Spelling Test Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Correct answer: Embarrass

The correct spelling is embarrass, with a double r and a double s. It is among the most misspelt words in English precisely because both doublings must be remembered and neither is heard in speech. A common mnemonic is that being embarrassed makes you really red and seriously sad - two rs and two ses. The word came through French from the Spanish embarazar, to impede, and its original sense was to hamper rather than to shame. It belongs with the other double-double words that are regularly reduced by one letter: accommodation with two cs and two ms, possession, assassination, millennium and committee. The related forms keep both doublings: embarrassed, embarrassing, embarrassment.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Occurrence

The correct spelling is occurrence - two cs, two rs, and the ending -ence. The double r follows a real rule. When a word ends in a stressed syllable with a single vowel and a single consonant, that consonant is doubled before a suffix beginning with a vowel. Occur is stressed on the last syllable, so it gives occurred, occurring and occurrence. The same rule explains refer giving referred and begin giving beginning - and equally why offer, stressed on the first syllable, gives offered with a single r. The ending is -ence, not -ance, which simply has to be learned; the same applies to preference, reference and difference. Note that preference and reference drop the doubling, because the stress shifts back to the first syllable when the suffix is added.

Answer: A

It is grief.

I before e except after c: grief, brief, believe and receive all follow the rule, and the three wrong options all break it.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Parallel

The correct spelling is parallel - one r, then a double l, then a single l. The pleasing mnemonic is that the word contains a pair of parallel lines in the middle: the two ls of parallel stand side by side, and the last l stands alone. It comes from the Greek para, beside, and allelos, one another - the all- of that second element supplying the double l. The same para appears in parachute, paragraph, paramedic and paradox, all with a single r. The derived forms are tricky in their own right. Parallelogram keeps the same arrangement, and paralleled and paralleling do not double the final l, contrary to the usual British habit of doubling before a vowel suffix - because the stress falls on the first syllable.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Miscellaneous

The correct spelling is miscellaneous - a double l, and the full ending -eous rather than -ous. It comes from the Latin miscere, to mix - the same root as miscible, promiscuous and mixture. The base noun is miscellany, a collection of assorted items, and holding that word in mind supplies the double l. The ending is the second difficulty. English has three that sound alike: -eous as in courageous and gaseous, -ious as in various and curious, and -uous as in continuous and strenuous. There is no rule that decides among them, so each word must be learned. The adverb is miscellaneously, keeping every letter.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Conscious

The correct spelling is conscious, with the letter group sci in the middle. The trouble is that sci here is pronounced as a plain sh, so nothing in the sound suggests that both a c and an s are present. The derivation supplies them: Latin con-, with, and scire, to know - the same root as science. Seeing sci from science inside the word is the surest check. The whole family shares the cluster: conscience, conscientious, subconscious, omniscient and prescient. Two of them are confused in meaning as well as in spelling. Conscious means aware; conscience is the moral sense. The adjective formed from conscience is conscientious, meaning diligent - not conscious, which has no such sense.

Answer: A

It is occasion.

Two c's and one s, from the Latin occasio. The commonest error is to double the s instead.

Answer: A

It is entrepreneur.

French, from entreprendre, to undertake. The re appears twice in the middle: en-tre-pre-neur.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Embarass

Embarass is the misspelling. The correct form is embarrass, with a double r and a double s. The mnemonic is that being embarrassed makes you really red and seriously sad. The other three are correctly spelt, and every one of them turns on a doubling that English pronunciation does not signal. Millennium doubles both the l and the n, from the Latin mille, a thousand, and annus, a year. Questionnaire doubles the n, inherited straight from French. Reconnaissance doubles both the n and the s and is among the hardest words in the language to spell from its sound alone; it too is French, and shares its root with recognise. The lesson the set teaches is that doubled letters in borrowed words follow the source language, not the English ear.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Grammer

Grammer is the misspelling. The correct form is grammar, ending in -ar. The mnemonic that works is that grammar is about arranging words, and that gram-mar contains no e at all. The other three are correctly spelt and share the same awkward ending. Calendar ends in -ar and is often written calender, which is in fact a different word meaning a machine for pressing cloth. Similar and familiar also end in -ar. The -ar, -er and -or endings all reduce to the same neutral vowel in speech, which is why this group is a favourite with examiners. Words in -ar include grammar, calendar, similar, familiar, particular, peculiar, regular, burglar, scholar and vinegar.