Is it spelled CANCELED or CANCELLED?

A student asked, is the word cancelled spelled with one L or two? Interesting question. Actually, both spellings are correct. Cancelled with one L is more common in American English, and cancelled with two L's is more common in British English. Let's see some examples. It's raining pretty hard. Do you think the festival will be cancelled? The flight was cancelled due to dangerously high winds. The concert was cancelled at the last minute, disappointing many fans. If the most important client can't attend, then the meeting should be cancelled and rescheduled. How about traveled, one L or two? It's similar. Both spellings are correct. And again, traveled with one L is more common in American English, and the version with two L's is more common in British English. Here are some examples. Last summer, we traveled to Europe and explored many historic cities. The hikers traveled through dense jungles to reach the hidden waterfall. After graduating from college, she took a year off and traveled the world. Let's check this for a few other verbs ending in L. The past tense of signal is signaled with one L. The police officer signaled for the cars to stop. The past tense of excel is excelled with two L's. For example, my brother excelled in school. He was at the top of his class. The past tense of control is controlled with two L's. Careful, if you mix those two chemicals, the reaction can't be controlled. And the past tense of propel is propelled, again with two L's. For example, the powerful engines propelled the spacecraft into orbit. So now you know. When it comes to the spelling of cancelled and traveled, you can't go wrong. One L or two, both are correct. It just depends on if you're following American English or British English spelling conventions. If you loved this lesson, make sure to download all our past Ask the Teacher lessons by clicking on the link in the video description.