Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell infection

hear itin·fec·tion/ɪn'fɛkʃən/nounSchwa and roots

What it means: A disease caused by germs or bacteria.

In a sentence: The doctor gave me medicine to help with my infection.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as infecshun or infetion.

Same family: infected, infecting, infectious, disinfect. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: Infection comes from Latin 'inficere,' which meant 'to dye, stain, or spoil.' Over time, the idea of something being 'tainted' shifted to our modern medical meaning of germs invading and harming the body.

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

Spelling.School is a spaced-repetition spelling practice: ten minutes a day, every word spoken aloud, every miss explained, and every word coming back just before you would forget it. Try five words without signing up.