Spelling

occurred

Two Rs. The stress falls on the second syllable, so the consonant doubles.

  • Wrong: occured

    Right: occurred

    Two Cs, two Rs.

The trick

Two Cs and two Rs. The rule: when a word ends in a stressed vowel-plus-consonant, that consonant doubles before -ed or -ing.

Compare referreferred, preferpreferred. But offeroffered, because the stress is on the first syllable there. Same rule, opposite result, which is why nobody trusts it.

Now go double the R.