“Saltpeter” or “Saltpetre”—What's the difference?

Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

Of the 12 countries below, 7 prefer “saltpeter” and 2 prefer “saltpetre”. Usage levels are out of 100; the more common spelling in each country is in bold.

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country	saltpeter	saltpetre	Preference
United States	92	8	“saltpeter”
United Kingdom	43	57	“saltpetre”
India	32	68	“saltpetre”
Philippines	100	0	“saltpeter”
Canada	84	16	“saltpeter”
Australia	53	47	“saltpeter”
Liberia	0	0	Not enough data
Ireland	59	41	“saltpeter”
New Zealand	60	40	“saltpeter”
Jamaica	77	23	“saltpeter”
Trinidad & Tobago	0	0	Not enough data
Guyana	0	0	Not enough data

Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“saltpeter”

Unexploited saltpeter fields were transferred to the…
The introduction of saltpeter into pyrotechnic mixtures connected the…
…its committee, recommended importing Chilean saltpeter and the construction of four…
…the major competitor to Peruvian saltpeter.
…increased, the government expropriated the saltpeter industry and imposed a full…
Potassium nitrate () or saltpeter is obtained from natural sources…
…in the United States about saltpeter in army coffee and in…
…by the increasing volume of saltpeter sales and also by the…
…forbidden from trading sulfur and saltpeter across the Liao border, suggests…
…added to six parts of saltpeter (potassium nitrate) dissolved in laurel…

“saltpetre”

Saltpetre produced from French nitre beds…
…born to a manufacturer of saltpetre (an essential component of gunpowder).
…to the easy availability of saltpetre in their native areas.
This tax made saltpetre more expensive at a global…
…became a trading centre for saltpetre.
…to have been a native saltpetre.
1999: Saltpetre CD/Volume One, Saltpetre Records
…industrial past is a former saltpetre refinery for a gunpowder factory.
2005: SaltPeter/ SaltPervert EP, Saltpetre Records:
…April – Export prohibition for saltpetre and gunpowder.

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license.

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