What does personnel mean?
Word: Personnel
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Personnel means the people employed in an organisation.
Synonyms: staff, workforce
Word origin: Borrowed from French in the early 1800s; it is related to the English word person.
How do you spell personnel?
Syllables: per - son - nel
Tricky part: The word looks very like personal, and that is the trap: students blend the two and write personel, or add an l and write personnell.
Watch out for: personel, personnell, personell
Memory tip: Two n letters stand shoulder to shoulder in the middle, and a single l brings up the rear.
Personnel in a sentence
Example 1: All security personnel at the stadium wore bright yellow jackets.
Example 2: Ground personnel guided the plane to its parking bay.
Example 3: The school office keeps a record of the personnel who joined this year.
Fun Fact
For much of the last century a company had a personnel department; most firms now call the same team human resources, or HR.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Twins
In which sentence or sentences is the right word used?
1. The hotel's personal wear blue jackets on duty. 2. Please keep your personnel belongings under the seat.
a) both
b) only 2
c) only 1
d) neither
Show answer
d) neither. Sentence 1 needs the noun for workers and sentence 2 the adjective for your own things, so the spellings have swapped places.
Spellacadabra
Choose the option in which the following letters will fit in the given order:
e, o, e
a) c_l_n_l
b) p_rs_nn_l
c) l_v_nd_r
d) b_r_m_ter
Show answer
b) p_rs_nn_l. Colonel opens with o, while lavender and barometer open with a, which leaves personnel.
Word Champ
In which option are the given words arranged in alphabetical order?
1. personnel 2. personify 3. personal 4. perspire
a) 3214
b) 2314
c) 3124
d) 1324
Show answer
a) 3214. Three share person, so the next letters a, i and n decide them; perspire follows them because p comes after o.
Sound Check
Which word does not rhyme with personnel?
a) hotel
b) farewell
c) gazelle
d) camel
Show answer
d) camel. The stress in camel falls on its first part, so its end is a weak sound; the others end in a strong "el".
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A door has a sign saying 'Personnel only beyond this point'. Who may go through?
a) people who work in the building
b) children with a parent or guardian
c) any visitor who asks politely
d) customers who have paid a fee
Show answer
a) people who work in the building
2. Which word correctly completes this sentence? 'The airport personnel ___ trained every year.'
a) is
b) are
c) has
d) was
Show answer
b) are
