US to UK Spelling Converter
This free converter rewrites text between American and British spelling, and also into Oxford -ize, Canadian and Australian English. It changes color to colour, center to centre and traveled to travelled, lists every change so you can undo any of them, and stops to ask when the spelling depends on the meaning, as with practice and practise.
Writes colour, centre, analyse, organise, travelled.
What does this spelling converter do?
It rewrites a text from one variety of English spelling to another: American, British, British with Oxford -ize, Canadian or Australian. The converted text appears beside yours, and every change is listed underneath.
- Five targets, not two, because Canada and Australia do not simply copy London or New York.
- Every change listed with its count, and one click keeps the original spelling of a word.
- Doubtful words flagged. When the spelling depends on the meaning, it asks instead of guessing.
- Case, punctuation and layout kept, so the result pastes straight back into your document.
What are the differences between American and British spelling?
| Pattern | American | British | Oxford | Canadian | Australian |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -or / -our | color | colour | colour | colour | colour |
| -er / -re | center | centre | centre | centre | centre |
| -ize / -ise | organize | organise | organize | organize | organise |
| -yze / -yse | analyze | analyse | analyse | analyze | analyse |
| Doubled l | traveled | travelled | travelled | travelled | travelled |
| Single words | gray, tire | grey, tyre | grey, tyre | grey, tire | grey, tyre |
Which words depend on meaning?
Some pairs are two spellings of different words in British English, so a blind swap would be wrong half the time:
- practice / practise: noun and verb in British English, practice for both in American.
- check / cheque: cheque is only the bank payment.
- tire / tyre: tyre is the wheel; tire still means to get tired.
- meter / metre: metre is the unit, meter the measuring device.
- story / storey: storey is a floor of a building.
The converter lists these, leaves them as typed, and changes them only when you pick a meaning. Each occurrence is shown with the words around it and decided on its own, so "Pay by check. Check the tire." can become "Pay by cheque. Check the tyre." in one pass.
Names get the same care. A capitalized word in the middle of a sentence, such as Gray in "Mr. Gray" or "Gray, Maine", is kept and listed instead of being respelled, because a surname or a place has one spelling.
How do you use it?
- Paste your text or open a .txt file.
- Choose the target spelling.
- Pick a meaning for any flagged word.
- Click a listed change to undo it, then copy or download.
What this converter does not do
- It does not change vocabulary. Truck does not become lorry and apartment does not become flat: those are different words, not spellings.
- It does not fix grammar or punctuation styles, such as collective nouns or where quotation marks go.
- It does not know every rare word. The list covers about 5,400 word forms found in standard dictionaries.
- It does not judge context on its own. For the doubtful words above, the choice is yours.
The spelling table comes from VarCon, part of the SCOWL word lists. Everything runs in your browser. To compare the before and after line by line, use the text diff checker.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert American spelling to British spelling?
Paste the text, choose British and the converted version appears beside it, ready to copy or download. Every changed word is listed below with its count, such as color to colour three times, and clicking one keeps the original spelling of that word. Words whose spelling depends on meaning are shown for you to choose.
What are the main differences between American and British spelling?
The common patterns are -or and -our (color, colour), -er and -re (center, centre), -ize and -ise (organize, organise), -yze and -yse (analyze, analyse), a single or double l before an ending (traveled, travelled), and -og and -ogue (catalog, catalogue). Many single words differ too, such as gray and grey or aluminum and aluminium.
Why did it not change practice or tire?
Because in British English the spelling depends on the meaning. Practice is the noun and practise the verb; tyre is the wheel but tire still means to get tired; cheque is a bank payment while check means to verify. The converter cannot know which you meant, so it lists the word and lets you pick.
What is Oxford spelling?
Oxford spelling is British spelling with -ize instead of -ise: organize, realize, but still colour, centre and analyse. It is used by Oxford University Press, the Oxford English Dictionary, Nature and many international organisations, including the United Nations. Choose British (Oxford -ize) to write in this style.
Is Canadian spelling British or American?
A mix of both. Canadian English keeps British -our and -re, as in colour and centre, and doubles the l in travelled, but it uses the American -ize and -yze, as in organize and analyze, and writes tire for the wheel. The Canadian option follows the preferred Canadian forms in the source data.
Is Australian spelling the same as British?
Mostly. Australian English uses -our, -re, -ise and doubled consonants like British English, so colour, centre, organise and travelled. A few words differ, the best known being program, which Australians spell the American way for every sense. Choose Australian to follow those preferences.
Does it change words like truck to lorry?
No. It converts spelling, not vocabulary. Truck stays truck and apartment stays apartment, because swapping words changes meaning and tone in ways a find and replace cannot judge. Grey, centre and travelled are the same words spelled differently; lorry and truck are different words, so that choice stays with the writer.
Where does the spelling list come from?
From VarCon, the variant spelling database by Kevin Atkinson and Benjamin Titze that is part of SCOWL, the word lists behind many open-source spell checkers. This tool keeps about 5,400 word forms found in standard dictionaries, each with the preferred American, British, Oxford, Canadian and Australian spelling.
Does it keep capital letters and punctuation?
Yes. Color becomes Colour and COLOR becomes COLOUR, so headings and sentence starts stay right. Possessives and hyphenated words convert too, as in centre’s and colour-coded. Punctuation, line breaks and spacing are left exactly as you typed them, so the converted text drops straight back into your document.
Is my text uploaded anywhere?
No. The spelling table downloads once, about 30 KB, and the conversion runs in your browser. Your text never leaves your device and is not stored, so you can convert drafts, client work or an entire manuscript privately. You can also open a .txt file and download the result with the region in its name.
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Built and tested by the ÆON Toolhub team. Last updated: October 5, 2026. How we test our tools