Or, perhaps a better question to ask these days is “Will you ever need to spell these words?” Spell Check won’t catch you if you make a mistake with your and you’re or its and it’s, but it will alert you if a word is just plain spelled incorrectly–as long as it is close enough for Spell Check to recognize. And since hardly anyone is ever away from a smart device of some type–whether it be a tablet, a phone, or a laptop/desktop–is there any reason to even learn how to spell correctly anymore? Since we spend most of our time in places other than in dark caves, on top of mountains, and under rocks, where there may be no Internet access, is learning how to spell obsolete? Is it now in the category of typewriters and cursive?
Well, I asked you the question; I don’t really have the answer. However, some people think spelling is important enough to still have national spelling bees, so perhaps spelling will become a novelty talent like juggling or yodeling.
All that aside, there are words that are tough to spell. I consider myself a good speller, but there are some common words that I tend to avoid because I can’t spell them. Here are some commonly misspelled words:
1. Probably the granddaddy of them all is accommodate. I don’t have any trouble with this one. It is really pretty easy. All you have to remember is that there are two cc’s, two mm‘s, and two o‘s!
2. Sometimes people misspell misspell! Is that one s or two?? Easy one. One s goes with the prefix mis, which means wrong. The other s goes with the spell!
3. I used to be embarrassed that I couldn’t seem to spell embarrass! One r or two, I would ask myself! I have finally learned. Two r’s and two s‘s.
4. Some people get the vowels mixed up in relevant and spell it relavent.
5. Both conscience and conscious are confusing! Conscience (the one that can be guilty) has science at the end. Conscious (the one for which you might need coffee)–well, I have no hints for that one (sorry).
6. Believe is probably less confusing that it used to be. First of all, it does follow the rule of “i before e except after c.” You can also remember to never believe a lie, and you will get the ie correct.
7. What is with the word definitely, and why can’t any of my students spell it? It either comes out as defiantly or definately. It seems as though there is always an errant a in there somewhere!
8. Questionnaire is a tough one for me. I can never remember is there is one n or two! And while we are at it, if you ask me, I won’t be able to spell millionaire/millionnaire either! So which one is it, anyway? (Oh, Spell Check tells me it has one n. So why does questionnaire have two?)
9. Harass is kind of like embarrass. Are there two r’s or just one? Turns out that in harass, there is just one. Isn’t there?
10. The tenth one is tough to pick, because there are so many to choose from! I will let you choose. Which of these words do you think is toughest to spell? Or, if you have trouble with yet another word, let me know in the comments!
discipline? cemetery? guarantee? category? maintenance? minuscule? privilege? restaurant? rhythm? separate? license? noticeable? occurrence?
Hey! I’m at work browsing your blog from my new iphone 3gs!
Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your
posts! Carry on the excellent work!
Thank you! I will carry on for sure!
I’ve always loved grammar and spelling, made important to Arlene and me by Mr. Robert Wormstead at Classical High School in Lynn, MA.
IK remember Uncle Wormie!
Hi Arlene, great post. I have trouble with license. I think it has an s at the first c. Do you have a rule for it?
Hi Arlene,
My favorite “misspelled” word is discrete. I have had the spelling of that word corrected by a reader, when I really did mean DISCRETE (constituting a separate entity), and not DISCREET (showing discernment or good judgment). Sometimes, it’s all in the context!
Debbie Koehler
Many people are unaware that there are two discreets. Discreet meaning to keep a secret and discrete meaning separate. Thanks for adding it to the discussion!
So glad somebody’s paying attention to misspellings on the web. They’re all over! You go, girl!
Thanks, Mary Lynn! I am always paying attention to these things. That is, when I am not making my own typos!
I stumbled on separate so often that I finally learned how to spell it consistently right…
All I can say is thank goodness for the spell checker built into the Mac OS. It catches oodles of errors thanks to sloppy typing or spelling memory loss.
I only feel sorry for my wife, who is dyslectic (another tough word to spell) — I sometimes have to give her hints with difficult words, just to get them close enough for the spell checker to offer suggestions!
I still see separate spelled wrong everywhere! SEPERATE!
I always remember to sep a rat and then add the ‘e’ at the end. The one I often see misspelled in school by the students is collage. What they meant to spell was college. I tell them that a collage is something done in art class and there for has an ‘a’ that stands for art. College has an ‘e’ which stands for education.
Good one to distinguish college and collage!
Another case of folks mixing up the vowels is ‘calendar.’
Nice website, Arlene, and it promotes your book. Congrats. Charles
Thanks, Charles! Yes, calendar is another one on my list and in my first book!
Arlene, This is a great article And our site makes grammar fun! Thanks!
Glad you like it!!
Love this blog, Arlene! My conscience is squabbling with my conscious over my smart phone right now. Do we toss the phone out the open window to appease me or worry about the hole in the screen it would leave?
Use the phone, but stay away from online dictionaries! Glad you like the post!
Question #10 – minuscule, because there’s a variant of the word that’s spelled miniscule. Also. #3 – I was the Spelling Bee champ in my high school in the 1950s, but I missed going to the national championship in Washington, DC, because I misspelled embarrass.
I am glad I’m not the only one who has trouble with embarrass!
Hey, Arlene, I have three university degrees, including English grammar & spelling, and I bought all your books, yet I barely qualified as a novice. How much more do you charge to subscribe full time to your blogs?
Jim Johnson
PS: Isn’t harass a nasty word? Maybe I’m spelling it wrong?
No, you are spelling harass correctly — as far as I know! You ca subscribe full time to my blogs for nothing!