Is It Beck and Call or *Beckon Call?

Common Mistakes updated on  November 20, 2023 2 min read
Beck and call is the correct spelling of the phrase that’s part of the expression “to be at someone’s beck and call,” which means “to be ready to follow someone’s commands.”

Beckon call is a common misspelling of the phrase and should be avoided. The QuillBot Grammar Checker will fix this and other common mistakes automatically.

Examples: Beck and call or beckon call in a sentence
Damien is at the beckon call of his mom.
Damien is at the beck and call of his mom.

You don't have to be at my beckon call.
You don't have to be at my beck and call.

The noun beck is related to the verb beckon, but they have different meanings and can’t be used as synonyms. Beck is typically only used as part of the expression beck and call.

How to use beck and call

Beck and call is part of the expression “at someone’s beck and call,” which means “willing to follow someone’s orders.” It’s used to indicate that someone is subservient or, in a negative sense, that someone’s expectations of another are too high.

Examples: Beck and call in a sentence
The chauffeur was at the family’s beck and call.
I can’t be at your beck and call every hour of the day!
As a butler, you have to be at the beck and call of your employer.
The executive had a team of assistants at her beck and call to manage her schedule.

Do you want to know more about common mistakes, commonly confused words, or other language topics? Check out some of our other language articles full of examples and quizzes.


Common mistakes

Commonly confused words

Rhetoric

Whoa or woah

Advisor vs adviser

Metonymy

Theirs or their's

Accept vs except

Synecdoche

Ours or our's

Affect vs effect

Verbal irony

Forty or fourty

Among vs between

Irony

Sence or sense

Anymore vs any more

Grawlix


Frequently asked questions about beck and call or beckon call

Is it beck and call or beg and call?

The correct spelling of this phrase is beck and call. It is part of the expression “to be at someone’s beck and call,” which means “to be ready to follow someone’s orders.”

  • David is at the beck and call of his mother.

Beg and call is a misspelling of this phrase, but it may occasionally appear in a different context if you combine the verbs “to beg” and “to call.”

  • I beg and call but she doesn’t want to listen to me.

Use the QuillBot Grammar Checker to automatically fix your mistakes for free.

What does beckon mean?

Beckon is a verb meaning “making a gesture to instruct or encourage someone to come over.”

It’s sometimes incorrectly inserted into the expression beck and call. The correct phrase is always “beck and call,” not “beckon call.”

Use the QuillBot Grammar Checker to automatically fix your mistakes for free.

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Julia Merkus

Julia has master's degrees in Linguistics and Language and speech pathology. Her expertise lies in grammar, language and speech disorders, foreign language learning, and child language acquisition.

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