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  • Australia: use Australian English spelling
  • Canada: use Canadian English spelling
  • New Zealand: use New Zealand English
  • The European Union has English (as used in Cyprus, Ireland, Malta and the United Kingdom) as one of its 24 official languages and this variety is understood by 51% of adults in the EU.
  • Commonwealth countries also use this Commonwealth English spelling. This includes all of South Asia as well as most of Southeast Asia and Africa that had a British, French, German, Portuguese or Spanish colonial connection but excludes Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Taiwan (see our English language varieties article for details)
  • Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan and United States articles all use US English spelling.


If the article concerns one of the very few destination countries that has no history of either colonial occupation nor using English and no clear preference for the variety to use, we prefer US English spelling if you're starting a new destination article.

This isn't because US English is somehow better (although US spelling usually is shorter) or to stomp on the rights, heritage, and cultures of other English-speaking countries. We just decided to pick one default spelling style for consistency in new articles.

If it's an existing article that already has consistent spelling using one variety, then please don't arbitrarily change it to another spelling variety without discussion. Many of our non-destination articles were written in Commonwealth English and should not be arbitrarily changed to the US variety.

One longstanding Wikitravel foible you should be aware of is the consistent use of traveller and travelling (rather than "traveler" and "traveling") in many articles.


Although it's preferable to use a consistent variety of English for all of one country's destination articles - and certainly throughout the same article - it may not be the best use of your time to go right through an article to standardis(z)e the spelling unless preparing for a star nomination or for off-line publishing.



Where appropriate, try and use a commonly understood word or phrase in preference to one that has a different meaning because of national differences.

For example, instead of writing "Peter tabled his nomination" (which will be understood as "...withdrew his nomination" in the USA but as the exact opposite in much of the English speaking world), write "Peter withdrew his nomination" so that the phrase will be universally understood.
(In Commonwealth English, one tables a nomination if one wishes to propose not withdraw a nomination!)

Proper names[edit]






Plural forms should not have apostrophes (unless the result of applying this rule is confusing).

  • 1900s not "1900's" and ATMs rather than "ATM's"
  • avocados and pears not "avocado's and pear's"

Reference guides[edit]

For US English spelling:


A useful, free dictionary for checking the Commonwealth variety of English on-line:

Place Names:

See also[edit]