

It wasn’t until 1893 that the use of “ spelled” began to pick up and dominate as the preferred spelling. If we look at Google Books Ngram Viewer, the prevalence of “ spelt” was much higher than “ spelled” for global English writings between 1600 and the late 19th century. Due to the influence of North American English ( which never uses “spelt”), “ spelled” is the more common past tense and past participle form of ‘ to spell’ for English world-wide. That’s not to say that “ spelt” is especially common. The Guardian and Observer Style Guide, for example, advises the use of “ spelled” for the past tense and “ spelt” for the past participle ( e.g., ‘spelled it out’ vs. However, both words still exist in The United Kingdom (UK), New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. “ Spelled” is the regular past tense and past participle form of ‘spell,’ and “ spelt” is the irregular form. For example, the verbs “ let” and “ quit” never change to “ letted” or “ quitted.” Spelled is regular, spelt is irregular Sometimes, a verb is irregular because it doesn’t change for the past tense or past participle at all. Irregular verbs with separate past tense and participle forms: Irregular verbs with non-standard past tense and past participle forms: For example, we always write the past participle/past tense form of “ work” as “ worked,” or “ walk” as “ walked.” Irregular verbs have non-standard endings or separate forms for the past simple tense and past participles. Regular English verbs end with ‘-ed’ for all past tense and past participle forms. “ Spelt” is indicative of British English, although “ spelled” is still more common.“ Spelled” is the preferred choice for English in the United States and Canada.

“ Spelt” and “ spelled” only occur as past tense and past participle forms when “spell” means ‘ to chronologically list letters of a word,’ or ‘ to explain’ and ‘understand.’.“ Spelt” is the irregular verb form of “ spell,” while “ spelled” is regular.The primary difference between the two words involves definition, regular vs. The words spelt and spelled are past participles of the verb spell, so English speakers use either term for the past tense. What is the difference between spelt and spelled ?
