Misspelled words in the English language are very common, which is one reason for the use of electronic dictionaries on computers and phones. Often, the dictionary on a device will automatically correct misspellings without the user even being aware the dictionary is doing the work of spelling hard words.
Correct spelling in English is important so that the meaning of a word isn’t lost on the reader. It’s interesting which English words are hard words to spell, as many of them are words that are frequently spoken and read.
Most Misspelled Words
The words in this list are the most often misspelled words in English, according to the Oxford dictionary. Why is the correct spelling of these English words so difficult? One reason is that correct English spelling can be hard to remember without using a dictionary as a reference.
Accommodate
- Spellers often forget this word contains two c’s and two m’s for the correct spelling accommodate.
Wich
- This is such a common word, it’s hard to believe this word is one that is often spelled incorrectly. The correct spelling is which.
Recieve
- It’s easy to see this word and think it’s correct, but to spell this word correctly you need to remember the old saying for reference: i before e except after c. The correct spelling of this word is receive.
Until
- The double l’s make this word one of the more surprising on the list. Remove the double l for the correct spelling until.
Occurred
- This is another one that confuses people will double letters. To spell this one correctly, you need two c’s and two r’s for the correct spelling occurred.
Separate
- This one should have two a’s instead of two e’s and is correctly spelled separate.
Government/Environment
- Many English writers forget that these two words have an n in the middle and are spelled government and environment.
Definitely
- A lot of people see this word and think it looks correct, but there is no a and there are two i’s. The correct spelling is definitely.
Pharoah
- This word does have two a’s, but not in the order above. This word is correctly spelled pharaoh.
Pubically
- The double l’s in this word are incorrect, and hopefully, a good speller would see that the correct way to spell this word is to turn the two l’s into one for the correct spelling publicly.
Business
- Business seems like an easy word to spell, but people often get confused by the double letters and are not sure which letter should be used two times. The correct spelling is business.
Freind
- To spell this word correctly, remember the i before e except after c rule applies for the correct spelling friend.
Most commonly misspelled words list
Below is a list of the most commonly misspelled words in English according to grammar.com. Most English speakers learn the correct spelling of these words in school, but what they learn in school is often forgotten.
A Words
a lot, a while, awhile, ability, accommodate, accommodation, accompanied, accomplish, accordion, accumulate, accumulation, accuse, accustomed, ache, achieve, achievement, acknowledge, acquaintance, acquainted, acquire, acquit, acquitted, across, address, addressed, adequate, advantage, advantageous, advertise, advertisement, advice, advisable, advise, advisor, aerial, affect, affectionate, aficionado, again, against, aggravate, aggressive, agree, ail, air, aisle, ale, alight, all ready, all right, alleged, all together, almost, already, alright, although, altogether, always, amateur, appreciate, appreciation, approach, appropriate, approval, approve, approximate, arctic, argue
B Words
bachelor, balance, balloon, barbecue, bargain, basic, basically, beautiful, because, become, before, beggar, beginning, being, belief, believable, believe, beneficial, benefit, benefited, between, bicycle, bight, biscuit, bite, board, bored, borrow, bottle, bottom, bough, bought, boundaries, boundary, brake, breadth, breath, breathe, brilliant, broccoli, brought, building, bulletin, bureau, burial, buried, bury, bushes, business, byte
C Words
