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In the following sentence, should I say spelled or spelt:

You spelt/spelled "Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" wrong.

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Something about reading "Spelt" makes me shudder. – Stimul8d Feb 7 '11 at 16:29
I would say "spelt" but write "spelled" - may just be me. – neil May 21 '11 at 22:10
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+1 for pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. – Hugo Jul 1 '11 at 23:09

3 Answers

up vote 6 down vote accepted

From Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary:

spell (FORM WORDS) /spel/ verb [I or T] spelled or UK AND AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH ALSO spelt, spelled or UK AND AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH ALSO spelt

This means that you should say "spelled" in US English and you can use both "spelt" and "spelled" in UK/Australian English.

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Yes, although "spelled" exists in UK/Australian English as well. – ShreevatsaR Nov 27 '10 at 10:17
@ShreevatsaR Thank you. I've corrected the post. – fiktor Nov 27 '10 at 10:37
up vote 1 down vote

According to WordReference.com and the Concise oxford English Dictionary, both forms are correct.

spell: verb (past and past participle spelled or chiefly British spelt)

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up vote 1 down vote

h2g2 Writing Guidelines say

Please use the word spelled rather than spelt. There was a long-running discussion about it and 'spelled' won 10 votes to 8. Besides, loads of people thought that 'spelt' was a type of wheat. Schpelled and spellted were among the other suggestions. But no, you can't use them

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