How to spell customer

hear itcus·tom·er/'kəstəmər/nounRules and real life

What it means: A person who buys goods or services.

In a sentence: The friendly customer bought a shiny red balloon.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as costumer or custumer.

Same family: customers, customer-service, consumer, client, patron. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: Customer comes from the word custom, which used to mean ‘habit’ or ‘regular practice.’ A ‘customer’ was originally someone who came to a shop regularly as part of their habits.

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.

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