The most common spellings of the word (in all its senses) were check, checque, and cheque from the 1600s until the 1900s. Since the 1800s, the spelling cheque (from the French work chèque) is standard for the financial sense of the word in the UK, Ireland, and the Commonwealth, while only check is retained in its other senses, thus distinguishing the two definitions in writing. Sources indicate that cheque comes from the Arabic ṣakk (صكّ), which is a written document or letter or note of credit Muslim merchants adopted to carry out their trading. The concept of ṣakk appeared in European documents around 1220, mostly in areas neighbouring Muslim Spain and North Africa; south France and Italy.

On the other hand, check is used for the financial sense in the U.S.

Source: Cheque - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia