It’s wonderful to travel—to meet new people, see new places, experience different cultures, live life the way life is lived somewhere else. Plenty of good things are associated with travel, but there’s one particular issue that can make traveling annoying: the spelling.
Travel is easy enough to spell, but the words traveling, traveler, and traveled are a common cause of confusion because some people spell them with one l while others use two.
Traveling or travelling depends on where your audience is. Traveling is the preferred spelling in the United States. Travelling is the preferred spelling in the UK or in the Commonwealth. This American-British spelling difference carries for other forms: traveled or travelled and traveler or traveller.
Traveling or travelling: What’s the difference?
Technically both are correct, but the difference in spelling comes from the split of British and American English.
- traveling with one l is American English
- travelling with two ls is British English
Traveling vs. travelling
The word travel has more than one syllable—it’s a multisyllabic word. In American English, when a multisyllabic word ends in a vowel and a consonant (in that order), you double the consonant when adding a suffix only if the stress falls on the final syllable. For instance, in the word repel, the stress falls on the final syllable, which means that you double the consonant when you add a suffix: repelling. But in travel, the stress falls on the first syllable, so there’s no doubling.
By now, you probably know when to use which spelling—it should conform to the place your audience is. If you’re writing a paper for a college class in the United States, you should use the shorter spelling. However, if you live in the United States but are applying for a job in Australia, you could instead choose to use the spelling they prefer.
Traveling and travelling examples
As a visitor traveling from the United States, you must obtain a visa, which you can apply for before you leave for Cuba. —Conde Nast Traveler
As the reporters who traveled to the Group of 20 summit meeting with President Obama from Hawaii piled out and walked under the wing to record his arrival… —The New York Times
Passengers travelling to Bristol Airport are being urged to leave extra time as roadworks clog up a major link road for an entire month. —Bristol Post
Originally from Athens, and having lived in London for five years, he’d travelled on the train specifically to head in to town to “see the drunken crowds. It should be fun.”
—The Guardian
