Is it mantelpiece or mantlepiece?

Do you know your mantles from your mantels?

I do, but Microsoft Word doesn’t.

It NEVER flags ‘mantlepiece’ as an error.

If you are attached to your mantlepiece (seek help! đź”—) you’re not alone. Merriam-Webster recommends ‘mantel’ (‘el’ like the ‘el’ of ‘shelf’ ) for the over-the-fireplace ledge, but it acknowledges that ‘mantle’ has been/is used for the same thing, sometimes…

But 🇺🇲 and 🇬🇧 folk might be best prising themselves off their mantlepieces in favour of MANTELPIECE, which, you’ll see from the Ngrams graphs, is by far the most common spelling.

Published by clairecherryedits

CherryEdits.com Indie Fiction Specialist. Line Editing. Copy Editing. Proofreading.

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