How to spell especially

hear ites·pe·cial·ly/ɛ'spɛʃəlli/adverbLong vowels

What it means: More than other things; particularly.

In a sentence: I love all animals, but I especially like pandas.

The part people get wrong

Watch for double l, and an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as especialy or especiallly.

Same family: special, specially, specialist, specialty, especial. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Especially” comes from the word “special,” which traces back to Latin *specialis*, meaning ‘particular’ or ‘individual.’ Over time, English added the -ly ending to show manner, creating “especially” to mean ‘in a special or particular way.’

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

phenomenon · knowledge · phobia · additional · never · little · answer · done

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