Is there a word to describe words that can be spelled different ways?


Is there a word in English to describe words that can be spelled more than one way?


For example:



  • colour and color

  • favourite and favorite


However, this shouldn't be limited to words spelled differently in different dialects, though I'm not sure what other case there would be.



Answer



The word you are looking for is variant:



a different spelling, pronunciation, or form of the same word
Dictionary.com



Wikipedia uses the term "spelling variant", which indicates more clearly that it is a difference in spelling, not pronunciation or form.


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