Kneeled or Knelt | Meaning, Difference & Examples

Kneeled and knelt are two different spellings of the past simple and past participle of the verb ‘kneel’, used to refer to the act of placing one or both knees on the ground. This action is often used as a gesture of respect or worship (similar to ‘genuflecting‘).

The spelling of the past tense varies somewhat between UK and US English:

  • In UK English, ‘knelt’ is standard (though ‘kneeled’ is still acceptable).
  • In US English, both ‘knelt’ and ‘kneeled’ are commonly used (‘knelt’ is more popular).
Examples: Kneeled and knelt in a sentence
The people knelt/kneeled before the queen.

The worshippers knelt/kneeled and prayed every morning.

The mother knelt/kneeled on the floor to play with the child.

Note
Verbs whose past simple and past participle are formed in some way other than by adding the suffix ‘-ed’ are called irregular verbs.

‘Kneel’ can be either regular or irregular; the irregular form is more popular today, especially in UK English. Other verbs that can be either regular or irregular are ‘learnt/learned‘, ‘dreamt/dreamed‘, ‘spelt/spelled‘ and ‘burnt/burned‘.

Make your writing flawless in 1 upload

Be assured that you'll submit flawless writing. Upload your document to correct all your mistakes.

upload-your-document-ai-proofreader

Kneeled down or knelt down

Kneeled and knelt are often followed by ‘down’ to form the phrasal verb kneeled down/knelt down. ‘Kneeled down/knelt down’ means the same thing as ‘kneeled/knelt’. The same distinction applies to these forms:

  • In UK English, ‘knelt down’ is more popular (though ‘kneeled down’ is still acceptable).
  • In US English, both ‘knelt down’ and ‘kneeled down’ are commonly used (though ‘knelt down’ appears more often).
Examples: Knelt down and kneeled down in a sentence
I knelt down/kneeled down to scrub the floor.

The theater was so crowded that some people stood in the aisles while others knelt down/kneeled down in front of the stage.

The only proofreading tool specialized in correcting academic writing

The academic proofreading tool has been trained on 1000s of academic texts and by native English editors. Making it the most accurate and reliable proofreading tool for students.

Upload my document

Other interesting language articles

If you want to know more about commonly confused words, definitions, common mistakes, and differences between US and UK spellings, make sure to check out some of our other language articles with explanations, examples, and quizzes.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

Ryan, E. (2023, September 25). Kneeled or Knelt | Meaning, Difference & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 3 December 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/uk-vs-us/knelt-or-kneeled/

Is this article helpful?
Eoghan Ryan

Eoghan has a lot of experience with theses and dissertations at bachelor's, MA, and PhD level. He has taught university English courses, helping students to improve their research and writing.