Spelling Test Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Correct answer: Playwright

The correct spelling is playwright - ending in -wright, not -write. The reason is that a wright is a maker or builder, from the Old English wyrhta, and has nothing to do with writing. A playwright makes plays in the same way that a shipwright makes ships, a wheelwright makes wheels and a cartwright makes carts. All four survive as surnames. The word is a good illustration of how a familiar spelling can drive out the correct one: because playwrights obviously write, playwrite looks entirely reasonable and is very common. The silent w at the start of wright belongs to a small group: wrap, wrist, wrong, wreath, wrench and wry. The -ight ending with its silent gh is a further trap, shared with right, night and height.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Pneumonia

The correct spelling is pneumonia, beginning with a silent p before the n. The pn- is the English rendering of the Greek letter combination in pneumon, a lung, and the same root gives pneumatic, meaning worked by air. Greek pronounced both letters; English kept the spelling but dropped the first sound. A family of silent initial clusters comes from Greek and is worth learning together: pn- in pneumonia, ps- in psychology, psalm and pseudonym, pt- in pterodactyl and ptomaine, mn- in mnemonic, gn- in gnome, and rh- in rhythm. The vowel sequence eu is the second trap and is often transposed to ue; it appears the same way in pneumatic, neutral, neuron and therapeutic.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Independent

The correct spelling is independent, ending in -ent rather than -ant. The difficulty is that the final syllable is unstressed and reduced to a neutral vowel in speech, so the ear cannot distinguish the two endings. There is no general rule, though a partial guide helps: words from Latin verbs of the second and third conjugations tend to take -ent, and those from the first take -ant. A useful check here is the noun: independence ends in -ence, and adjectives in -ent pair with nouns in -ence, while those in -ant pair with -ance. So different and difference, but important and importance. Pairs that catch candidates out include persistent and resistant, existent and attendant, and descendant the noun against descendent the adjective.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Guerrilla

The correct spelling for irregular warfare is guerrilla - a double r and a double l. It is Spanish, a diminutive of guerra, war, meaning little war, and it entered English during the Peninsular War against Napoleon. The double r comes from guerra; the double l is the Spanish ll. Gorilla, the second option, is correctly spelt but is a different word entirely - the ape - and the two are pronounced almost identically, which makes them a favourite pair for examiners. The gu- at the start is the same French and Spanish device seen in guarantee, guard, guest and guitar, used to keep the g hard before a front vowel. The word is used attributively as well: guerrilla warfare, guerrilla tactics.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Camouflage

The correct spelling is camouflage - the vowel cluster ou in the middle, and the ending -age. It is French, from camoufler, to disguise, and entered English during the First World War, when the technique was first used systematically. Because the borrowing is recent, English kept the French spelling entirely intact. The -age ending, pronounced in the French manner in this word, belongs to a group of similar borrowings: sabotage, massage, garage, mirage, collage and entourage. The common errors either drop the u or add a second one before the ending. Reading the word as cam-ou-flage, in three parts, prevents both. It is used both as a noun and as a verb, and the participles are camouflaged and camouflaging.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Rhythm

The correct spelling is rhythm - famously one of the longest English words with no conventional vowel letter, since the y does all the vocalic work. It comes through Latin from the Greek rhuthmos, meaning measured flow, and the initial rh is the standard English rendering of the Greek letter rho with a rough breathing. A common mnemonic takes the initials of Rhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move. The rh- group is worth learning together, since every member is a spelling trap: rhetoric, rheumatism, rhinoceros, rhododendron, rhapsody and rhubarb. The adjective is rhythmic or rhythmical, keeping the same awkward cluster.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Argument

The correct spelling is argument - the e of argue is dropped before the suffix. The usual rule in English is that a silent final e is dropped before a suffix beginning with a vowel and kept before one beginning with a consonant: hope gives hoping but hopeful. Since -ment begins with a consonant, one would expect the e to stay - and it usually does, as in amusement, excitement and management. Argument is one of a small set of exceptions that drop it anyway. The others are judgment in its British legal spelling, acknowledgment, abridgment and truly from true. The related forms keep the same base: arguable, arguably, argumentative.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Conscience

The correct spelling is conscience, with the letter group sci in the middle. The difficulty is that sci is pronounced as a simple sh, so the ear gives no hint that a c and an s are both present. The derivation explains the letters: Latin con-, with, and scientia, knowledge - conscience is knowledge held together with oneself. Seeing science inside the word is the most reliable check: con-science. The same sci appears throughout the family: conscious, conscientious, omniscient, prescient and subconscious. Two of these are frequently confused in meaning as well as spelling: conscience is the moral sense, while conscious means aware. The adjective from conscience is conscientious, meaning diligent.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Aeroplane

The correct British spelling is aeroplane, beginning aero-. The prefix comes from the Greek aer, air, and appears throughout the family: aerodrome, aerodynamics, aeronautics, aerosol and aerobic. Recognising it as a single unit prevents the transposition to areo-, which is the commonest error and produces a meaningless sequence. The American form is airplane, which replaces the Greek prefix with the English word; both are current, but Indian examinations follow British usage. The second half is plane in the sense of a flat surface, from the Latin planus - the same root as plain, plan and explain. The wing is a flat plane, which is why the ending is -plane and not -plain. Note that aeroplane keeps the e that aerial and aeon also carry.

Answer: C

Correct answer: February

The correct spelling is February - with an r after the b, which almost nobody pronounces. The word comes from the Latin Februa, a Roman festival of purification held in the month, and the r belongs to that root. The reason it disappears in speech is dissimilation: when two r sounds fall close together, speakers tend to drop one, which is the same process that turns library into libry and governor into govnor in rapid speech. Pronouncing it deliberately as Feb-ru-ary when writing it is the surest safeguard. The ending is -ary, matching January, and both stand apart from the -ery group of cemetery, monastery and stationery. February is also the only month whose length varies, which is a separate matter but makes the word memorable.