Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell toward

What it means: In the direction of someone or something.

In a sentence: She ran toward the playground to join her friends. ▶

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as towords or toword.

Same family: towards, forward, backward, onward. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Toward” comes from Old English “tōweard,” which combined “to” (in the direction of) with a suffix meaning “toward.” Over time, English kept both “toward” and “towards,” and both are still used today, with “toward” more common in American English.

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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