manuscript, but, since Shakespeare seemed capable of spelling his own name differentl

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate spelling?

Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of spelling: sp, sp..

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Spelling in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanBuchstabieren (the act of forming words with letters, the act…), Rechtschreibung, Orthografie (the practice, ability, or subject of forming…), richtige Buchstabierung (manner of spelling of words; correct spelling)
Spanishdeletreo, espeleo (the act of forming words with letters, the act…), grafía (a specific spelling of a word)
Frenchorthographe (the practice, ability, or subject of forming…), graphie (a specific spelling of a word)
Portuguesesoletração, ortografia (the practice, ability, or subject of forming…), grafia (a specific spelling of a word)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does spelling come from?

1400s, from spell (verb) + -ing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after spelling