Commonly Misspelled English Words and Tricks to Remember Them

English spelling is notoriously unpredictable. Words came from many languages, pronunciation shifted over the centuries, and spelling froze in place much earlier. The result: a set of words that even confident writers stumble over.

Why English spelling is odd

When printing spread in the fifteenth century, spelling began to standardise, but pronunciation kept changing. Silent letters, such as the k in knight, are relics of older pronunciation. And borrowed words kept their original spellings, adding more variety.

Twenty words to master

1. Separate Trick: there's a rat in sep-a-rate. The middle is a, not e.

2. Definitely Trick: it contains finite: de-finite-ly. It's not definately.

3. Occurrence Two cs and two rs. Trick: it happens twice, in both places.

4. Necessary Trick: one collar and two sleeves.

5. Accommodate Two cs and two ms. Trick: it's large enough to hold both.

6. Embarrass Two rs and two ss. Trick: you go red and red, and feel silly and small.

7. Receive Rule: i before e, except after c: receive, deceive, ceiling. Exceptions include weird, seize, science and neighbour.

8. Rhythm Trick: rhythm helps your two hips move.

9. Privilege No d: pri-vi-lege. Say it as three syllables.

10. Restaurant Trick: don't drop the u: rest-au-rant, with the au of sauce.

11. Conscience Contains science: con-science.

12. Maintenance Trick: it comes from maintain, but changes to -tenance.

13. Address Two ds and two ss.

14. Calendar Ends in -ar, not -er. Trick: a cal-en-dar.

15. Government Contains govern plus ment, so the n is there: government.

16. February The first r is silent when spoken, but written. Trick: Feb-r-u-ary.

17. Library Not liberry. Say the first r clearly: li-br-ary. It comes from Latin liber, "book".

18. Weird An exception to i before e. Trick: weird is weird.

19. Beginning Double n: begin + ning.

20. Tomorrow One m, two rs.

Other common ones

Acknowledge, bureau, committee, dilemma, environment, foreign, guarantee, harass, independent, knowledge, lightning, millennium, parallel, questionnaire, recommend, schedule, thorough, until, vacuum, Wednesday.

Strategies

1. Keep a personal list of words you get wrong.
2. Use mnemonics that suit you.
3. Break words into syllables while writing.
4. Say them aloud, exaggerating the unstressed sounds: Wed-nes-day, choc-o-late.
5. Look for word families: sign, signal, signature share the silent g.
6. Proofread separately for spelling, rather than while writing.
7. Check in a dictionary when in doubt.

Don't rely on spell-check

Spell-checkers miss real words used wrongly (there for their), and don't always suggest the right correction.

Practice

Choose five words from the list you didn't know, write each one three times from memory, and check.

Check spellings with English Dictionary →