One “L” or Two? By Maeve Maddox

Lisa wrote:

We’re having a bit of an issue here at work. Can you address the usage of canceled vs. cancelled?

If you’re using a U.S. version of Word, typing cancelled will get you a wiggly green underline. However, both spellings, canceled and cancelled, are acceptable standard usage in English.

The doubled l in cancelled is British usage; the single l is American usage.

In British usage, words of more than one syllable ending in l double the l before the addition of such endings as -ed, -ing, -ist, -ize, and –ise.

in American usage, the final l is doubled only when the stress falls on a syllable other than the first.

Where British usage calls for levelled, libelled, quarrelled, and travelled, American usage has leveled, libeled, quarreled, and traveled.

American usage agrees with British on annulled, controlled, patrolled, and extolled because the stress falls on the second syllable of these words. It should agree on enrolled as well, but I see enroled in many publications.

On the other hand, British usage draws the line at adding still another l to parallel in paralleled and parallelize.

Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily!

Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below: