This system has helped people for decades
Spelling seems like such a minor thing—don't we all have the spell-check feature on our devices? However, it can become a serious issue, especially in the professional world. For example, careless spelling in an email creates a bad impression. This is especially true if it's the first time you have contacted someone, but it can be forgiven. In a formal document, however, spelling and grammar mistakes are just not tolerated. Failing to proofread and correct mistakes shows a lack of attention to detail.
So, which are the most commonly misspelled words in the English language? Click on to find out.
Common misspellings: absense, abcense, abcence. "Absence" has two "s" sounds. The first is spelled with "s," and the second with "c."
Common misspellings: acommodate, accomodate. For the correct spelling, just remember that there are two sets of double letters: "cc" and "mm."
Common misspelling: aquire. People often forget to include the "c" when spelling "aqcuire."
Common misspelling: calender. To most people, an "ar" ending looks weird, so they naturally want to write it as "er." But that's wrong.
Common misspellings: collaegue, collegue, coleague. Just think about the word "league" when you spell "colleague." And remember, it's with two "l's."
Common misspelling: consciencious. Even though it comes from the word conscience, this one has a "t" and not a "c" near the end.
Common misspelling: concensus. The second "s" sound of this word is actually spelled with a "c."
Common misspelling: indispensible. Words with "able" and "ible" endings can be confusing. Your best bet is to simply memorize the correct spelling!
Common misspellings: entrepeneur, entreprenur, entreperneur. Consistently listed as one of the most commonly misspelled words, it's understandable as its French spelling doesn't fit standard English rules.
Common misspelling: lead. The past tense of "to lead" is written and pronounced "led."
Common misspelling: layed off. The past tense is "laid." Plus, there's no such word as "layed."
Common misspelling: liasion. Another French word, this one also confuses people as the spelling is so non-standard for English.
Common misspellings: licence, lisence. People often switch the "s" and "c" around, or replace one with the other. In American English, it's always "license." But in British English, it's "licence" when it's a noun, and "license" when it’s a verb.
Common misspellings: maintainance, maintnance. It's tempting to take "maintain" and just add the suffix "ance." However, there's a "ten" in there, and not a "tain."
Common misspelling: occassion. Let's take this occasion to say that there's only one "s" in this word.
Common misspellings: neccessary, necessery. Typically, the dilemma with this word is which consonant is doubled. The answer is the "s."
Common misspelling: experiance. The problem with this word is that the "ance" and "ence" endings both usually mean the same thing and can sound similar.
Common misspelling: occured. Remember, this world always has two "r" letters.
Common misspelling: pasttime. Unlike some other compound words that end and beginning with the same letter, such as underrate, this word just has one "t."
Common misspellings: privelege, priviledge. This word only has one "e" and no "d," even though it sounds like it needs it.
Common misspelling: publically. For words ending in "ic," you should add "ally" at the end. However, "public" is the only major exception to this rule.
Common misspelling: recieve. The classic example in the "i before e, except after c" rule! However, this world is still misspelled frequently, so try to remember the rule.
Common misspellings: recomend, reccommend. Many people think there are two sets of double letters in this word, or none at all. However, it simply combines "commend" with the prefix "re."
Common misspelling: refered. Keep in mind that double "r" words are generally those with the stress on the final syllable.
Common misspellings: relevent, revelant. Many people put an "e" in instead of the "a," or they exchange the "v" and the "l."
Common misspelling: seperate. You'll always get this word right if you remember that the "r" separates two "a's."
Common misspellings: succesful, successfull, sucessful. It's the combos of repeated consonants that can make this spelling unsuccessful. Just remember that it has the doubles in the middle, but only one consonant at the beginning and at the end.
Common misspelling: underate. "Underrate" is another compound word, which means you should double the consonants that end the first word and start the second.
Common misspelling: untill. Even though most people know the word "till" is a word and "til" isn't, many forget that there's only one "i" in until.
Common misspelling: vaccum, vaccuum, vaccuumm. The Latin ancestor vacuus, meaning empty and unoccupied, can be blamed for the confusion.
Sources: (CNBC) (Merriam-Webster)
See also: Words that are much older than you think
The 30 most misspelled words in the English language
You've probably misspelled some of these!
LIFESTYLE Spelling
Spelling seems like such a minor thing—don't we all have the spell-check feature on our devices? However, it can become a serious issue, especially in the professional world. For example, careless spelling in an email creates a bad impression. This is especially true if it's the first time you have contacted someone, but it can be forgiven. In a formal document, however, spelling and grammar mistakes are just not tolerated. Failing to proofread and correct mistakes shows a lack of attention to detail.
So, which are the most commonly misspelled words in the English language? Click on to find out.