How to spell sovereign

hear itsov·er·eign/'sɑvrɪn/nounSilent and tricky

What it means: A ruler or head of state.

In a sentence: The king was a kind and wise sovereign for his people.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear, and the order of ei. Often misspelled as soverign or sovereignn.

Same family: sovereigns, sovereignty, monarch, ruler, head of state. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Sovereign” comes from Old French *soverein*, meaning “above” or “superior,” which is related to the Latin root *super* (“over, above”). It originally described someone of the highest rank, which is why it now refers to a supreme ruler or head of state.

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

toward · foreign · borough · psalm · moisten · balance · account · report

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.