How to spell public

hear itpub·lic/'pəblɪk/adjectiveSounds

What it means: Open to or shared by all people.

In a sentence: We had a fun picnic in the public park.

The part people get wrong

Often misspelled as pubic or puplic.

Same family: publicly, publicity, publication, publicize, publicist. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Public” comes from Latin *publicus* (also *poplicus*), meaning “of the people” or “belonging to the people.” It is related to *populus*, the Latin word for “people,” which you can also see in words like “population” and “popular.”

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.

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.