forming words with letters according to the principles underlying accepted usage
"The teacher praised the student's spelling, noting that every word was formed with letters in strict accordance with accepted linguistic rules."
The act, practice, ability, or subject of forming words with letters, or of reading the letters of words; orthography.
"The teacher spent extra time helping the students improve their spelling during the afternoon lesson."
In plain English: Spelling is writing down letters in the right order to make correct words.
"The teacher marked his essay with red ink because he made several spelling mistakes."
Usage: Use this word to refer specifically to the correct arrangement of letters in a written language rather than general writing skills. It is often confused with "grammar," but while grammar governs sentence structure and rules, spelling focuses solely on letter sequences.
present participle of spell
"The children were spelling their names aloud during the warm-up exercise."
In plain English: To spell is to say each letter of a word out loud so someone can write it down correctly.
"She spent hours spelling out her name on the invitation card."
The word spelling comes from the verb spell combined with the suffix -ing in the 1400s. It originally referred to the act of casting a spell or incantation before evolving to mean writing letters correctly.