SpellingIQ

How to spell believe

believe

Not beleive.

The trap

I before E

The word believe puts I before E, and the misspelling beleive swaps the two letters. There is a lie in the middle of believe, be-lie-ve, and no C nearby to change the order.

IE and EI are easy to swap, so the order has to be known. When the pair says 'ee' it is usually IE, but EI straight after a C that says S (receive), unless the IE came from a Y (policies); when it says 'ay' it is usually EI (eight).

What it means

verb. Accept that (something) is true, especially without proof.

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SpellingIQ is a skill rating for spelling ability, not a clinical or psychometric IQ measure. American English is canonical; common variants are accepted.