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# spell

«spell» in Mova's school dictionary: **to say or write its letters in the right order** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (spell, spells, spelt or spelled, spelling); noun (a spell, spells)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To spell a word is to say or write its letters in the right order. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spell/#m1)

2) (noun) A spell is a set of magic words that makes something happen in stories. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spell/#m2)

3) (noun) A short period of time: a spell of sunny weather. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spell/#m3)

4) (verb) To spell something out is to explain it very clearly; "spell trouble" means to be a sign that something bad will happen. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spell/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

Used at school: spelling tests, "How do you spell...?". In stories: witches and wizards cast spells. In weather reports: "a cold spell", "a dry spell". Phrases: "cast a spell", "under a spell", "spell out".

### examples

- How do you spell "necessary"? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spell/#x1)
- Can you spell your name for me? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spell/#x2)
- The witch cast a spell on the prince. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spell/#x3)
- The princess was under a spell. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spell/#x4)
- We had a spell of warm weather. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spell/#x5)
- Dark clouds spell trouble for the picnic. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spell/#x6)
- Let me spell it out for you. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spell/#x7)
- "How can I break this spell?" said their sister. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spell/#x8)

### note

Past: "spelt" (UK) or "spelled" (UK and US). Noun "spelling" is about letters; "a spell" in stories is magic. Homonym: one spelling, several unrelated meanings.

### In the corpora

- [Sometimes grown-ups close a door, lower their voices or spell out words so children won't understand.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/35-closed-doors-whispers-and-secrets/0/)
- ["Necessary" is spelled with one c and a double s.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ai/11-school-rules-honesty-and-wrong-accusations/18/)
- [The Badger is closer to life: real badgers dig huge old homes called setts and stay underground through cold spells.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/405-the-real-animals-of-the-wild-wood-badger-stoat-weasel-ferret-field-mice-and-winter-hedgehogs/3/)
- [Think of the elements as the letters of an alphabet: about a hundred letters spell out every substance in the world.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/2-elements-and-the-periodic-table/4/)
- [Blending is pushing sounds together to read a word; segmenting is splitting a word into its sounds to spell it.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/2-blending-segmenting-and-the-year-1-check/16/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «spell» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spell/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.