Caesar, cafeteria, calculator, calendar, camouflage, campaign, candidate, cantaloupe, capital, capitol, captain, carburetor, career, careful, careless, Caribbean, carriage, chauvinism, chief, chili, chocolaty, choose, chose, cigarette, circumstance, citizen, climbed, cloth, clothes, clothing, coarse, coffee, coliseum, collect, collectible, college, colonel, column, comedy, comfortable, coming, commemorate, commission, commitment, committed, committee, communicate, company, comparative, compel, competent, competition, completely, complement, compliment, conceal, concede, conceit, condemn, condescend, condition, conference, confident, congratulate, congratulations, connoisseur, conquer, conscience, conscientious, conscious, consensus, consequence, consequently, considerable, consistency, consistent, continual, continuous, controlled, controversial, controversy
D Words
daily, daiquiri, Dalmatian, daughter, daybreak, death, debt, deceive, December, decent, deception, decide, decision, decisive, definitely, delicious, dependent, deposit, derelict, descend, descent, describe, description, desert, desiccate, desirable, despair, desperate, dessert, destruction, determine, deterrence, develop, development, device, devise, dictator, dictionary, died, difference, different, dilemma, dining, dinner, direction, disappear, disappearance, disappoint, disappointment, disapproval, disapprove, disastrous, discipline, discover, discriminate, disease, dispensable, dissatisfied
E Words
earnest, easily, easy, ecstasy, ecstatic, education, effect, efficiency, efficient, eight, eighth, either, eligibility, eligible, eliminate, email, embarrass, embarrassment, embezzle, embezzler, emergency, emperor, emphasis, emphasize, enclosure, encouragement, encouraging, endeavor, enemy, engineer, English, enormous, enough, entirely, entrance, entrepreneur, environment, equipment, equipped, equivalent, err, especially, essential, evening, evident, ewe, exaggerate, exaggeration, examine, exceed, excellence, excellent, except, exceptional, exercise, exhaust, exhausted, exhaustion, exhilarate, exhilaration, experiment, explanation, extreme, extremely, exuberance
F Words
facility, facsimile, factory, fallacious, fallacy, familiar, farther, fascinate, fascinating, fatigue, feasible, feat, February, feet, fiat, fictitious, fiery, finally, financial, financially, financier, flabbergast, flight, flotation, flourish, fluorescent, forcibly, forego, forehead, foreign, foresee, forfeit, forgo, formal, former, formerly, fortunate, forty, fought, fourteen, fourth, frequent, friend, fright, frightening, fueling, fulfill, fundamental, fundamentally, further
G Words
gallon, garden, gardener, gauge, general, generally, genius, gnat, gnaw, government, governor, grammar, grateful, great, grievance, grievous, grocery, gross, guarantee, guardian, guerrilla, guess, guidance, guttural
H Words
half, hammer, handkerchief, handfuls, handsful, happily, happiness, harass, healthy, hear, heard, heavy, height, heinous, heir, hemorrhage, here, heroes, heroine, hesitancy, hideous, himself, hindrance, hoarse, holiday, homepage, hopeless, hoping, horrific, hors d’oeuvre, hospital, humorous, hurried, hurrying, hygiene, hypocrisy, hypocrite
I Words
ideally, idiosyncrasy, ignorance, imaginary, imbecile, imitate, imitation, immediately, immigrant, implement, inadvertent, incidental, incidentally, increase, incredible, independence, independent, indicted, indispensable, inevitable, influence, influential, information, ingenious, ingenuous, initiate, innocence, inoculate, inquiry, insistent, instead, instinct, insurance, integrity, intellectual, intelligence, intercede, interest, interfere, interference, interpreted, interrupt
J Words
January, jealous, jealousy, journal, judgment, judicial
K Words
kindergarten, kitchen, knee, knew, knickers, knife, knit, knock, know, knowledge, knuckle
L Words
labor, laboratory, laid, language, later, latter, laugh, led, legitimate, leisure, length, lesson, liaison, library, license, lieutenant, light, lightening, lightning, likelihood, likely, liquefy, listen, literal, literature, livelihood, loaf, loneliness, loose, lose, losing, lovely, loyal, loyalty, luxury
M Words
