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IELTS spelling checker: common mistakes and British or American consistency
Paste an answer to find the misspellings learners make most often in IELTS essays, and to see whether your text sticks to British or American spelling. Your text stays in your browser.
Check common IELTS spelling mistakes
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Your results will appear here. Paste a few sentences.
How the checks work
- Common mistakes. Each word in your text is compared with a list of 218 frequent misspellings. A match is shown with the correct spelling, and “Correct all” fixes every copy in your text.
- British and American. Pairs such as colour/color, centre/center, travelling/traveling and defence/defense are detected. A text with both forms is flagged; a text with one form is reported as consistent.
- -ise and -ize. Mixing organise with realize is flagged; using -ize alone is not counted as American, because Oxford British spelling uses it.
Spelling habits worth building
- Learn the words you use in every essay first: government, environment, education, technology, society, advantage, disadvantage.
- Keep your own list. Each time the checker finds a mistake, write the correct word down and check it again in a week.
- Choose a variety and stay with it. Most teachers recommend the one you have used for years. Turn on the matching language in your word processor when you practise.
- Keep apart the pairs that sound alike: practice (noun) and practise (verb) in British English; affect and effect; their, there and they’re. This tool cannot catch them, so proofread for them.
Questions about spelling in IELTS
Can I use American spelling in IELTS?
Yes. IELTS accepts both British and American spelling. What matters is being consistent: do not write colour in one paragraph and color in the next.
Is -ize British or American?
Both. Oxford-style British spelling uses -ize (organize), while most other British writing uses -ise (organise). Our checker only warns when a text mixes -ise and -ize endings. Words such as analyse/analyze are different: analyze is American only.
Why did the checker miss a mistake?
It knows 218 common mistakes and a list of British and American pairs, not the whole dictionary. It also cannot tell when a correctly spelt word is the wrong word, such as their for there. Always read your answer through once more.
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- IELTS band score calculator Overall band from four section bands, with the rounding explained and an approximate CEFR level.
Spelling is only one part of vocabulary marking
Lexical Resource also looks at range, precision and word choice. The writing checker gives an estimated band for each criterion and shows the language to fix first. Your first check needs no account.
The misspelling list and spelling pairs were written for this tool; they were not copied from a dictionary, another spelling tool or a published list. The British Council says British and American spelling are both accepted and advises staying consistent (British Council IELTS blog, read 3 November 2026); see also the Writing band descriptors guide. English Test Coach is independent of IELTS.