Johnny in Topeka can’t read, but Janne in Helsinki is effortlessly finishing his storybooks. Such a disparity may be expected by now, but the reason might come as a surprise: It probably has much less ...

Today Sam will plow through the city’s rough boroughs in search of artisanal cookie dough, even though he ought to stay home to nurse his cough. What’s wrong with that picture? Seven words containing ...

Learning a language is often tricky, particularly when it comes to spelling new words. "The Spell As You Pronounce Universal Project" (SAYPU) wants everyone to spell words the way they are pronounced ...

Some words can be more difficult to learn to spell than others. It is important to practise reading and spelling these tricky words so you get them right. Hello, I'm Mr McPartlin and today we're going ...

Faizan Zaki, age 13, spelled the word “eclaircissement” and collapsed on the floor in victory as confetti showered him at the 100th Scripps National Spelling Bee last week. The annual competition took ...

Are you smarter than a spelling bee contestant? If you can spell these words, you might be. Merriam-Webster has announced the hardest words to spell in the English language ahead of the 92nd annual ...

My 11-year-old student sighs. How can the same letters make so many different sounds? We are looking at the letter combination “ough”, which can be read in seven different ways: “through”, “thorough”, ...

English spelling is notoriously irregular. While some linguists - notably Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle - have argued that the spelling system of English is actually great (they called it “close to ...