magazine, maintain, maintenance, manageable, maneuver, manufacture, marriage, married, marry, marshmallow, match, material, mathematics, measure, medicine, medieval, memento, might, millennium, million, millionaire, miniature, minimum, minuscule, minutes, minutia, miracle, miscellaneous, mischief, mischievous, misogyny, missile, misspell, misspelled, mistake, momentous, monkey, monotonous, mosquito, mosquitoes, mountain, mournful, murmur, muscle, mysterious, mystery
N Words
narrative, natural, naturally, nauseated, nauseous, necessary, necessity, needle, negligence, neighbor, neither, neutron, newspaper, newsstand, nickel, niece, night, ninety, ninth, no one, noticeable, nowadays, nuisance
O Words
obedience, obedient, obstacle, occasion, occasional, occasionally, occur, occurred, occurrence, ocean, official, omission, omit, omitted, once, online, on-line, operate, opinion, opponent, opportune, opportunity, oppression, optimism, optimist, optimistic, orchestra, ordinarily, origin, original, oscillate, ought, ounce, outrageous, overcoat, overrun,
P Words
paid, pamphlet, panicky, parallel, parallelism, parliament, particular, partner, pastime, patience, pavilion, peace, peaceable, pear, peculiar, pencil, penetrate, peninsula, people, perceive, perception, perseverance, persevere, persistence, persistent, personal, personality, personnel, perspiration, persuade, persuasion, pertain, pharaoh, physical, physician, picture, piece, pigeon, pilgrimage, pistachio, pitiful, plagiarize, pneumonia, pocket, potatoes, practical, practically, prairie, precede, precedence, preceding, precise, predictable, prefer, preference, preferential, preferred, prejudice, presumptuous, prevalent, primitive, principal, principle, printout, psychiatrist, psychology, publicly
Q Words
quality, quantity, quarantine, quarreling, quart, quarter, questionnaire, quiet, quite, quizzes
R Words
raise, raspberry, realistic, realistically, realize, really, reason, rebellion, recede, receipt, receive, recipe, recognize, recommend, recuperate, reference, referred, referring, refrigerator, rehearsal, reign, relevant, relieve, relieving, religious, remedy, remembrance, reminisce, reminiscence, rendezvous, renovate, renowned, repetition, representative, resemblance, reservoir, resistance, resource, respectability, responsibility, restaurant, rheumatism, rhythm, rhythmical, ridiculous
S Words
sacrifice, sacrilegious, safety, salary, sandal, sandwich, satellite, Saturday, savvy, scarcely, scary, scene, scenery, scents, schedule, science, scientific, scissors, season, secede, secretary, seen, seize, seminar, sense, sensible, sentence, separate, separation, septuagenarian, sergeant, service, several, severely, shepherd, sheriff, shining, shinning, shish kebab, should, shoulder, shriek, siege, sight, signal, significance, significant, similar, similarity, simile, simply, simultaneous, sincerely, site, skiing, souvenir, special, specifically, specified, specimen, speech, sponsor, spontaneous, stationary, stationery, statue, statute, stomach, straight, strategy, strength, strenuous, stretch, striking, stubbornness, studying, subordinate, subpoena, substantial, subtle
T Words
tangible, tariff, technical, technique, temperament, temperamental, temperature, tenant, tendency, tenement, tenet, their, themselves, theories, there, therefor, therefore, they’re, thorough, though, thought, threshold, through, tight, together, tomorrow, tongue, too, tough, tournament, toward, towards, tragedy, transferred, transferring, treasury, tremendous, tries, truly, twelfth, twelve, tyranny
U Words
ukulele, unanimous, undoubtedly, unforgettable, unique, unnecessary, until, usable, usage, useful, usual, usually, utilization,
V Words
vacuum, valley, valuable, variety, vegetable, vein, vengeance, versatile, vicinity, vicious, view, vigilant, village, villain, violence, virtue, visible, vision, visitor, voice, volume
W Words
waist, warrant, warrior, weak, weal, wear, weather, website, Wednesday, week, weigh, weird, wheel, wherever, whether, which, while, whole, wholly, whose, withdrawal, woman, women, worthwhile, would, wrap, wretched, wrinkle, write
X, Y, Z Words
xylophone
yacht, yield, young, your you’re
Zeitgeist
Many of the words above will not appear to be hard spelling words to a native English speaker, but correct spelling can be more difficult than it seems.
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