100 More Often Mispelled Misspelled Words in English

This list of 100 more often misspelled words in English gives the same helpful advice as the other articles in the series, 100 Most Often Misspelled Words in English and 150 More Often Misspelled Words in English, for those seeking to fix their spelling errors.

A

• Abbreviation - There is no shorter way to write abbreviation except by not adding an extra b.
• Arbitrary - Do not arbitrarily add an e to arbitrary.
• Absolutely - an example of a silent e that is not dropped when adding a suffix.
• Academic - The spelling of academic should be academic but some replace the e with an additional i.
• Access - You will not be able to access the spelling without the double set of consonants.
• Accessory/accessories - The two sets of double consonants are not just accessories, they are needed.
• Achievement - The i before e rule is in effect here since the c is followed by the h. Also, the silent e must be maintained when adding the suffix.
• Acquaintance - To acquaint oneself with an acquaintance, merely go up and begin a conversation.
• Admission - Even though you are adding ad- to the mission, only one d is needed to combine the two.
• Advice/advise - It is good to advise people not to give unwanted advice.
• Aerial - Aerial stunts are performed in the air, but the words aren't spelled the same.
• Align - The dreaded silent g; You can not form a line if you do not align the pieces properly.
• All right - It is not all right to spell this alright.
• Already - Are we all ready, already? Be sure to know if you are talking about everyone being ready or everyone at a specified time.
• Alter - This means to change; you can alter the height of the alter by adding a podium.
• Altar - This means a raised platform with offerings made to a god; A sacrifice at the altar will not alter the path of evil.
• Always - Always should always have only one L.
• Analog - Analog clocks have gone out of style and replaced with digital ones.
• Analogue - Young children understand analog clocks only by their analogue to digital ones.
• Analyze - Some people consider those who analyze too much to be anal. But why?
• Apologize - You can apologize and say you're sorry if you misspell a word but apologies are not needed.
• Apparently - When a parent apparently knows what her child is doing, we call that mother's intuition.
• Are/our - Are is a form of the verb "to be" and our is a possessive pronoun; however, they sound exactly alike and are sometimes mistaken for each other.
• Available - An extra i is not available for use and should be avoided.

B

• Bankruptcy - The t is silent and can be omitted by those who forget that the main word is bankrupt where the t is pronounced.
• Bargain - You should always try to gain the upper edge in a bargain otherwise it's really just a waste of money.
• Bazaar - About three words in the English language have a double a. This is one of them. In the bazaar, you can find lots of merchandise for sale.
• Begging - Adding the -ing requires doubling the consonant at the end of the word to keep the e as a short vowel; otherwise you might have the beginning of a spelling error.
• Beginner - The long e is at the beginning so the short vowel at the end takes the double consonant to add the suffix -er.
• Behavior - The -ior have a /yore/ sound which makes it sound like it might have a y in it but the behavior of the letter Y does not allow for this.
• Beneficial - The -cial ending sounds like it could be -tial but the f stands alone.
• Biscuit - Biscuits can be made with Bisquick which might be why some people are tempted to put a q in front of the u rather than the c.
• Bizarre -As bizarre as it may seem, bazaar has the stranger spelling.
• Boarder - A bored boarder that borders on being rude might just get himself thrown out of the boarding house.
• Border -Flowers can border a garden but since they don't pay rent, they can't be considered a boarder.

C

• Cannot - Here's one word that can be spelled two ways; can not is just as correct as cannot, though many seem to prefer it as one word.
• Casual - If you casually glance at a research report and think the researcher is being too casual with her language, its either a typo or a misreading.
• Causal -A causal connection cannot be taken casually.
• Catalogue - While British English and American English have some differences, one of them is not spelling catalogue as catalougue.
• Chimney - There are no men in the chimney so please do not spell it chimeny.
• Coarse - Think of sandpaper when you spell coarse with an a
• Course - Think of a U-turn when course is spelled with a U; the U gives direction or a path.
• Communal - The commune shared a communal water well but will not share the e with the suffix -al; this word drops the silent e when adding the -al.
• Compatible - Compatable is not compatible with compatible.
• Component -A computer needs many components but components only needs one m and an -ent not an -ant.
• Consistent -A tent consists of fabric and poles which is consistent with portable camping equipment.
• Could have - The verb could have should not be replaced with could of even though the contraction for "could've" sounds like it could have contained an of.
• Cupboard - Old Mother Hubbard had the right idea to spell her name as it is pronounced. To remember the spelling, remember that Old Mother Hubbard kept her cups in her cupboard.

D

• Definitely - It is definite that definite keeps its e when adding an -ly
• Definitive - There are finite ways to add suffixes and prefixes to words; a de- can be added definitely but the e must be dropped, and that is definitive.
• Detach - Its best to detach emotions from certain spelling rules since some work most of the time but others work only occasionally.
• Don’t - Is a contraction of the two words do not; if at first you spell it dont, try again but this time with an apostrophe.
• Dried - Is the past tense of dry. The spelling rule applies that the y is dropped and an i is used in place.

