How to Spell Halloween, and is it Capitalized?

It’s time to continue our holiday lessons to address a frequent question: How to spell Halloween. Not only is it confusing to correctly write the letter order for this October 31 spooky celebration, but confusion often reigns around the additional query, is Halloween capitalized? Let’s find out the answers!

First, some background. My name is Lillie, and I’ve been an English teacher for almost two decades, now. I delight in creating lessons on commonly confused words such as “Valentimes Day,” or mix-ups like how to spell leprechaun. I’m also an artist, so my hope is that the hand-drawn cartoon illustrations I create to go with each lesson help the language rule stick happily in the brain. Now let’s dive in…

How to Spell Halloween

There are so many ways to spell Halloween WRONG, meaning that it certainly belongs on our list of hard words to spell. Examples include: Haloween, Holloween, Hallowen, Hollowin, Hallowin, Halloweene, and more! I’ve even seen “Hallowing” and “Halloweeng.”

Now, the correct spelling of the October 31 holiday is: H-A-L-L-O-W-E-E-N. So, what are some tricks that can help us remember the letter order that’s so often misspelled? Time to put on our witch hat and conjure up a SPELL for correct spelling sticking!

Remembering the Word Parts

To remember the Halloween spelling, I like to divide it into three chunks: HALL-O-WEEN. For the first chunk, remember “Hall” by visualizing a creepy dark hallway. For the second chunk, remember the “O” by picturing this cute pumpkin drawing: a circular “O” shape fitting for Halloween.

The “WEEN” is harder to find a mnemonic device for, but I like imagining someone shrieking “EE!” to recall the middle double “E.” If you know the overall sound of the word, the “W” and “N” will then be natural bookends. See my illustration, above, to put this whole trick together!

If you want to get more historical, you can remember that the name Halloween comes from “All Hallow’s Eve (or Evening).” All of that got smushed down into the pronunciation and spelling we use today.

Is Halloween Capitalized?

Now that we know how the holiday is spelled, inquiring minds want to know: is Halloween capitalized? The answer is YES, Halloween is always capitalized because it’s a holiday, and thus a proper noun.

Be careful when writing the time period that the holiday takes place in, however, as in fact SEASONS are NOT capitalized. In other words “autumn” and “fall” stay lower case, while Halloween remains capitalized. For example, “To plan for Halloween this year, I’m going to start sketching spider web drawings the very first day of autumn.”

Know How to Spell Halloween Now?

I hope after this tutorial that you now know how to spell Halloween, and can also confidentially answer when someone asks, “Is Halloween capitalized?” What other commonly misspelled words would you like me to illustrate? Do share…

If you want more October 31 fun, check out my big list of easy Halloween drawing ideas, including a cute bat drawing!