Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell initial

What it means: Occurring at the beginning; first.

In a sentence: The initial letter of my name is "M". ▶

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as inital or intial.

Same family: initials, initialed, initialling, initiate, initiative. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Initial” comes from the Latin word “initialis,” meaning “at the beginning.” The verb sense “to initial” developed from the practice of marking documents with one’s first letters as a quick alternative to a full signature.

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

official · essentially · funeral · measure · certificate · necessarily · calendar · definitely

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