E

• Etc. - Etcetera or et cetera should be abbreviated with the first three letters of the word and not with an ect, even though that might be how it's pronounced.
• Existent - The x at the beginning sounds like a g, but it's not an egg afterall.
• Existing - Did the existing egg come before the chicken or after?
• Extension - There is no extent to which extension can be written with a t.

F

• Frightful - It would be frightful to see this word written as freightful, since freight is only frightful during Halloween.

I

• Illegible - Reading illegible handwriting can sometimes make people feel ill.
• Interference - A spell check will give you interference if you try to spell this without all of the proper ees in place.
• Intermittent - Mittens cannot make intermittent sounds, even when one is lost.

K

• Knowledgeable - The knowledge that the e remains when adding the suffix -able will help you to greating spelling knowledge.

L

• Lager - If you want to drink a lager be sure to spell it correctly because if you spell it logger, you'll wind up with a large, axe-wielding, plaid-wearing man instead.
• Loose - Don't lose the loose button or you cannot button your coat; a double o makes for an /oo/ sound
• Lose - You will lose your dog if he is running loose around the neighborhood; a single o followed by a silent e makes for a long /o/ sound.

M

• Management - To manage the management, leave the e before adding the -ment; otherwise, you might get fired.

N

• Negligible - The second /i/ in this word can sound like an /a/ and can sometimes be spelled with it. However, negligible has no a's anywhere in the word.

O

• Of course - Homonyms always cause trouble. Here, course sometimes becomes coarse. Coarse with the /a/ means rough; course with a /u/ means direction or development. When adding the preposition "of" in front of course the meaning changes to the idiom of "the natural order of things"
• Occasion - This word has two c's but only one s. It's tempting to spell it with either one c and two esses or two c's and two esses, but the occasion does not call for it.

P

• Pejorative - Don't make pejortative feel worse by giving the j a g complex.
• Permanent - Another case of an a sounding like an e but if you forget to use the a, the spell checker will not make the word permanent.
• Possibility -The possibility of misspelling possibility is strong with two esses and the ilit, which can be visually confusing.
• Potato - Do not make the same mistake as a former Vice President and add an e at the end unless you have more than one potato, and then add an -es.
• Purchased - You may have purchased the perch with your credit card, but don't forget to sign with a u on the dotted line.

Q

• Query - The mistake often made with this word is to add an additional r because of the short /e/ sound. However, only one is needed.
• Queue - This word is pronounced like cue; when standing in a queue, the vowels line up in a nice little pattern.

R

• Recipes - The plural of recipe just adds an s but it can be tempting to add and -ies because of the /e/ sound at the end that is often made by using a Y.
• Reference - Potential employers call references and refer to your resume. Remember to keep all the ees in the right places.
• Registered - The i can sound like an /e/ sound so remember that when you register for an event, you will expected to be there.
• Relevant - The short /e/ sounds are deceiving since they are only separated by one consonant, which normally makes the first vowel sound long. Only one L for this word and the ending /e/ is really an a.
• Response - A response with a c just wouldn't be correct and would make your fourth grade teacher frown.
• Rio de Janeiro - To spell this correctly, think of the translation "River of January" and then forget about the i before e except after c rule.

S

• Satellite - The short /a/ sound at the beginning can be confusing with an e so close that normally turns short vowels into long vowels. Also, watch for the two Ls orbiting at the end of the word.
• Sense - It does not make much sense to put a c instead of an s unless we should deceive the senses.
• Shielded - Another i before e word with the dominant /e/ sound.
• Should have - Some are tempted to write should of instead of should have. The reason lies in the contraction for should've which sounds like should of when spoken aloud. However, prepositions rarely make good verbs.
• Strength - There is strength in numbers, of consonants. In this case seven to one lonely vowel. It's not often that four consonants can be strung together without a vowel but here -ng and -th mesh together perfectly.
• Succumb - You might succumb to the temptation to forget the extra c and silent b but don't.
• Supplement - Many athletes take supplements but they never take suppliments.
• Syringe - Ys are often found at the beginning or ends of words. Few have them in the middle. Here Y is the first vowel sound and fulfills that funny line about vowels: a, e, i, o, u and sometimes Y. This is the sometimes.

T

• Technician - A few silent letters can make technician tough; the ch sounds like a /k/ and the ending -ian like /an/
• Teetotaler - A teetotaler may only drink tea, or coffee, maybe water or soda but definitely no beer.
• Temperament - With all the e's in this temperament, the a can get left out. However, the word isn't temperment but rather temperament.
• To - To many twos often confuse us too. The to with one o is a preposition and often gives some kind of direction - to the store, to the bank, to school.
• Too - This too means also. A good way to remember this is that also ends in an o and the too that means also ends in an extra o.
• Transmission - If the transmission fails so does the mission. We need two esses to complete the code.

U

• Until - Until we meet again, you will always need a u to begin even though it sounds like an /e/.

V

• Viewing - The dominant sound in view is /ew/ but this word followies the i before e rule. You need an i to view the beautiful scenery. 

W

• Where/Were - Were it not for where we would have no direction. Were is a verb but sometimes finds itself with an extra h when it shouldn't.
• Would have - Many people accidentally spell would have as would of because as the contraction would've sounds like "would of." So, it would of been better to use would have in the sentence.