How do you spell it? asks for the letters of a word, one by one. You ask it when you've heard a word but can't write it down: a surname, a street name, an email address. Spell means to say or write the letters of a word in order, so the reply is the letters: S-M-I-T-H.
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How do you spell it / that / your name?; Could you spell that, please?; It's + letters (double + letter: double L)
- Could you spell your surname for me, please? I want to get it right on the form.
- How do you spell 'necessary'? I can never remember if it has one s or two.
- My name's Bennett — that's B-E-double N-E-double T.
What changed
First versionSorry, how do you write your surname?
RevisionSorry, how do you spell your surname?
Asking how a word is written seems to call for write. But write means writing in general: a letter, a text, with a pen or on a keyboard. When you need the letters in order, English has a separate verb, spell, and How do you write your surname? sounds unusual.
When spelling a word out, British speakers name a double letter with one word, double: Anna is A-double N-A, Bennett is B-E-double N-E-double T. In American speech people often just repeat the letter: N, N.
Your turn
On the phone, the receptionist couldn't find my booking and asked me to ___ my surname.
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spell — The conversation is on the phone: you can't write your surname down for the receptionist, you can only say its letters, and that's spell. Write would mean picking up a pen and writing it yourself.
Write a short dialogue: a receptionist asks you to spell your surname or the name of your street. Spell it out, choosing a word with a double letter.
— How do you spell your surname, please? — It's Morrell: M-O-double R-E-double L.
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