Top 50 Misspelled Words

Key Takeaways

English spelling is tricky because of silent letters, confusing rules, and words that sound the same but are spelled differently.

Learning simple spelling tricks can help.

You can practice spelling with worksheets and games to avoid mistakes.

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50 Commonly Misspelled Words

1. Accommodate

❌ Common Misspellings: accomodate, acommodate

❓ Why It's Misspelled: People often forget it has double 'c's and double 'm's, leading to a reduction in letters.

💡 Tip to Remember: Think of accommodate as having room for two 'c's and two 'm's, just as it accommodates both letters.

2. Definitely

❌ Common Misspellings: definately, definetly

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The mispronunciation of the word often leads to the substitution of 'a' for the second 'i'.

💡 Tip to Remember: Remember that definite is the root word; just add '-ly' to form definitely.

3. Separate

❌ Common Misspellings: seperate

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The pronunciation doesn't emphasize the second 'a', making 'e' seem like the correct vowel.

💡 Tip to Remember: There’s 'a rat' in separate!

4. Occurrence

❌ Common Misspellings: occurence, occurrance

❓ Why It's Misspelled: People struggle with the double 'r' and 'c'.

💡 Tip to Remember: Double 'c', double 'r', and end with 'ence'!

5. Embarrass

❌ Common Misspellings: embarass, embarras

❓ Why It's Misspelled: People forget the double 'r' and 's'.

💡 Tip to Remember: You’ll be 'RR'ed and 'SS'ed if you spell it wrong!

6. Government

❌ Common Misspellings: goverment, govenment

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The silent 'n' is often skipped.

💡 Tip to Remember: Government has an 'n' in the middle—just like 'environment'!

7. Recommend

❌ Common Misspellings: reccommend, recomend

❓ Why It's Misspelled: People overcompensate by doubling the wrong letter.

💡 Tip to Remember: Re-commend it like you 'commend' someone!

8. Receive

❌ Common Misspellings: recieve

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The 'i before e' rule confuses people.

💡 Tip to Remember: Remember: 'I before E, except after C'!

9. Their

❌ Common Misspellings: there, they’re

❓ Why It's Misspelled: Confusion with homophones.

💡 Tip to Remember: 'Their' shows possession—think of 'heir' inside the word!

10. Your

❌ Common Misspellings: you’re

❓ Why It's Misspelled: People confuse it with 'you're' (you are).

💡 Tip to Remember: If you can replace it with 'you are', use 'you're'.

11. Privilege

❌ Common Misspellings: priviledge

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The extra 'd' seems natural because of the pronunciation.

💡 Tip to Remember: Think of it as a privilege to spell it right—no 'd' needed!

12. Mischievous

❌ Common Misspellings: mischevious

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The mispronunciation 'mis-chee-vee-us' leads people to add an extra 'i'.

💡 Tip to Remember: It’s mischievous, not 'mischevious'—there’s no extra 'i' before the 'ous'!

13. Vacuum

❌ Common Misspellings: vacume, vaccuum

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The double 'u' looks odd, leading people to drop or double letters incorrectly.

💡 Tip to Remember: A vacuum sucks up two 'u's!

14. Playwright

❌ Common Misspellings: playwrite

❓ Why It's Misspelled: People assume it's related to 'write', but 'wright' refers to a builder or craftsman.

💡 Tip to Remember: A playwright 'builds' plays—just like a 'shipwright' builds ships!

15. Conscience

❌ Common Misspellings: conscence, consience

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The silent 's' and 'c' make it tricky.

💡 Tip to Remember: Your 'conscience' helps you 'see' right from wrong—think 'con + science'!

16. Liaison

❌ Common Misspellings: liasion, liason

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The odd placement of the 'i' and 'a' confuses people.

💡 Tip to Remember: A liaison keeps things together—so remember the double 'i' keeps the word together!

17. Perseverance

❌ Common Misspellings: perseverence, perserverance

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The 'a' and 'e' placement is tricky.

