Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell national

National is spelled N-A-T-I-O-N-A-L. Nation plus AL: the TION of nation stays, then -AL.

What it means: Belonging to or relating to a whole country.

In a sentence: The national flag of our country has three colors. ▶

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear.

Same family: nationality, international, multinational, nationalism, nationalist. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “National” comes from the Latin word *natio*, meaning “birth” or “people born in the same place.” Over time, it shifted from talking about birth and people to describing someone who legally belongs to a particular country.

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

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