Journalling or Journaling? Both Are Correct (And Why)

Both spellings are correct. "Journaling" is the American spelling. "Journalling" is the British spelling. They mean the same thing, refer to the same practice, and are used in the same contexts. Which one you write depends on which dialect of English you're working in — nothing more.

That's the short answer. The longer answer is more interesting, because the spelling difference reveals a small bit of how English handles consonants, and the etymology of the word reveals a small bit of how we got from medieval Latin to a thirty-pound notebook on a Stockholm desk.

The actual rule

The reason "journalling" has two L's in British English (and "journaling" has one in American) is a spelling convention about doubling consonants before suffixes.

In British English, when a word ends in a single vowel followed by a single L, the L is doubled before adding suffixes that start with a vowel (-ing, -ed, -er):

Base	British	American
travel	travelling, travelled, traveller	traveling, traveled, traveler
model	modelling, modelled, modeller	modeling, modeled, modeler
cancel	cancelling, cancelled, canceller	canceling, canceled, canceler
journal	journalling, journalled	journaling, journaled
label	labelling, labelled	labeling, labeled

This convention dates back to the influence of Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), which standardized the British doubled-L. Noah Webster, working on the American dictionary in the early 1800s, deliberately simplified many of these spellings — among other "Americanizations" — to make written English more phonetically rational. We've been on slightly diverging tracks ever since.

A small exception worth noting: even in British English, the doubling rule normally requires that the final syllable be stressed. With "journal," the stress is on the first syllable (*jour-*nal), which technically should make the L singular. But British English doubles the L anyway by convention, partly because of dictionary tradition and partly because it looks right to British readers. English is not actually a rules-based language, despite our pretending it is.

Where the word came from in the first place

Both spellings descend from the same root, which is worth knowing if only because it explains the word's slight strangeness.

"Journal" comes from Old French journal, meaning "daily" or "of the day," which in turn came from Late Latin diurnalis — itself derived from Latin dies, "day." So "journal" originally just meant "a daily thing."

In medieval and early modern Europe, "journal" referred to:

• A ship's log of daily events (this usage survives in nautical "journals")
• A merchant's daily ledger
• A traveler's day-by-day notebook
• Religious accounts of daily devotion

Note that "diary" — from Latin diarium, "daily allowance" — has the same Latin root and similarly meant a record of days. The two words diverged in usage over centuries: "diary" stayed close to its original meaning as a chronological record of events, while "journal" broadened to mean any working notebook used regularly, including ones with no daily structure.

We cover the practical distinction between them in detail in our Diary vs Journal guide. The short version: a diary documents what happened; a journal explores anything.

When to use which spelling

If you're an American writer or writing for an American audience, use journaling, journaled, journaler. If you're British, Irish, Australian, New Zealand, Canadian, or South African (or writing for any of those audiences), use journalling, journalled, journaller.

For published writing, follow the style guide of wherever you're publishing. The Chicago Manual of Style (American) uses single-L; the Oxford Style Manual (British) uses double-L.

For your actual journal, write whichever feels right. Nobody but you will see it, and consistency within the practice doesn't matter — many bilingual writers cheerfully mix the two and never notice.

Does the spelling matter for search?

Short answer: not really, for finding things in 2026.

Google has treated "journaling" and "journalling" as variants of the same concept for years. If you search either, you'll get results using both spellings. Dictionaries, including Merriam-Webster, Oxford, and Cambridge, list both as valid.

A subtle exception: very specific search queries that include the doubled-L are slightly more likely to surface UK and Commonwealth sites. So a search for "best journalling pens" leans toward British-focused product pages, while "best journaling pens" leans American. Useful if you're shopping for stationery and want region-appropriate recommendations.

Other related variants

A few cousins of the spelling question that come up:

• Journalize / journalise. Means to record something in a journal. American spelling uses -ize; British uses -ise (though British academic writing sometimes uses -ize following Oxford convention — yes, this is confusing).
• Journalist. Same in both — no L doubling because the suffix starts with a consonant.
• Bullet journal vs bullet journalling. Same rule: American "bullet journaling," British "bullet journalling." Ryder Carroll, the American inventor of the system, uses the single-L spelling. British practitioners often use either.
• Junk journal vs junk journalling. Same rule applies. See our junk journaling guide.

What we use here

JournalTechniques uses American spelling for consistency with the domain name and the dominant English-language search vocabulary. We try to alternate naturally where the topic explicitly involves UK practice or terminology, and we don't consider one spelling more correct than the other.

If you're reading from outside the US and prefer "journalling," please mentally substitute as you read — the practice is identical and the recommendations don't change.

Bottom line

Both spellings are correct. The choice is a dialect preference, not a quality marker. Use whichever feels natural for your audience and stop worrying about it — the practice itself is what matters, and your notebook doesn't care how you spell what you're doing in it.

For practical guidance on starting the practice — under either spelling — see our beginner's guide to journaling and our complete guide to the 15 main techniques.