Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell sixteenth

Sixteenth is spelled S-I-X-T-E-E-N-T-H.

hear itsix·teenth/'sɪks'tinθ/adjectiveSilent and tricky

What it means: The ordinal number after fifteenth.

In a sentence: Jane will be celebrating her sixteenth birthday next month.

The part people get wrong

Watch for double e.

Same family: sixteen, sixth, sixteenth-century, six-fold. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Sixteenth” comes from Old English roots: “six” plus the ordinal-forming suffix “-teenth,” related to “ten.” It literally means “the tenth after six,” which is why it’s used both for order (the sixteenth item) and for the fraction 1/16.

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

Everyone has words they always get wrong. Spelling.School finds yours, shows you exactly why you miss them, and uses spaced repetition until you spell them right every time. Five minutes a day. Try five words without signing up.