How Do You Spell← Check another word

How do you spell Defence?

Correct spelling

defence

US: defense (with S). UK/AU/NZ: defence (with C).

USUKCAAUNZ
defensedefencedefencedefencedefence

Why is defence spelled this way?

The C in defence follows French spelling conventions, while the S in defense follows Latin more directly. Both are pronounced identically — the difference is purely orthographic.

Common misspellings of defence

defancedefansedefincedeffence

Example

The team's defence was outstanding.

Frequently asked questions

How do you spell defence?+
The correct spelling is "defence". US: defense (with S). UK/AU/NZ: defence (with C).
Is it defance or defence?+
The correct spelling is "defence", not "defance". This word gets 20,000+ monthly searches.
Does the spelling differ by country?+
Yes. In US English it's "defense", in UK English it's "defence", and Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand English follow the same spelling.

Other commonly misspelled words

diligent dimension diminish dinosaur

More spelling guides

dubious duplicate duplicity duration

Never misspell a word again. Get weekly spelling tips and tricky word pairs in your inbox.

Looking up financial terms? MoneyTerms.app → — plain-English definitions for every money term you'll encounter.