American and British English spelling differences

Miscellaneous spelling differences

UK	US	Remarks
adze	adz, adze	Adz is more common in the US.
annexe	annex	To annex is the verb in both British and American usage; however, when speaking of an annex(e) – the noun referring to an extension of a main building, not a military or political conquest, which would be an annexation – the root word is usually spelled with an -e at the end in the UK, but in the US it is not.
artefact	artifact	In British usage, artefact is the main spelling and artifact a minor variant.[119] In American English, artifact is the usual spelling. Canadians prefer artifact and Australians artefact, according to their respective dictionaries.[120] Artefact reflects Arte-fact(um), the Latin source.[121]
axe	ax, axe	Both the noun and verb. (The word comes from Old English æx). In the US, "axe" sometimes refers to the weapon while "ax" refers to the tool, though both spellings are acceptable and commonly used.
camomile, chamomile	chamomile, camomile	In the UK, according to the OED, "the spelling cha- is chiefly in pharmacy, after Latin; that with ca- is literary and popular". In the US chamomile dominates in all senses.
cheque	check	In banking. Hence pay cheque and paycheck. Accordingly, the North American term for what is known as a current account or cheque account in the UK is spelled chequing account in Canada and checking account in the US. Some American financial institutions, notably American Express, prefer cheque, but this is merely a trademarking affectation.
chequer	checker	As In chequerboard/checkerboard, chequered/checkered flag, etc. In Canada as in the US.[122] While "checker" is more common in the US, "chequer" is used in the UK.
chilli	chili	The original Mexican Spanish word is spelled chile.[122][123] In Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, chile and chilli are given as also variants.
cipher, cypher	cipher
cosy	cozy	In all senses (adjective, noun, verb).
doughnut	doughnut, donut	In the US, both are used with donut indicated as a variant of doughnut.[124] In the UK, donut is indicated as an American variant for doughnut.[125]
draught	draft	British English usually uses draft for all senses as the verb;[126] for a preliminary version of a document; for an order of payment (bank draft), and for military conscription (although this last meaning is not as common as in American English). It uses draught for drink from a cask (draught beer); for animals used for pulling heavy loads (draught horse); for a current of air; for a ship's minimum depth of water to float; and for the game draughts, known as checkers in America. It uses either draught or draft for a plan or sketch (but almost always draughtsman in this sense; a draftsman drafts legal documents). American English uses draft in all these cases, including draftsman (male or female) (although in regard to drinks, draught is sometimes found). Canada uses both systems; in Australia, draft is used for technical drawings, is accepted for the "current of air" meaning, and is preferred by professionals in the nautical sense.[127] The pronunciation is always the same for all meanings within a dialect (RP /ˈdrɑːft/, General American /ˈdræft/). The spelling draught is older; draft appeared first in the late 16th century.[128]
gauntlet	gauntlet, gantlet	When meaning "ordeal", in the phrase running the ga(u)ntlet, some American style guides prefer gantlet.[129] This spelling is unused in Britain[130] and less usual in America than gauntlet. The word is an alteration of earlier gantlope by folk etymology with gauntlet ("armored glove"), always spelled thus.
glycerine	glycerin, glycerine	Scientists use the term glycerol, but both spellings are used sporadically in the US.
grey	gray	Grey became the established British spelling in the 20th century, pace Dr. Johnson and others[131], and it is but a minor variant in American English, according to dictionaries. Canadians tend to prefer grey. The non-cognate greyhound was never grayhound. Both Grey and Gray are found in proper names everywhere in the English-speaking world.
jail, gaol	jail	In the UK, gaol and gaoler are used sometimes, apart from literary usage, chiefly to describe a medieval building and guard.
kerb	curb	For the noun designating the edge of a roadway (or the edge of a British pavement/ American sidewalk/ Australian footpath). Curb is the older spelling, and in the UK as well as in the US, it is still the proper spelling for the verb meaning restrain.[132] Canada as in the US.
liquorice	licorice	Licorice prevails in Canada and it is common in Australia, but it is rarely found in the UK; liquorice, which has a folk etymology cognate with liquor[133], is all but nonexistent in the US. ("chiefly British", according to dictionaries).[134]
mollusc	mollusk, mollusc	The related adjective is normally molluscan in all forms of English.
mould	mold	In all senses of the word. In Canada, both words have wide currency.[135] When speaking of the noun, the US will also use the "mould" spelling.
