Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell thistle

hear itthis·tle/'θɪsəl/nounSilent and tricky

What it means: A prickly plant often found in gardens.

In a sentence: The butterfly landed gently on the purple thistle in the garden.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as thistl or thistal.

Same family: thistly, milk thistle, Scotch thistle, weed, prickly. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: Thistle comes from Old English "thistel," related to words in German and Dutch for the same plant. The thistle is famously used as a national symbol of Scotland and appears in many traditional stories and emblems.

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.

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