Most Misspelled Words

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The Top 20 Misspelled Words in English

The first word we need to address is "misspelled." In British English, "misspelt" is an acceptable alternative.

Our "Top 20" list is ordered by the number of times the misspellings were Googled in one month. (Where there are two common misspellings, an average was used.)

Position	Correct Spelling	Common Misspelling
1	separate	seperate
2	calendar	calender
3	unnecessary	unecessary unnecesary
4	questionnaire	questionaire
5	accidentally	accidentaly
6	necessary	neccessary
7	surprise	suprise
8	embarrass	embarass embarras
9	accommodation	accomodation acommodation
10	receive	recieve
11	weird	wierd
12	definitely	definately
13	business	buisness
14	independent	independant
15	tattoo	tatoo
16	beginning	begining
17	absence	absense abcense
18	acknowledge	acknowlege aknowledge
19	diarrhoea	diarrea diarrhea
20	conscience	conscence conshance

Show me a list of misspelled words

Why Is Spelling So Hard in English?

Here are the five most common causes of spelling mistakes.

(1) Inconsistency with Vowels

In English, the sounds of the vowels are inconsistent, and this is a main cause of spelling mistakes. Here are some examples that highlight the inconsistency of vowel sounds:

inconsistent vowels
finite	definite
bead	bread
tree	puree
said	braid
lose	close
woman	women

(2) Lack of Clarity with Vowels

In many English words, it is unclear which vowel features in one or more of the syllables. Often, the vowel sounds like a short "uh" sound, leaving the writer guessing which vowel made that sound. (This short "uh" sound is called a schwa. It is represented by this symbol ə, i.e., an upside down "e".)

In these examples, the bold vowels sound like schwas:

vowel	vowel as a schwa
a	salad , alphabet , thousand
e	elephant , taken , item
i	animal , cousin , pencil
o	bottom , dinosaur , phantom
u	rhombus , upon , supply

(3) Spelling Inconsistency with Consonants

As a rule, the sounds of the consonants are more consistent, but not always. For example:

inconsistent consonants
lose	loose
desperate	desert
give	ginger
mentor	mention

Also, there are spelling inconsistencies, particularly with double letters (e.g., "till" and "until"). It is fairly rare, but in some words the consonants are silent. For example:

silent consonants
knife
gnome
pneumatic

(4) Typing Errors

Typing errors are another common cause of misspelling. Typically, with typing errors, the letters are transposed (e.g., "teh" instead of "the" or "becuase" instead of "because").

(5) Homophones and Near Homophones

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings. For example:

homophones
aid	aide
altar	alter
awe	oar
bear	bare
break	brake
chord	cord

If you use the wrong homophone, your computer's spellchecker probably won't spot it because a wrong homophone could feasibly be correct. For example:

• John has strong principals, and he refuses to perform this task.
(The context tells us that "principals" is the wrong homophone. It should be "principles." However, your spellchecker and your grammar checker might not spot this mistake because "principals" is spelled correctly, and "strong principals" (i.e. strong head teachers) is a grammatically sound piece of English.)

Here are 220 easily confused words, i.e., homophones and near homophones that are regularly confused by writers.

How To Fix Spelling Mistakes

Here are two useful techniques to improve your spelling:

(1) Tell Yourself a Story

Word	"Story"
rhythm	r + helps your two hips move
separate	There's "a rat" in separate
accommodation	There is enough accommodation for 2 Cs, 2 Ms, and 3 Os.

If you or your students struggle with a certain word, make up a "story" to ensure the correct spelling can be recalled.

(2) Break the Word Down

To help with spelling, break the word down into prefixes, root words, and suffixes.

Prefix	Root Word	Suffix	Correct Spelling
mis-	spell	-ing	misspelling
dis-	respect	-ful -ly	disrespectfully

Read more about improving your English spelling.

The Top Ten Most Misspelled Words

Printable Test

Learn with Hangman!

Hangman is a classic word game. In this version, the hidden word is always a commonly misspelled word (but not necessarily from our "Top 20" list). Choose your first letter to start.

• Guess the hidden word by choosing one letter at a time.
• If you guess a letter in the hidden word, then all is good.
• If you guess a letter that is not in the hidden word, then the hangman starts to build the gallows.
• If the gallows are completed, you lose.
• Good luck!