Accommodating

How to spell accommodating

13 letters · 5 syllables

22 of the 42 people asked to spell accommodating in Spelling Garden got it wrong the first time.

The most common mistake is accomodating. The letters people get wrong are highlighted.

accomodating accommodating

What people typed instead

• accomodating19 people

How to pronounce accommodating

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does accommodating mean?

1. adjectiveWilling to help or fit in with someone's wishes or needs.

Accommodating in a sentence

• The hotel staff were unusually accommodating about our late arrival.

• Her manager proved accommodating when she asked to shift her working hours.

Where does accommodating come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb accommodare, which meant 'to make fit' or 'to adapt to something', and which was built from ad 'to' and commodare 'to make suitable'. At its heart sits modus, the Latin word for a measure or proper limit, so the original idea was literally fitting one thing to the right size or shape of another. English borrowed the verb 'accommodate' in the sixteenth century, and from it grew this present-participle form, used as an adjective for a person who is eager to fit in with others' needs. The same modus root surfaces in everyday relatives such as 'mode', 'modest' and 'commodious', which all carry that sense of measure or fitting. The notorious spelling trap is the pair of double letters: a double c followed by a double m, both inherited straight from the Latin prefixes ac- and com-, so remembering 'two prefixes, two doubles' keeps the spelling honest.

How the word is built

• ac- (variant of ad-: to, toward)
• com- (with)
• mod (measure, fit, from modus)
• -ate (verb suffix)
• -ing (present participle/adjective suffix)

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Of the Spelling Garden players who got accommodating wrong the first time, this is how many also got each of these wrong.

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