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Which spelling is correct: benefiting or benefitting?

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3  
I like benefitting more, personally, because benefiting looks like the present participle of a verb spelled benefite. – nohat♦ Oct 18 '10 at 2:17

3 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

Both spellings are considered to be correct; given the pattern of American English to prefer the shorter of alternate spellings (see color vs. colour; aluminum vs. aluminium), I would summarise that in the US the single-t version would be correct.

However, I see that the two-t version appears more often in searches, so it has popularity going for it.

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Thanks for your answer! – Adam Oct 15 '10 at 22:55
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It is the one-t version that appears more often in google searches. What search are you using? – Ophiuroid Oct 16 '10 at 23:51
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Actually, from Google Ngrams, benefitting seems to be used slightly more frequently in American English than it is in British English. I believe this is because, in American English, the rule is to double the consonant if there is stress on the last syllable, and in American English, benefit has secondary stress on the last syllable. – Peter Shor Jan 24 '12 at 19:27
up vote 3 down vote

Google found 12.900.000 (approximately) matches for benefiting , but only 1.210.000 for benefitting.

References:

Merriam Webster lists both as correct spelling http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/benefitting

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/benefitting

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Thanks for the numbers on the google searches. I've always leaned towards the one-t spelling, seems like most people do. – Adam Oct 17 '10 at 0:39
up vote 2 down vote

Both are considered correct in the English language. Benefiting and benefitting both are acceptable due to two different English spelling rules.

If the final syllable is NOT accented/emphasized and it does not end in an "L" then you do NOT double the consonant. If you say ben-e-fit, you accent ben, the first syllable.

I believe it become benefitting as well, due to the other English rule, if a word ends with a short vowel followed by a consonant, you double the consonant so the vowel doesn't become long.

Due to these two rules, I guess it can be spelled both ways.

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