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How to spell stationery

Stationery is spelled S-T-A-T-I-O-N-E-R-Y.

hear itsta·tion·er·y/'steɪʃə,nɛri/nounSchwa and roots

What it means: Paper used for writing letters.

In a sentence: I used colorful stationery to write a letter to my friend.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear.

Not to be confused with: stationary, a different word.

Same family: station, stationer, stationary, letterhead, office-supplies. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: Stationery comes from the word stationer, the name for booksellers and paper sellers who had fixed "stations" or stalls in medieval markets. The spelling with -ery later came to refer specifically to writing paper and related materials, while stationary (with an a) kept the meaning "not moving."

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