How do you look up a word in the dictionary if you dont know how to spell it?

wenevr i ask my teacher how somethin is spelled he says....look it up in the dictionary!!!!

how can i look it up if i dont know how to spell it?!?!?!?!?How do you look up a word in the dictionary if you dont know how to spell it?
I always wondered that myself...LOL.



For the most part if you have the first couple of letters, you'll be fine.



Unless it's a word like Pnuemonia or sumthing.
You can not tell me that you can not determine, with reasonable certainty, What letter begins a word. And what comes next? Or that it is either this letter or that one. If you do not find it with one, try the other.



You spell words typically by sounding them out. the dictionary is for verification. It tells you if your guess is correct or if you need to come up with a different one. It will make you MUCH better at it if you do it that way.



Relying on computer spell check will not make you a better writer all the time either. What about there, their, and they're. All mean different things, are not interchangeable, but all spelled correctly.



The point is, If we just tell you how to spell it, you will forget as soon as you are through with it. If you put the effort into finding the answer yourself, you Will remember.How do you look up a word in the dictionary if you dont know how to spell it?
Excuses, excuses, excuses



Because English is not a completely phonetic language many words may be difficult to find. You'll have to do your best by "trial and error." Many syllables have the same spellings. Break the word into syllables.



You could try the computer's spell-check. All word processing programs have it. Even Yahoo Answers can help you out with other possibilities when you misspell a word. I used it twice in this answer...easy + fast.



Get to know the dictionary. It has many uses beside spell-check.
go to yahoo answers and ask us... or tell your teacher he is a piece a ****, flipp em the finger and walk out... lol nah all you really need is the first 2 letters of the word... and then look at the relative words with thos two letters and find the one that sounds the most like the one ur lookin forHow do you look up a word in the dictionary if you dont know how to spell it?
The best thing to do is use an online dictionary. You will be asked if you mean a word similar in spelling.



You could also scan a dictionary, online or not, with the beginning letters you are positive are correct.
I use google to spell check me for single words....thank goodness for statistical machine learning...



Go into google and try to spell it like you think it might be spelled then see what search suggestions are offered....usually google will give you search results with definitions....
you type the word into dictionary.com and then a list of results will pop up saying: did you mean ___ (aka whatever word you're looking for)? Then, look through the words and choose the one that closely resembles the word you're looking for. Simple :)