💡 Tip to Remember: Persevere through spelling struggles—it's 'perseverance', not 'perseverence'!

18. Millennium

❌ Common Misspellings: millenium

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The double 'n' is often dropped.

💡 Tip to Remember: The year 2000 was a big deal, so give 'millennium' two 'n's to make it extra special!

19. February

❌ Common Misspellings: Febuary, Feburary

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The silent 'r' confuses people.

💡 Tip to Remember: Remember the 'r' by pronouncing it as 'Feb-ru-ary' when you spell it!

20. Exaggerate

❌ Common Misspellings: exagerrate, exagerate

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The double 'g' or double 'r' confuses people.

💡 Tip to Remember: Don't exaggerate the letters—just double the 'g', not the 'r'!

21. Occasional

❌ Common Misspellings: occassional, ocassional

❓ Why It's Misspelled: People mistakenly add an extra 's' or drop one 'c'.

💡 Tip to Remember: Occasionally, you need one 'c' and two 's's!

22. Acknowledgment

❌ Common Misspellings: acknowledgement (British), aknowledgment

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The silent 'd' confuses people, and British spelling includes the extra 'e'.

💡 Tip to Remember: In American English, it's 'acknowledgment'—no extra 'e' needed!

23. Believe

❌ Common Misspellings: beleive, belive

❓ Why It's Misspelled: People mix up the order of 'i' and 'e'.

💡 Tip to Remember: 'I before E, except after C'—believe it!

24. Entrepreneur

❌ Common Misspellings: entreprenur, entrepeneur

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The French-origin spelling makes it tricky.

💡 Tip to Remember: Break it down: 'entre' + 'pre' + 'neur'!

25. Maintenance

❌ Common Misspellings: maintanance, maintainance

❓ Why It's Misspelled: People assume it follows 'maintain', but the ending changes.

💡 Tip to Remember: Keep up your 'maintenance' by spelling it right—'main' + 'tenance'!

26. Questionnaire

❌ Common Misspellings: questionaire, questionnare

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The double 'n' is often forgotten.

💡 Tip to Remember: A questionnaire has two 'n's—just like many questions!

27. Bureaucracy

❌ Common Misspellings: beauracracy, burocracy

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The French spelling makes the letter sequence confusing.

💡 Tip to Remember: Think of 'bureau' (office) + 'cracy' (government system)!

28. Conscious

❌ Common Misspellings: concious, consious

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The extra 's' or missing 'c' creates confusion.

💡 Tip to Remember: Be conscious of the 's-c-i' in the middle!

29. Argument

❌ Common Misspellings: arguement

❓ Why It's Misspelled: People mistakenly keep the 'e' from 'argue'.

💡 Tip to Remember: You drop the 'e' in 'argument'—no arguing needed!

30. Category

❌ Common Misspellings: catagory

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The 'e' is often swapped for an 'a'.

💡 Tip to Remember: Think of 'categorize'—the 'e' stays!

31. Restaurant

❌ Common Misspellings: restaraunt, resturant

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The silent 'au' in the middle confuses people.

💡 Tip to Remember: A 'restaurant' serves 'a u' delicious meal!

32. Jewelry

❌ Common Misspellings: jewerly, jwelry

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The extra 'e' or missing letters confuse people.

💡 Tip to Remember: Jewelry has a 'jewel' in it—don't drop the 'e'!

33. Amateur

❌ Common Misspellings: amature, ameteur

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The silent 'eur' ending trips people up.

💡 Tip to Remember: An amateur spells it wrong, but a pro remembers 'eur'!

34. Schedule

❌ Common Misspellings: shedule, schedual

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The 'sch' sound is unusual.

💡 Tip to Remember: Think of 'school'—'sch' always sticks together!

35. Hypocrisy

❌ Common Misspellings: hipocrisy, hypocrasy

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The 'y' and 'i' placement are confusing.