moult	molt
neurone, neuron	neuron
omelette	omelet, omelette	Omelette prevails in Canada and in Australia. The shorter spelling is the older in English, in spite of the etymology (French omelette).[136]
phoney	phony	Originally an Americanism, this word made its widespread appearance in Britain during the Phoney War.[137] Famously used frequently in The Catcher in the Rye.
plough	plow	Both date back to Middle English. The OED records several dozen variants. In the UK, plough has been the standard spelling for about three centuries.[138] Although plow was Noah Webster's pick, plough continued to have some currency in the US, as the entry in Webster's Third (1961) implies. Newer dictionaries label plough as "chiefly British". The word snowplough/snowplow, originally an Americanism, it predates Webster's reform, and it was first recorded as snow plough. Canada has both plough and plow[139], although snowplough is much rarer there than snowplow. In the US, "plough" sometimes describes a horsedrawn variety while "plow" refers to a gasoline (petrol) powered variety.
rack and ruin	wrack and ruin	Several words like "rack" and "wrack" have been conflated, with both spellings thus accepted as variants for senses connected to torture (orig. rack) and ruin (orig. wrack, cf. wreck)[140] In "(w)rack and ruin", the W-less variant is now prevalent in the UK but not the US.[141]
sceptic (-al, -ism)	skeptic (-al, -ism)	The American spelling, akin to Greek, was preferred by Fowler, and is used by many Canadians, where it is the earlier form.[142] Sceptic also pre-dates the European settlement of the US, and it follows the French sceptique and Latin scepticus. In the mid-18th century, Dr. Johnson's dictionary listed skeptic without comment or alternative, but this form has never been popular in the UK;[143] sceptic, an equal variant in the old Webster's Third (1961), has now become "chiefly British". Australians generally follow the British usage (with the notable exception of the Australian Skeptics). All of these versions are pronounced with a hard "c", though in French that letter is silent and the word is pronounced like septique.
storey	story	Level of a building. The plurals are storeys vs. stories respectively. The letter "e" is used in British English and in Canada to differentiate between levels of buildings and a story as in a literary work.[144]
sulphur	sulphur, sulfur	Sulfur is the international standard in the sciences (IUPAC), and it is supported by the UK's RSC.[145] Sulphur was preferred by Dr. Johnson, it is still used by British and Irish scientists, and it is still actively taught in British and Irish schools. It prevails in Canada and Australia, and it is also found in some American place names (e.g., Sulphur, Louisiana and White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia). American English usage guides suggest sulfur for technical usage, and both sulphur and sulfur in common usage and in literature.[146][147]
tyre	tire	The outer portion of a wheel, which contacts the road or the rail and may be made of metal or rubber. In Canada as in the US. Tire is the older spelling, but both were used in the 15th and 16th centuries (for a metal tire). Tire became the settled spelling in the 17th century but tyre was revived in the UK in the 19th century for rubber / pneumatic tyres, possibly because it was used in some patent documents[148], though many continued to use tire for the iron variety. The Times newspaper was still using tire as late as 1905. For the verb meaning "to grow weary" both American and British English use the tire spelling exclusively.
vice	vise, vice	The two-jawed workbench tool. Americans and Canadians retain the very old distinction between vise (the tool) and vice (the sin, and also the Latin prefix meaning a "deputy"), both of which are vice in the UK and Australia.[149] Thus, Americans have Vice-Admiral, Vice-President, and Vice-Principal, but never "Vise-" for any one of these.
yoghurt, yogurt	yogurt, yoghurt	Yoghurt is an also-ran in the US, as is yoghourt in the UK. Although the Oxford Dictionaries have always preferred yogurt, in current British usage yoghurt seems to be prevalent. In Canada, yogurt prevails, despite the Canadian Oxford preferring yogourt, which has the advantage of being bilingual.[150] In Australia as in the UK. Whatever the spelling is, the word has different pronunciations: in the UK /ˈjɒɡɚt/ or /ˈjoʊɡɚt/, only /ˈjoʊɡɚrt/ in America, Ireland, and Australia. The word comes from the Turkish language word yoğurt.[151] the voiced velar fricative represented by ğ in the modern Turkish (Latinic) alphabet was traditionally written gh in romanizations of the Ottoman Turkish (Arabic) alphabet used before 1928.