Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell annual

hear itan·nu·al/'ænjuəl/adjectiveRules and real life

What it means: Happening once every year.

In a sentence: We have an annual picnic every summer.

The part people get wrong

Watch for double n, and an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as anual or annuel.

Same family: annually, biannual, perennial, anniversary. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Annual” comes from the Latin word *annus*, meaning “year.” The same root also appears in “anniversary,” which literally means “turning of the year.”

Patterns it uses: The unstressed vowel (schwa)

Try spelling it

You will hear the word and a sentence. Type it and press Enter. Then four more words from the same level, so you know where you stand.

Words like this

Spelling.School is a spaced-repetition spelling practice: ten minutes a day, every word spoken aloud, every miss explained, and every word coming back just before you would forget it. Try five words without signing up.