💡 Tip to Remember: Hypocrisy starts like 'hypo' (under) + 'crisy'!

36. Harass

❌ Common Misspellings: harrass, haras

❓ Why It's Misspelled: People mistakenly double the 'r' instead of the 's'.

💡 Tip to Remember: One 'r', two 's's—don't harass the letters!

37. Broccoli

❌ Common Misspellings: brocolli, broccli

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The double 'c' is often reduced to one.

💡 Tip to Remember: Think of 'brocc' + 'oli'—two 'c's, just like its two stalks!

38. Irresistible

❌ Common Misspellings: irresistable, irrisistable

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The '-ible' vs. '-able' ending confuses people.

💡 Tip to Remember: If it’s irresistible, it's '-ible' not '-able'!

39. Committed

❌ Common Misspellings: commited, comitted

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The double 'm' and 't' make it tricky.

💡 Tip to Remember: If you're committed, double the 'm' and 't'!

40. Dilemma

❌ Common Misspellings: dilemna, dilema

❓ Why It's Misspelled: Some people mistakenly believe it has an 'n'.

💡 Tip to Remember: A dilemma has two 'm's, no 'n'—just like a tough choice!

41. License

❌ Common Misspellings: lisence, lisense

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The 'c' and 's' sound can be confusing.

💡 Tip to Remember: A 'license' to drive has 'c' before 's'!

42. Perseverance

❌ Common Misspellings: perserverance, perseverence

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The order of 'e' and 'a' confuses people.

💡 Tip to Remember: If you persevere, you spell it 'perseverance'!

43. Rhythm

❌ Common Misspellings: rythm, ryhthm

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The lack of vowels makes it difficult.

💡 Tip to Remember: RHYmes That Help Your Two Hips Move!

44. Apparent

❌ Common Misspellings: apparant, aparent

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The 'e' placement is tricky.

💡 Tip to Remember: It's apparent there's an 'e' in the middle!

45. Temperature

❌ Common Misspellings: temprature, temperture

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The extra 'e' is often dropped.

💡 Tip to Remember: Think of 'temp' + 'erature'—don't drop the 'e'!

46. Disappear

❌ Common Misspellings: dissapear, disapear

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The double 's' and 'p' make it tricky.

💡 Tip to Remember: It won’t disappear if you spell both 'p's!

47. Sergeant

❌ Common Misspellings: sargent, sergant

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The pronunciation doesn’t match the spelling.

💡 Tip to Remember: A 'sergeant' guards the 'ge' in the middle!

48. Neighbor

❌ Common Misspellings: nieghbor, neigbour (British spelling is 'neighbour')

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The 'ei' order confuses people.

💡 Tip to Remember: Your 'neighbor' follows 'i before e' except after 'g'!

49. Millennium

❌ Common Misspellings: millenium

❓ Why It's Misspelled: The double 'n' is often dropped.

💡 Tip to Remember: The year 2000 was a big deal, so give 'millennium' two 'n's!

50. Pronunciation

❌ Common Misspellings: pronounciation

❓ Why It's Misspelled: People assume it follows 'pronounce'.

💡 Tip to Remember: There's no 'noun' in pronunciation!

Want to practice spelling these words? Try Free Spelling Worksheets.

Why Are These Words So Hard to Spell?

Silent letters – Wednesday (Where’s the d?), Doubt (Why the b?)

Unusual letter patterns – Necessary (One C, two S’s), Embarrass (Double R, double S)

Words that don’t sound like they look – Colonel sounds like 'kernel'!

How to Avoid Spelling Mistakes

Say the word out loud – Sounding it out can help!

Use memory tricks – Rhythm → RHYmes That Help Your Two Hips Move.

Write it down – Seeing words written over and over helps.

More tips? See Spelling Lists.

FAQs About Commonly Misspelled Words

Now that you know the 50 most commonly misspelled words, start practicing and soon those tricky words won’t be a problem anymore! 🚀

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