You may know what a “check” is, but have you heard of a “cheque”? These words sound identical when spoken, but we don’t use the spelling “cheque” in American English. And that is a recipe for typos if you’re writing for an audience outside North America! Luckily, we’re here to help!
We’ll start with “check.” In American English, this word has many uses as a verb and a noun. As a verb, its most common uses include:
As a noun, meanwhile, its common uses include:
The key point here is that “check” is the correct spelling in all cases in American English. And this makes it easy to remember! But what about other English dialects, like British English? Let’s take a look.
In British English, and other English dialects influenced by British English, people use the spelling “cheque” for the method of payment mentioned above:
British English: We accept payment by cash and cheque, not credit card.
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American English: We accept payment by cash and check, not credit card.
In all other cases, from examining something for accuracy to the chess move, British English uses “check” just like American English.
This is simple if you’re using American English! For all the noun and verb uses mentioned above, we use the spelling “check.” This makes it easy to remember!
However, if you’re writing for an audience outside North America, you may need to know the difference between “check” and “cheque”:
As long as you remember the financial meaning of “cheque,” then, it should be easy to avoid errors when using these terms in your writing.
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