Commonly Misspelled Words in English: Lists, Rules and Memory Tricks

Even well-read students lose marks to spelling. Words such as accommodate, necessary, definitely and separate are misspelled by native speakers and learners alike. The good news is that most mistakes fall into a small number of patterns, and once you know the patterns, you can fix whole groups of words at a time.

This guide explains the main causes of spelling mistakes and gives 233 commonly misspelled words in nine groups, each with the common wrong spelling and a hint about where the mistake happens. It also covers ten spelling rules, British and American spelling differences, memory tricks, key points, ten practice questions and a teacher activity.

It connects with Commonly Confused Words, Singular and Plural Nouns and Common Errors in English. Spelling in this guide follows British English.

1.Why Do We Misspell Words?

English spelling is difficult because it has borrowed words from Latin, Greek, French, German and many other languages, and the spelling often preserves the history of the word, not its sound. Common causes of mistakes are:

• Double letters. It is hard to hear whether a letter is doubled: occurrence, embarrass.
• Silent letters. Some letters are written but not pronounced: debt, knowledge, autumn.
• Vowels in unstressed syllables. The vowel sounds the same in -ant and -ent, so we guess: dependent, independence.
• Foreign spellings. Restaurant, entrepreneur and rhythm keep their French or Greek spellings.
• Similar-looking patterns. -able / -ible, -ary / -ery and ie / ei cause constant confusion.

2.Ten Spelling Rules That Help

Rules have exceptions, but they work for most words. For the exceptions, use the lists below.

3.Double Letters: Which Letters Are Doubled?

4.The I Before E Rule and Its Exceptions

5.Silent Letters

6.Words Ending in -able and -ible

7.Words Ending in -ance, -ence, -ant and -ent

8.Words Ending in -ary, -ery and -ory

9.Words Ending in -cede, -ceed and -sede

10.Unusual and Difficult Spellings

11.Words Ending in -ous, -eous and -ious

12.British and American Spelling

Both spellings are correct in their own region. Choose one style and use it throughout a piece of writing. This guide, and most examinations in Pakistan, India, the United Kingdom and many other countries, use British spelling.

13.Memory Tricks for the Hardest Words

14.How to Improve Your Spelling

• Look, say, cover, write, check. Look at the word, say it in syllables, cover it, write it from memory and check.
• Keep a personal list of the words you misspell and revise it every week.
• Break words into syllables and say each part: nec-es-sar-y.
• Learn word families. If you can spell sign, you can spell signature and design.
• Read widely. Seeing words in print builds your visual memory.
• Proofread slowly, reading from the end to the beginning, so that you see each word on its own.
• Do not trust spell-check completely. It cannot tell their from there.