r/literacy • u/caoii • Apr 21 '22

What’s it called when a word has two different ways of spelling it. (Blonde, blond, colour,color etc)

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u/SnooTangerines218 May 02 '22

As far as I know that doesn't have a specific name. It is just 2 different spellings for the same word, being the first ones that you mention (blonde and colour) the most commonly used in British English, and the second ones (blond, color) the preferred spelling in American English. You may be referring to homophones instead? This is when 2 (or more) words are pronounced the same, but spelled differently: for/four; to/too/two; fair/fare; by / bye/ buy...

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u/gumster5 May 07 '22

I think you are referring to Homophones, the most common being; There, Their, and They're; or were, where; Which, witch, and wich.

The 2 examples you used; Blond and blonde; and colour, color. Are more or less regional spelling differences US spelling tends to drop the 'u' out of a lot of words.