American And British Spelling Differences Practice (A2-B1)

⏱ Time: 07:30 📝 Questions: 15 📊 Level: A2, B1 📚 Type: Vocabulary ⭐ XP: up to +15 (on pass)

Challenge yourself: 15 American And British Spelling Differences questions, 7 minutes, Level A2-B1. Can you get a perfect score? The questions start straightforward and build to tricky edge cases. Read every explanation to pick up tips that textbooks often skip.

⏱ You have 07:30 to answer 15 questions. The timer only starts when you click Begin.

Q1  15
Q1 15

Question 1: What does the word COLOUR mean?

Question 1 options
Colour is the British spelling of 'color' — it refers to the visual quality of something, like red, blue, or green. The other options describe different concepts unrelated to color.
Q2 15

Question 2: My sister loves to ___ things from long lists so she doesn't forget them.

Question 2 options
Memorise (British) / Memorize (American) means to learn and remember something by heart. The other options — organize, recognize, and criticise — describe different actions that do not fit the context of learning from a list.
Q3 15

Question 3: The word 'behaviour' (British spelling) and the word 'behavior' (American spelling) have different meanings.

Question 3 options
False. 'Behaviour' and 'behavior' have exactly the same meaning — the way a person or animal acts. They are simply different spellings of the same word used in British and American English.
Q4 15

Question 4: Which word is closest in meaning to FAVOURITE?

Question 4 options
Preferred means the one you like most, which is the same meaning as favourite. Worst, forgotten, and unknown all have meanings opposite to or unrelated to favourite.
Q5 15

Question 5: Match each word to its correct short definition.

Question 5 options
honour
neighbour
flavour
humour
the ability to find things funny
a person who lives near you
great respect or a sense of pride
the taste of a food or drink

Select an item on the left, then tap its match on the right.

Honour means respect or pride; neighbour means a person who lives nearby; flavour means the taste of food; humour means being funny or the ability to laugh.
Q6 15

Question 6: Which word naturally goes with the phrase 'performing arts ___'?

Question 6 options
Theatre (British) / Theater (American) naturally follows 'performing arts' to form 'performing arts theater/theatre,' a common collocation for a building where plays and shows are performed. The other options do not collocate with 'performing arts' in this way.
Q7 15

Question 7: Person A: 'How do you spell the word for a place where sick people get better?' Person B: 'In British English, it is spelled ___.'

Question 7 options
'Centre' is the British English spelling of 'center'. In this context, a health centre is a place where sick people receive care. The American spelling is 'center', making 'centre' the correct British form.
Q8 15

Question 8: She went to the ___ to pick up medicine for her cold. (Choose the British English spelling.)

Question 8 options
In British English, 'practise' is the verb and 'practice' is the noun. However, the word tested here is 'chemist' — but for the spelling pair tested in this article: 'licence' is the British noun spelling while 'license' is the American spelling. Here, the sentence tests 'licence' vs 'license': 'She needed a ___ to drive' — but more directly: 'defence' is the British spelling of 'defense.' For this question, only ONE option is the correct British English spelling for the noun meaning 'permission or official document': 'licence.'
Q9 15

Question 9: Put the words/chunks in the correct order to make a natural English sentence about spelling differences:

Question 9 options
  • American English uses -or
  • while British English uses -our
  • in words like color and flavor.

Drag items or use arrows to arrange them in the correct order.

The correct order is: 'American English uses -or / while British English uses -our / in words like color and flavor.' This follows a standard comparison structure: subject + verb, linking clause, example.
Q10 15

Question 10: The sports team played well in ___ of the bad weather.

Question 10 options
Defence (British) / Defense (American) does not fit here. The most natural and precise word for this context is 'spite' — part of the fixed phrase 'in spite of.' None of the spelling-difference words (defence, offence, pretence) collocate naturally with 'in ___ of' to mean 'regardless of.' Only 'spite' creates the correct fixed phrase.
Q11 15

Question 11: Which spelling would you use in a formal British English business letter — for the word meaning 'to make something smaller or less'?

Question 11 options
Minimise is the standard British English spelling used in formal writing. Minimize is the American spelling. Minimaze and minimyse are not real words in any variety of English.
Q12 15

Question 12: Which form correctly completes this sentence? 'The government decided to ___ the new transport plan.'

Question 12 options
Organise (British) / Organize (American) is a verb meaning to plan and arrange something. 'Organisation' is a noun, 'organised' is an adjective/past tense, and 'organisely' is not a real word. The sentence needs a base-form verb after 'to.'
Q13 15

Question 13: In British English, the word 'travelled' (with double l) is used when describing a past journey, while 'traveled' (with single l) is the American English spelling.

Question 13 options
True. British English doubles the final 'l' before a vowel suffix in words like 'travel,' giving 'travelled.' American English keeps the single 'l,' giving 'traveled.' Both spellings describe the same past action.
Q14 15

Question 14: She wanted to ___ to her friend for saying something unkind. Which spelling fits a British English context?

Question 14 options
Apologise is the standard British English spelling of this verb, meaning to say sorry. Apologize is the American English spelling. Appologise and apologyse are misspellings not used in any variety of English.
Q15 15

Question 15: The team worked hard to build a strong ___. In this sentence, what does the word DEFENCE mean?

Question 15 options
In this context, 'defence' (British spelling of 'defense') means a system or effort to protect against attack or harm. It does not mean an attack, a plan for the future, or a building in this sentence.