How to spell total

hear itto·tal/'toʊtəl/adjectiveRules and real life

What it means: Complete or whole.

In a sentence: The total number of apples in the basket is ten.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as totel or tottal.

Same family: totaled, totaling, totaled up, totally, totality. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: Total comes from a Latin word 'totalis,' meaning 'entire' or 'whole.' English first used it as a noun and adjective, and later it also became a verb meaning 'to add up completely.'

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

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