Spelling Test Questions and Answers

Q: Find the correctly spelt word:

It is passenger.Two s's and an n that does not belong to the root - the word was passager, and the n crept in as it did in messenger and scavenger.

Q: Find the correctly spelt word:

It is barbarian.Two a's in the first two syllables. The Greeks called foreigners barbaroi from the bar-bar sound their speech made to Greek ears.

Q: Find the correctly spelt word:

Correct answer: SilhouetteThe correct spelling is silhouette - a single l, the sequence hou, and a double t before the final e. The word is French and comes from a proper name: Étienne de Silhouette, a French finance minister of 1759 whose severe economies made his name a byword for anything done cheaply - and a shadow profile was the cheapest kind of portrait. Because it is a surname, no English spelling rule applies, and the letters must simply be memorised. The silent h and the -ette ending are the two features most often lost. The -ette ending is a French diminutive found in cigarette, omelette, palette, vignette and statuette. Other English words derived from people’s names include boycott, sandwich, guillotine, pasteurisation and mesmerise.

Q: Find the correctly spelt word:

It is accompany.Two c's, one m. From the Latin cum panis, with bread - a companion is one you break bread with, and to accompany is to go with.

Q: Find the correctly spelt word:

It is obstreperous.From the Latin ob and strepere, to make a noise - noisily unruly. The order is -stre-, which is what most misspellings transpose.

Q: Find the correctly spelt word:

It is skeleton.From the Greek skeletos, dried up. Three e's, one in each of the first three syllables.

Q: Find the correctly spelt word:

It is caterpillar.Two l's at the end. The word is probably from the Old French chatepelose, hairy cat.

Q: Find the correctly spelt word:

It is battalion.Two t's and one l. It comes through French from the Italian battaglione, a body drawn up for battle.

Q: Find the correctly spelt word:

It is thesaurus.Greek for a treasure house - the same word as treasure, through Latin. Its plural is thesauri or thesauruses.

Q: Find the correctly spelt word:

It is manageable.The e of manage is kept before -able to preserve the soft g. The same rule gives noticeable and changeable.

251.

Find the correctly spelt word:

A.Passenger
B.Pessenger
C.Pesanger
D.Pasanger

Answer: A

It is passenger.

Two s's and an n that does not belong to the root - the word was passager, and the n crept in as it did in messenger and scavenger.

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252.

Find the correctly spelt word:

A.Barbarien
B.Barberien
C.Barberian
D.Barbarian

Answer: D

It is barbarian.

Two a's in the first two syllables. The Greeks called foreigners barbaroi from the bar-bar sound their speech made to Greek ears.

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253.

Find the correctly spelt word:

A.Silhouette
B.Silhoutte
C.Sillhouette
D.Silhouete

Answer: B

Correct answer: Silhouette

The correct spelling is silhouette - a single l, the sequence hou, and a double t before the final e. The word is French and comes from a proper name: Étienne de Silhouette, a French finance minister of 1759 whose severe economies made his name a byword for anything done cheaply - and a shadow profile was the cheapest kind of portrait. Because it is a surname, no English spelling rule applies, and the letters must simply be memorised. The silent h and the -ette ending are the two features most often lost. The -ette ending is a French diminutive found in cigarette, omelette, palette, vignette and statuette. Other English words derived from people’s names include boycott, sandwich, guillotine, pasteurisation and mesmerise.