If you’re stuck between achieve and acheive, the decision is simple: achieve is the correct spelling, and acheive is a misspelling.
Correct Vs Incorrect At A Glance
Many dictionaries explicitly list acheive as a common misspelling of achieve.✅Source
Table of Contents
Which Spelling Is Correct?
Achieve is the accepted spelling in modern English. Acheive is not a standard variant, so it will be flagged in most spell-checkers and dictionaries.
- ✅ Correct achieve matches dictionary headwords
- ❌ Wrong acheive shows up as a misspelling
- also seen achive as another typo
| Form | Status | What It Signals | Example Sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| achieve | ✅ Correct | Standard spelling used in edited writing | They achieve consistent results after steady practice. |
| acheive | ❌ Wrong | Misspelling caused by swapped vowels | They acheive consistent results after steady practice. |
Spelling detail: the vowel order in achieve is …-ie-…, not …-ei-….
What “Achieve” Means
Achieve means to successfully reach a goal or bring about a result, usually with effort involved.✅Source
Typical Senses In Plain English
- Reach A Goal
- Arrive at a target you aimed for (a milestone, a score, a certification).
- Accomplish A Result
- Make something happen (an improvement, a change, an outcome) through work.
- Be Successful (Less Common)
- Used without an object in some contexts: someone can achieve in school or training.
In grammar terms, achieve is often transitive (it takes a direct object), though it can appear intransitively in limited contexts. Either way, the spelling stays achieve, never acheive.
Original Example Sentences
- With steady training, she achieved a personal best in the final round.
- The team achieved a clean handoff between stages after weeks of refinement.
- He achieves more when the goal is clear and the steps are measurable.
Pronunciation and Spelling Pattern
Achieve is commonly pronounced with the “eev” sound at the end: /əˈtʃiːv/. That sound lines up neatly with the …-ieve letter pattern in achieve.✅Source
| Part | Letters | Common Sound | What People Mistype |
|---|---|---|---|
| Middle | ch | “ch” (as in “chair”) | Rarely changed |
| Vowel pair | ie | “ee” feel in many words | ei swapped in as acheive |
| Ending | ve | Final “v” sound | Sometimes doubled as -eve in typos |
Key spelling point: the ie in achieve is a fixed part of the written form, while acheive is simply the vowels reversed.
Why “Acheive” Shows Up
Acheive usually appears because English spelling memory is pattern-based. Many people recall a familiar “ei” cluster from other words and then accidentally flip the vowels when writing achieve. The result is acheive, a very common swap.
There’s also a history angle: achieve traces back to French forms meaning “finish” or “complete,” and modern dictionaries record that word origin along with related forms like achievable and achiever.✅Source
Related Forms and Word Family
Once you know achieve, the whole word family becomes predictable: the “ie” stays put across forms. That makes acheive look even more out of place next to achievement and achievable.✅Source
Correct Word Family
- achieve
- achieved
- achieving
- achievement
- achievable
- achiever
All keep the …-ie-… sequence from achieve, not …-ei-….
Common Typos Nearby
- acheive vowels swapped
- achive missing “e”
- acheived typo carried into past tense
- acheivement typo carried into noun
These errors are mechanical, not meaningful alternatives to achieve.
Common Usage Patterns
Achieve most often appears right before a goal-type noun. In everyday writing, it tends to pair with words that describe targets and outcomes, which is one reason the misspelling acheive stands out.
Common Pairings With Achieve
- achieve a goal
- achieve a milestone
- achieve success
- achieve a result
- achieve an objective
- achieve a standard
- achieve consistency
- achieve an improvement
Achieve Vs Similar Verbs
In meaning, achieve often overlaps with accomplish and attain. A subtle difference is that achieve frequently implies overcoming difficulty or reaching a notable outcome.
| Verb | Core Idea | Common Object Types | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| achieve | Reach a goal despite effort | goal, milestone, success, standard | They achieved a new benchmark. |
| accomplish | Complete a task or plan | task, mission, project, duty | They accomplished the rollout on schedule. |
| attain | Reach a level or status | level, rank, proficiency, age | She attained advanced certification. |
Common Spelling Traps Near “Achieve”
Because achieve contains a tight vowel pair, it’s easy to confuse it with other verbs that have “ie” or “ei” inside them. That’s how acheive slips in: the letters look familiar, but the order is wrong for achieve.
- look-alike pattern words ending with -ieve can reinforce the correct achieve spelling
- swap risk “ei” patterns from other words can nudge people toward acheive
- spell-check most tools accept achieve and flag acheive as incorrect
FAQ
Answers About Achieve and Acheive
Is “acheive” ever correct?
Acheive is not a standard spelling in modern English. In edited writing, the correct form is achieve, and acheive is treated as a misspelling.
Why do people swap the vowels in “achieve”?
The ie sequence is easy to reverse because it’s a small visual unit. When someone is writing quickly, the vowels can flip and become acheive, even though the correct word is achieve.
What’s the noun form of “achieve”?
The most common noun is achievement. It keeps the same spelling base as achieve, which is another clue that acheive is not a real variant.
How do you pronounce “achieve”?
It’s commonly pronounced /əˈtʃiːv/, with the stress on the second syllable. That “eev” ending matches the -ieve spelling in achieve.
Do the related forms keep the same spelling?
Yes. Forms like achieved, achieving, achievement, and achievable keep the same base spelling. The typo acheive is a vowel reversal, not a different word.