Spelling Test Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Correct answer: Beleive

Beleive is the misspelling. The correct form is believe, which follows the rule i before e except after c. Ceiling, the fourth option, is the other half of the same rule and is correctly spelt: the ei follows a c. The two words together make the rule easy to hold - believe with no c takes ie, ceiling with a c takes ei. The rule has many exceptions, and the common ones are worth listing: foreign, neighbour, weight, height, their, seize, weird, leisure, either, neither, protein, caffeine and species. Parallel is correctly spelt too and repays notice: one r and two ls in the middle, then a single l at the end - and the double l sits in the middle just as two parallel lines would.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Occassion

Occassion is the misspelling. The correct form is occasion - a double c but a single s. That arrangement is the reverse of what the ear expects, and it is the opposite of necessary, which has one c and two ses. Learning the two together is the most reliable way to keep them apart. The other three are correctly spelt and each has its own doubling to remember. Tomorrow has one m and two rs - not tommorrow, which doubles the wrong letter. Address has a double d and a double s. Business is built on busy, whose y becomes i, giving the sequence busi-ness that its pronunciation entirely conceals.

Answer: A

Meaning: Efficient means (of a system or machine) achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense or (of a person) working in a well-organized and competent way..

Answer: A

Correct answer: Vacuum

The correct spelling is vacuum - one c and two us. It is among the very few English words containing a double u, the others being continuum, residuum and menstruum. All are Latin neuter nouns whose -uum ending English kept intact. The commonest error doubles the c instead, by analogy with vaccine and vaccination - which are entirely unrelated. Those come from the Latin vacca, a cow, because the first vaccine was derived from cowpox; vacuum comes from vacuus, empty, the same root as vacant, vacate and evacuate. Keeping the two roots apart - vacca the cow with two cs, vacuus the emptiness with one - disposes of the error for good. The plural is vacuums in ordinary use and vacua in scientific writing.

Answer: C

It is ominous.

One m, one n. It is built on omen, which keeps its single consonants before the -ous.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Diarrhoea

The correct British spelling is diarrhoea - a double r, an h after it, and the vowel pair oe at the end. It comes from the Greek diarrhoia, from dia, through, and rhein, to flow - the same rh as in rhythm, rheumatism and haemorrhage. The oe is a Greek diphthong that British English preserves and American English simplifies to a plain e, giving diarrhea. The same split runs through the medical vocabulary: oesophagus and esophagus, foetus and fetus, anaemia and anemia, paediatric and pediatric. Indian examinations follow the British forms. The doubled r with a following h also appears in haemorrhage, catarrh and myrrh, all of them Greek in origin.

Answer: D

It is treacherous.

Built on treachery, which keeps all three of its syllables - treach-er-ous. The word comes from the Old French trichier, to cheat.

Answer: D

It is forecast.

Fore- meaning beforehand, plus cast in the old sense of reckoning. No e in the middle and none at the end.

Answer: D

It is rigorous.

The u of rigour is dropped before the -ous ending, exactly as in humorous, vigorous and glamorous.

Answer: C

It is palate.

The palate is the roof of the mouth and so the sense of taste. A palette holds a painter's colours and a pallet is a bed or a platform - three words often confused.