Spelling like a Canadian, eh

Canadian spelling preferences tend to borrow equally from both British and American word forms. Canadians tend to prefer -ize and -yze American spellings for words like realize and analyze. We tend to double the l at the end of a word when adding a suffix, as in traveller, labelled, and woollen. Like the British, we write defence and offence in contrast to the American preference for -se endings on these words.

In a good Canadian dictionary, such as The Gage Canadian Dictionary and The Oxford Canadian Dictionary, you will find both spellings of -our (British) and -or (American) words given, for example, with the -our word listed first to indicate that this spelling is preferred by the majority of Canadians. Refer to either of these fine dictionaries for authoritative entries on preferred Canadian spellings and pronunciations.

The table below shows the spelling that is preferred or practiced by most Canadians for 30 common words, followed by the preferred form in American print media.