Spelling Test Questions and Answers

Q: Find the correctly spelt word:

It is preposterous.From the Latin prae and posterus, before and after - something with the last part first, and so absurd.

Q: Find the correctly spelt word:

It is provincially.Built on provincial, which keeps its i; -ly is then added whole, giving the double l.

Q: Find the correctly spelt word:

It is psychiatry.The silent p is Greek, from psyche, the mind, with iatros, a healer. The same p opens psychology and pseudonym.

Q: Find the correctly spelt word:

It is psychopathology.Three Greek elements: psyche, pathos and logos - the study of the diseases of the mind. Each keeps its o joining vowel.

Q: Find the correctly spelt word:

It is puissance.Two s's, from the Old French for power - the same root as puissant. In show jumping it names the high-jump competition.

Q: Find the correctly spelt word:

It is pusillanimous.One l, from the Latin pusillus animus, small-souled - the exact opposite of magnanimous.

Q: Find the correctly spelt word:

It is Pyrrhonist.A follower of Pyrrho, the Greek founder of scepticism - the double r and the h both belong to his name, as they do to Pyrrhic.

Q: Find the correctly spelt word:

It is quarrelled.British usage doubles a final l before a suffix whatever the stress: travelled, cancelled, quarrelled. American usage writes quarreled.

Q: Find the correctly spelt word:

It is questionnaire.Two n's, from the French. The word looks English but keeps its French doubling and its -aire ending.

Q: Find the correctly spelt word:

It is quadrennial.Two n's, from the Latin annus - happening every four years. The a of annus is swallowed, but its doubled n remains, as in biennial and centennial.