How to spell usual

hear itu·su·al/'juʒuəl/adjectiveRules and real life

What it means: Commonly encountered or experienced.

In a sentence: We took our usual walk around the park today.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as ususal or usal.

Same family: usually, unusual, unusually, as usual, normally. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Usual” comes from Late Latin *usualis*, from Latin *usus* meaning “use” or “custom.” It originally referred to something done by habit or custom, which is why today it means something that happens commonly or regularly.

Patterns it uses: The unstressed vowel (schwa)

Try spelling it

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