You may have noticed that British English and American English speakers not only have different accents, but they also have different ways of spelling some of the same words.  This certainly can be confusing at times, even for me, which is why I thought I would take the time to explain some of these spelling differences over my next few blog posts.  Luckily for us there are some dependable rules that govern many of these cross-Atlantic spelling differences.  Today I am going to focus on some common words that don’t fit the rules, but are words that have spelling difference in the United States and Great Britain.  In the following two blog posts I am going to highlight the more predictable rules related to British English and American English spelling differences.

dependant/dependent: This word can be either an adjective (which means contingent on something) or a noun (which means a person who relies on another person for financial support).   The British distinguish between dependent (the adjective) and dependant (the noun) based other spelling. In the United States, dependent is the only spelling of this word regardless of how it is used.

disc/disk: Generally, disc is considered a more British spelling of this word, while disk is the American spelling.  This word is generally used to refer to computer and music storage devices and instruments.  The term Compact Disc (CD) is a trademark word and thus this spelling of disc is used both in the United States and Britain.

enquiry/inquiry: Many in Britain indicate a difference between inquiry (which means a formal inquest) and enquiry (which means the act of questioning). In the United States, the word inquiry is more commonly used and enquire is not used.  The major exception to this usage in the United States is the name of a magazine called the National Enquirer.

ensure/insure: In Britain the word ensure (which means to make sure) has a different meaning from the word insure (which means to guarantee or protect against something, for example home insurance). In America the spellings of ensure and insure are interchangeable when you are using the word to mean: to make sure of something.  But in some instances in American English ensure may imply that there is a guarantee and insure sometimes stresses the taking of necessary measures beforehand.

gray/grey: In the United States gray is the more common spelling of this color word, while grey, is more common in Britain.

insurance/assurance: Both of these words are associated with risk and the transfer of risk by paying money to help plan for unexpected damage or change. American English speakers generally use the word insurance to cover all risks in this category, for example: life insurance or fire insurance. British English speakers use the word assurance to refer to risk associated with certainty, such as death (death is inevitable) and they used insurance to refer to risk and uncertainty, such as fire insurance (a fire in a house is uncertain).

programme/program: In British English, program is the common spelling for computer programs, but for all other meanings of this word the spelling that should be used is programme.  In American English program is the only spelling for this word.

tonne/ton: In Britain the word tonne refers to the metric unit (1000 kilograms).  In the United States this same unit of measure is called a ton or a metric ton.

Because these and other spelling differences are so much a part of the grammar of these two cultures, spell check programs for writing documents and emails have to be created differently for the two different groups of English speakers.  Since I am typing this in America, all of the British versions of these words are considered misspelled on my computer, while the American versions of these words are considered correct.

If you are looking for more resources to learn English be sure to check out all that Transparent Language has to offer.