Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell centimeter

hear itcen·ti·me·ter/'sɛntə,mitər/nounHidden vowels

What it means: A metric unit equal to one hundredth of a meter.

In a sentence: The ant is about one centimeter long.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as centimetre or sentimeter.

Also spelled: centimetre (accepted as correct).

Same family: centi-, millimeter, kilometer, centimeters, metric. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Centimeter” comes from French and Latin roots: “centi-” means “one hundredth” and “meter” comes from the Greek word for “measure.” In British English, it is usually spelled “centimetre,” following French spelling patterns.

Patterns it uses: The unstressed vowel (schwa)

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