British and American spelling

In this list, we will outline the rules concerning the main differences between British and American spelling.

Rules regarding the differences between British and American spelling will be shown below so that you can easily distinguish between American and British spelling or orthography.

It should also be noted that, although absolutely not obligatory, it pays to be consistent in your spelling, either following one or the other (American or British spelling), but not both at the same time.

The examples below are only a very small portion and do not include ALL the words.

Nouns ending in –ence in British English are –ense in American English:

British words ending in –our, end in –or in American English:

In British English, verb suffixes are spelt with –ise, whereas in American English it’s –ize at the end:

In British English, the ‘L’ is doubled in words ending in a vowel, plus ‘L’:

For example, fuel, travel, label, cancel etc. In American English, the ‘L’ is not doubled (the rule applies to the participle, gerund forms, and noun forms, if applicable)

In British English, verbs ending in –yse are spelt –yze in American English:

In British English, words spelt with the affix –ae or –oe change to an –e in American English:

In British English, some words that take only one ‘l’ can have two ‘ll’s’ in American English:

Nouns that end in –ogue in British English will normally take the –og ending in American English: