Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell attention

Attention is spelled A-T-T-E-N-T-I-O-N. The part people get wrong: double T.

hear itat·ten·tion/ə'tɛnʃən/nounSilent and tricky

What it means: The act of focusing on something.

In a sentence: Pay attention to the colorful butterfly.

The part people get wrong

Watch for double t, and an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear.

Same family: attend, attentive, attentively, inattention, unattentive. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Attention” comes from the Latin word “attentio,” meaning ‘a stretching toward’ or ‘noticing carefully.’ That’s why we say we ‘pay attention’—as if we are directing or stretching our mind toward something.

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

Everyone has words they always get wrong. Spelling.School finds yours, shows you exactly why you miss them, and uses spaced repetition until you spell them right every time. Five minutes a day. Try five words without signing up.