Spelling Test Questions and Answers

Answer: B

Correct answer: Renaissance

The correct spelling is renaissance - a single n at the start, a double s in the middle, and the ending -ance. It is French, meaning rebirth, from re-, again, and naître, to be born - ultimately the Latin nasci, which also gives nascent, native, nation and innate. The double s is French and is not signalled by the English pronunciation, which is why it is so often reduced. The temptation to double the n instead comes from words like rennet and from the general expectation that a doubled consonant follows a short vowel. Its close relative in difficulty is reconnaissance, which doubles both the n and the s. When it refers to the European cultural movement of the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries it takes a capital R; in the general sense of a revival it does not.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Perseverance

The correct spelling is perseverance - ending in -ance, and with no second r after perse-. Two errors are common. The first is writing -ence, by analogy with persistence and patience; the second is inserting an extra r to give perserverance, which the ear supplies because the word already contains two r sounds. It comes from the Latin perseverare, to persist, built on severus - the same root as severe, which is a useful check: the middle of the word is severe with its final e dropped. The verb is persevere, and it takes the preposition in or with: he persevered in his efforts. The -ance against -ence choice has no rule behind it and must be learned word by word.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Guarantee

The correct spelling is guarantee - gua- at the start, and -tee at the end. The commonest error is transposing the first two vowels to give gaurantee, because the u is silent and offers the ear no help. Holding the word guard in mind fixes it: both begin gua-, as do guardian, guardianship and guarantor. The gu- spelling before a is a French inheritance, used to keep the g hard; the same device appears in guest, guess, guitar, guild and guide. A related word worth distinguishing is warranty, which is the same word in origin - French garantie against Norman warantie - but which entered English by a different route and is spelt entirely differently.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Committee

The correct spelling is committee - a double m, a double t and a double e. Three doubled letters in one short word make it one of the most frequently misspelt in official English. The doubling of the t follows the ordinary rule: commit ends in a stressed syllable with a single vowel and a single consonant, so the consonant doubles before a suffix beginning with a vowel - hence committed, committing and committee. The double m comes from the Latin prefix com- assimilating before the m of mittere, to send. Note the contrast with commitment, which has only one t, because the suffix -ment begins with a consonant and the doubling rule does not apply. That pair - committee against commitment - is a favourite of examiners.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Exhilarate

The correct spelling is exhilarate - an a in the middle, a silent h after the ex, and a single l. The silent h is the feature most often dropped, since nothing in the pronunciation calls for it. It appears in a small group of words where the Latin prefix ex- meets an h: exhaust, exhibit, exhort and exhume. In all of them the h is written but not sounded. The word comes from the Latin hilaris, cheerful - the same root as hilarious and hilarity, which supplies both the a and the single l. The noun is exhilaration, keeping every letter. Note the contrast with accelerate and tolerate, which take -erate; this one does not.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Bourgeois

The correct spelling is bourgeois - keeping the French ou, ge and the final silent s. It is French, from bourg, a town, so a bourgeois was originally a townsman as distinct from a peasant or a noble. The same root gives the English place-name element -burgh and the word burgess. The form bourgeoise offered here is not a misspelling in itself but the feminine of the adjective, so it is wrong in a question asking for the standard form. The abstract noun is bourgeoisie, meaning the class as a whole, with a further ie at the end. The geo sequence gives a soft zh sound characteristic of French borrowings, as in rouge, garage and prestige. The word carries a strong sense in Marxist writing, where it names the capital-owning class opposed to the proletariat.

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.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Connoisseur

The correct spelling is connoisseur - a double n, a double s, and the French ending -eur. It is among the hardest words in English to spell from its sound, because none of the doublings is audible and the vowel cluster oi does not behave as an English reader expects. It is French, from an older spelling of connaisseur, built on connaître, to know - and that verb comes from the Latin cognoscere, the same root that gives English recognise, cognition and acquaint. The -eur ending places it with amateur, chauffeur, entrepreneur, masseur and saboteur, all French agent nouns kept whole in English. Its close relative in difficulty is reconnaissance, from the same verb, which doubles both the n and the s in the same way.

Answer: C

The misspelt word is maintenance, written here as 'Mentanence'.

It is built on maintain but drops the i of -tain before the ending: main-ten-ance.

Answer: D

The misspelt word is tuition, written here as 'Tution'.

From the Latin tueri, to watch over - the same root as tutor. The i before the -tion is what is dropped.