Cheque or check: which is correct?
Correct
cheque (UK, for a bank order) / check (US)
Avoid
check (in UK English for a bank order)
Avoid
cheque (in US English)
Summary
Correct: cheque (UK, for a bank order) / check (US) — Avoid: check (in UK English for a bank order) / cheque (in US English). Cheque / check = a written order directing a bank to pay money; in every other sense (to check, a check mark, the bill in a restaurant) check is used in both varieties.
Both spellings are correct in their own variety; pick one and use it consistently.
- Part of speech
- noun
- Source
- Oxford / Merriam-Webster
Why
Oxford: British English reserves cheque for the bank order and uses check for all other senses; Merriam-Webster gives check for every sense in American English and lists cheque as chiefly British.
Examples
- Please make the cheque (UK) / check (US) payable to the school.
- They paid the deposit by cheque.
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- Checked against
- Merriam-Webster / Oxford
- Spelling authority
- Merriam-Webster · Oxford English Dictionary / Oxford spelling · SCOWL
- Commonly confused and non-standard forms
- 64
- Dictionary
- Hunspell en_US / en_GB / en_AU / en_CA · Dictionary license: MIT AND BSD (SCOWL combined licence)