Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell knead

hear itknead/nid/verbSilent and tricky

What it means: To work dough by pressing and folding.

In a sentence: She helps her mom knead the dough for cookies.

The part people get wrong

Watch for a silent k. Often misspelled as kneed or need.

Same family: kneads, kneaded, kneading, massage, mix. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: Knead comes from Old English "cnedan," meaning to press or form by pressing, and it used to be spelled with a hard "cn" sound at the start. Over time the "k" sound disappeared in speech, but the silent letter stayed in the spelling, just like in "knee" and "knife."

Patterns it uses: Silent letters

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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