Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell untied

What it means: Not fastened or secured with a knot.

In a sentence: The shoelace was untied, so I tied it again. ▶

The part people get wrong

Watch for the order of ie. Often misspelled as untide or unteid.

Same family: tie, tied, untie, ties, re-tie. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Untied” comes from the Old English verb “tīegan,” meaning “to tie or fasten,” with the prefix “un-” added to show reversal or negation. Interestingly, the letters in “untied” can be rearranged to spell “united,” which has almost the opposite meaning.

Patterns it uses: i before e? · Prefixes keep every letter

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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