How to spell residence

hear itres·i·dence/'rɛzɪdəns/nounSchwa and roots

What it means: A place where someone lives.

In a sentence: The big blue house is my residence.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as residance or resedence.

Same family: resident, residential, residency, home, dwelling. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Residence” comes from Latin *residēre*, meaning “to remain” or “to stay behind.” Over time, it shifted from the idea of staying in a place to the building where an important person lives, which is why it often suggests a large or official house.

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

sequence · silence · existence · excellence · beneficiary · verification · infection · monastery

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.