There are some well-known spelling differences between British English and American English. Many of these spelling differences result from French influence on English. British English has a tendency to keep the spelling of many words of French origin. Americans try to spell words more closely to the way they sound phonetically and they tend to omit some letters.

The general spelling differences between British and American English are listed below.

British -our vs. American -or difference

armour

armor

behaviour

behavior

colour

color

favourite

favorite

flavour

flavor

harbour

harbor

honour

honor

humour

humor

labour

labor

neighbour

neighbor

rumour

rumor

saviour

savior

British -re vs. American -er
difference

amphitheatre

amphitheater

centimetre

centimeter

centre

center

fibre

fiber

kilometre

kilometer

litre

liter

lustre

luster

louvre

louver

manoeuvre

maneuver

metre

meter

spectre

specter

theatre

theater

British -ae/-oe/-oeu vs. American
-e/-o/-eu difference

archaeology

archeology

gynaecology

gynecology

leukaemia

leukemia

manoeuvre

maneuver

mediaeval

medieval

mementoes

mementos

oestrogen

estrogen

orthopaedic

orthopedic

paediatric

pediatric

palaeontology

paleontology

toxaemia

toxemia

 

British -se vs. American -ze difference*

analyse

analyze

apologise

apologize

appetiser

appetizer

catalyse

catalyze

civilise, civilisation

civilize, civilization

colonise, colonisation

colonize, colonization

criticise

criticize

emphasise

emphasize

organise

organize

popularise, popularisation

popularize, popularization

prise

prize

realise

realize

recognise

recognize

British -l vs. American -ll difference

enrolment

enrollment

fulfil

fulfill

instalment

installment

skilful

skillful

 

British -ll vs. American -l difference

counsellor

counselor

fuelled

fueled

travelling

traveling

parallelled

paralleled

quarrelling

quarreling


!Remember: In British English, verbs that end in -l preceded by a vowel usually double the final -l when a suffix -ed/-ing is added. In American English the final -l is doubled only when the last syllable is stressed.

British -ogue vs. American
-og difference

analogue

analog

catalogue

catalog

dialogue

dialog

monologue

monolog

 

British –ence vs. American
-ense difference

defence*

defense

licence (noun)
lic
ense (verb)

license (both
noun and verb
)

offence*

offense

pretence

pretense


*But note: defensive, offensive


*Additional notes:

:: British English uses both "-ise" and "-ize" forms but tends to prefer -ise (-isation) form.

:: Verbs in British English that can be spelled with either "-ize" or "-ise" at the end are always spelled with -ize in American English.

:: Verbs in British English that end in "-yse" (e.g. analyse) are always spelled "-yze" in American English (analyze).

British -dge/-gue vs. American -dg/-gu)

judgement

judgment

arguement

argument

 

British -que vs. American
-k/–ck difference

banque

bank

cheque (money)

check

British -gramme vs. American -gram difference

programme (noun)
(TV/radio programme or programme of events - plans, conferences, a theatre programme etc.)

program

programme (verb) (to instruct)

program (-mm-)

program (programme)
(computer program)

program

gram (gramme)

gram

kilogram (kilogramme)

kilogram