Cancelation Vs Cancellation: Which Spelling Is Correct?

Do you have a service cancelation to deal with, or is it a cancellation? It depends if you speak British or American English.

Both spellings are correct. British English and other dialects prefer to use “cancellation” (two L´s) while American English uses “cancelation” (with one L). The word “cancelation” is not used that much; the one used the most is “cancellation.” Even though both are correct technically speaking.

It might seem like a misspelling, but there is no mistake. Read on to learn more about the spelling of this word.

British And American English

If you’re not a native English speaker, you might have glimpsed when you are listening to some film or YouTube video with a British or Australian accent. It sounds different from the American inflection.

There are disparities from the beginning of time not only phonetically, but you can also find the differences in writing.

When we look at the similarities between American and British English, there are some associated with past and present participles.

In both techniques, the final consonant is doubled when it is followed by a vowel, but it also has to do with the stress that comes with the suffix.

However, the words “cancelation” and “cancellation” are both correct. It doesn’t pass as a mistake when you live in a place where it is used either with one L or two LL’s.

The spelling issue in the English language was a mess and inconsistency before anyone could sit down and try to make some rules about it in the early 19th Century.

Two Dictionaries Helped In This Mess

When it’s about spelling in British English, there is “Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language, first published in 1755.”

And the American English spelling with “Noah Webster’s An American Dictionary of the English Language, first published in 1828.”

You can always check the dictionary, anyone you prefer, and compare the justifications and reasons why words can be written differently and mean the same.

It is up to you and your level of perfectionism that will guide you in making a choice you consider is the right one for you.

Why Two Spellings?

Some theories explained the correct use of these words, for example:

• Cancelation: “Alternative spelling of Cancellation”
• Cancellation: “The act, process, or result of canceling.”
• So what does it mean? It only reinforces that cancelation with one L is an alternative spelling.
• The word Cancellation is very common also when it comes to legal vocabulary, for example: “In any document all cancellations are permanent.”

Synonyms of The Word “Cancel”

If you still feel like it’s too complicated to use this word for a very important paper or because you just want to be sure of using the correct spelling you can always use other words.

Let’s see some examples:

• Abolition
• Annulment
• Revocation
• Elimination
• Invalidation
• Nullification
• Revoking
• Withdrawing

So here you have some interesting and good looking synonyms, now let’s write sentences where you can use these nice options:

• There has been a cancellation of my flight because my sister is having her first baby.
• There has been an annulment of my flight because my sister is having her first baby.
• My client’s divorce papers went through the cancellation of some paragraph’s so it fits all her interests.  
• My client’s divorce papers went through revoking some paragraphs so it fits all her interests.
• There has been a cancellation of his participation in the contest because he has to attend the final tests at the university.
• He had to withdraw from his participation in the contest because he has to attend the final tests at the university.
• It is right to ask for the cancellation of your order if it is not what you wanted to eat.
• It is right to make an annulment of your order if it is not what you wanted to eat.
• The president of the United States of America and the cancellation of the paragraph that harms civil rights are well seen.
• The president of the United States of America and the abolition of the paragraph that harms civil rights are well seen.

Antonyms of The World “Cancel”

If you need some examples of antonyms of the word cancellation here are a few that can be helpful:

• Validation
• Confirmation
• Enactment
• Arrangement
• Approval

Let’s take a look at some sentences using the word cancellation and its antonyms:

• There must be a cancellation of the contract until I have all the details figured out.
• There must be a validation of that contract until I have all the details figured out.
• There is a cancellation of that arrangement before next month.
• There is an approval of that arrangement before next month.
• He asked for the cancellation of His credit card and asked for a new one.
• He has to make a confirmation of His credit card and ask for a new one.
• He announced the cancellation of this statement.
• He announced the enactment of that statement.

More Great Word Vs Word Posts

• Appendix Vs Appendices
• Divesture Vs Divestiture
• Wriggle Vs. Wiggle

The Letters Spelling

All this information about the use of the word cancellation or cancelation takes us to dig a bit deeper into the subject of the letter’s spelling as well as units.

Here is a list of all the letters of the alphabet with their names that are found on the internet.

” A	a	aes
B	bee	bees
C	cee	cees
D	dee	dees
E	e	ees
F	ef (verbal eff)	efs (effs)
G	gee	gees
H	aitch	aitches
I	i	ies
J	jay	jays
K	kay	kays
L	el or ell	els or ells
M	em	ems
N	en	ens
O	o	oes
P	pee	pees
Q	cue	cues
R	ar	ars
S	ess (es as prefix)	esses
T	tee	tees
U	u	ues
V	vee	vees
W	double-u	double-ues
X	ex	exes
Y	wy or wye	wyes
Z	zee or zed	zees or zeds “

In Conclusion

This article has gone over some interesting subjects besides the main one that brought you here, which is how to write the word cancellation or cancelation; as you see, both are correct. The only thing that might make a difference is when you are using it in the context or not.

Suppose you had the joy of going to the United Kingdom or Australia to learn the language. In that case, you probably use the double LL, but if you happen to have learned English in the United States of America might feel that “cancelation” with one L is the right way to write it.

You can always use synonyms when feeling doubts about the proper way of writing a word; that’s one of the reasons they exist, obviously apart from the main reason, which is to have a richer and more fluent vocabulary.

This also taught us that antonymous are as useful as the main word that we are seeking because it gives us a more open perspective of the correct use of any word and guides us to make some more deep research before we jump to conclusions and make a strong statement of the right use of some terms and words, or to think that something is right just because that’s what we were taught.