Seeing acknowledge and acknowlegde side by side can feel weirdly confusing, even though only one is right. The tricky part is that the word contains know but ends with -ledge, so spellcheckers and fast typing don’t always save the day.
The Correct Spelling
✅ Correct acknowledge is the only standard spelling of the verb in modern English. You’ll see it in formal writing, casual writing, and fixed phrases like acknowledge receipt and acknowledge a mistake.
❌ Wrong acknowlegde is a spelling error. It usually comes from swapping the -dge ending into -gde, which looks plausible at a glance but isn’t a real ending in English spelling patterns.
What “Acknowledge” Means
Acknowledge is a flexible verb with a few core ideas that repeat across contexts. At its heart, it signals recognition, acceptance, or confirmation—the writer or speaker is openly noticing something instead of leaving it unspoken.
Main Senses You’ll See Most Often
- Admit Or Accept a fact: acknowledge the issue, acknowledge that it happened
- Recognize someone’s role or status: acknowledge a contribution, acknowledge leadership
- Show You Noticed someone: acknowledge a greeting, acknowledge the audience
- Confirm Receipt of a message or item: acknowledge receipt, acknowledge the email
In usage notes and examples, major dictionaries also include patterns like acknowledge that + clause, acknowledge + noun, and acknowledge someone (meaning “recognize or greet”).✅Source
Why The Misspelling Happens
The typo acknowlegde is common because the ending is visually busy and the word is long. Your eyes often lock onto the middle (know) and skim the end, where -ledge can get scrambled.
- Letter Swap: -dge becomes -gde during fast typing, creating acknowlegde.
- Sound Mismatch: The final sound is a “j” sound, but English often spells it as -dge, not a simple -ge or reversed letters.
- Word Family Confusion: People mentally connect it to knowledge, but the spelling still keeps the -ledge ending rather than a shorter form.
Forms and Family
The spelling issue doesn’t stop at the base verb. Once you write acknowledge, you’ll often need a related form like acknowledged or acknowledging, or the noun form acknowledgment. The family stays consistent around -ledge.
- Base Verb
- acknowledge (to recognize, admit, confirm, or show notice)
- Past / Past Participle
- acknowledged (e.g., “They acknowledged the message.”)
- Present Participle
- acknowledging (e.g., “Acknowledging the update, she replied.”)
- Noun
- acknowledgment (variant spelling: acknowledgement)
On the noun side, reputable dictionaries record acknowledgment and explicitly note acknowledgement as a variant spelling of the same word.✅Source
Acknowledgment vs Acknowledgement
Both spellings point to the same meaning, but they don’t show up with the same frequency everywhere. In many American English style environments, acknowledgment (without the extra “e”) is a common preferred form, while acknowledgement appears widely in other editorial traditions.
Related Spellings In One View
| Form | Part Of Speech | Meaning Focus | Notes You’ll Commonly See |
|---|---|---|---|
| acknowledge | Verb | Recognize / admit / confirm | Standard spelling; shows up in formal and everyday writing |
| acknowledged | Verb (past / participle) | Past action / established recognition | Also appears as an adjective in phrases like “an acknowledged expert” |
| acknowledging | Verb (present participle) | Ongoing recognition | Common in formal sentences with dependent clauses |
| acknowledgment | Noun | The act of acknowledging | Often preferred in American English editorial conventions |
| acknowledgement | Noun | The act of acknowledging | Widely used; recorded as a variant spelling in major references |
| acknowlegde | — | — | ❌ Misspelling (letter order error in the ending) |
Real-World Phrases
A lot of clarity comes from the company the word keeps. The verb acknowledge tends to sit next to nouns like mistake, receipt, responsibility, and contribution, which is why it feels at home in policy documents, formal emails, and academic writing.
High-Frequency Collocations
- acknowledge receipt (formal confirmation)
- acknowledge a mistake (admission)
- acknowledge a contribution (credit)
- acknowledge the importance (recognition)
- acknowledge responsibility (acceptance)
Neutral Example Sentences
- “We acknowledge your message and will respond soon.”
- “She acknowledged the error and corrected it.”
- “The report acknowledges the limitations of the dataset.”
- “He nodded, acknowledging the greeting.”
Reference dictionaries often list these same patterns explicitly (including acknowledge receipt and acknowledge a mistake), which is why they keep showing up in templates and formal phrasing.✅Source
Professional Usage Notes
In editorial environments that demand consistency, standard spellings matter because the same word may appear in headings, forms, and repeated template lines. That’s where you’ll see preferred spellings explicitly documented, including acknowledgment as a listed form in professional spelling lists.
The U.S. Government Publishing Office Style Manual includes a spelling section that points writers to an authoritative dictionary for spellings not covered, and it also lists acknowledgment in its preferred spellings list.✅Source
In book and academic front matter, the heading is commonly written as Acknowledgments (plural) in many American-edited publications. You’ll notice that same spelling on established style-guide pages that present the section name as a label, reinforcing how common the -ment spelling is in that setting.✅Source
Close Neighbors That Don’t Mean The Same Thing
Because acknowledge covers several ideas, it sits near other verbs that overlap but aren’t identical. These distinctions show up in professional writing where the exact meaning matters: admit leans toward accepting a fault, recognize leans toward noticing or identifying, and confirm leans toward verification (often in process or documentation contexts).
| Verb | Core Focus | Typical Feel | Example (Neutral) |
|---|---|---|---|
| acknowledge | Recognize / admit / confirm | Formal, flexible | “They acknowledged the update.” |
| admit | Accept a fault or truth | Often personal or direct | “She admitted the mistake.” |
| recognize | Identify / notice | Neutral | “He recognized the name.” |
| confirm | Verify accuracy or receipt | Process-driven | “Please confirm the delivery.” |
FAQ
Common Questions About acknowledge and acknowledgment
Is acknowlegde ever correct?
No. acknowledge is the standard spelling of the verb, and acknowlegde is a misspelling caused by reversing letters in the -dge ending.
Why does acknowledge end with -ledge?
It’s a historical spelling tied to older forms connected with “to know” and the word knowledge. The modern spelling keeps that structure even though the word looks long.
What’s the difference between acknowledgment and acknowledgement?
They mean the same thing: the act of acknowledging. The difference is spelling preference across editorial traditions. Both appear in reputable references as accepted forms.
Is “acknowledge receipt” a fixed phrase?
It’s a very common formal pattern in writing that confirms something arrived. It shows up frequently in professional templates because it’s precise and widely understood.
Can acknowledged be an adjective?
Yes. You’ll see it used like an adjective to mean “generally recognized,” as in “an acknowledged expert.” The spelling stays the same as the verb family.
Does the noun form always match the verb spelling?
It matches the family pattern (-ledge) but the noun has two accepted spellings: acknowledgment and acknowledgement. The misspelling acknowlegde isn’t part of that family.