Is there a word to describe words that can be spelled different ways?

Is there a word in English to describe words that can be spelled more than one way?

For example:

  • colour and color
  • favourite and favorite

However, this shouldn't be limited to words spelled differently in different dialects, though I'm not sure what other case there would be.


Solution 1:

The word you are looking for is variant:

a different spelling, pronunciation, or form of the same word
Dictionary.com

Wikipedia uses the term "spelling variant", which indicates more clearly that it is a difference in spelling, not pronunciation or form.