Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell deceive

hear itde·ceive/dɪ'siv/verbHidden vowels

What it means: To mislead or trick someone.

In a sentence: Don't deceive your friends when playing games.

The part people get wrong

Watch for the order of ei. Often misspelled as decieve or deceve.

Same family: deceives, deceived, deceiving, deceiver, deception. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Deceive” comes from Old French *deceivre*, from Latin *decipere*, meaning “to ensnare, cheat.” It is related to the noun “deception,” and both go back to a root that originally meant “to catch” or “take.”

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