The 200 Most Commonly Misspelled Words in English http://grammar.about.com/od/words/a/misspelled200.htm
COMMONLY MISSPELLED WORDS (Part 1)
absence
accommodate
achieve
acquire
across
address
advertise
advice
among
apparent
argument
athlete
awful
balance
basically
becoming
before
beginning
believe
benefit
breathe
brilliant
business
calendar
careful
category
ceiling
cemetery
certain
chief
citizen
coming
competition
convenience
criticize
decide
definite
deposit
describe
desperate
develop
difference
dilemma
disappear
disappoint
discipline
does
during
easily
eight
either
embarrass
environment
equipped
exaggerate
excellent
except
exercise
existence
expect
experience
experiment
explanation
familiar
fascinating
finally
foreign
forty
forward
friend
fundamental
generally
government
grammar
guarantee
Quiz on 25 Commonly Misspelled Words
Only One Is a Word
By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide
Spelling Words
In each of the following pairs, only one is a word; the other is a common misspelling of that word. See if you can identify the correctly spelled word in each set, and then compare your answers to those on page two. (To view this quiz without ads, click on the print icon near the top of the page.)
(a) absorbtion (b) absorption
The act or process of absorbing something; occupying the full attention or interest.
(a) accidentally (b) accidently
Happening unexpectedly or by chance.
(a) alterior (b) ulterior
Lying beyond what is evident; deliberately and deceptively concealed.
(a) Arctic (b) Artic
Relating to the North Pole or the region near it.
(a) asterick (b) asterisk
The character * used as a reference mark in printing.
(a) basically (b) basicly
At a basic level or in a basic manner.
(a) congradulations (b) congratulations
Acknowledging someone's achievements or good fortune.
(a) definate (b) definite
Certain, clearly defined, having distinct limits.
(a) disasterous (b) disastrous
Terrible, calamitous.
(a) embarass (b) embarrass
To cause someone to feel self-conscious or ill at ease.
(a) epitome (b) epitomy
A perfect example of a class or type.
(a) grammar (b) grammer
The systematic study and description of a language.
(a) grievious (b) grievous
Serious, grave, causing pain or anguish.
(a) marshmallow (b) marshmellow
A sweet white confection.
(a) mathematics (b) mathmatics
The science of numbers and their operations.
(a) murmer (b) murmur
A low indistinct sound; an abnormal sound of the heart.
(a) parliament (b) parliment
A legislative body or a formal conference for the discussion of public affairs.
(a) perogative (b) prerogative
A right or privilege held by a person or group.
(a) possible (b) possable
Within the limits of ability.
(a) priviledge (b) privilege
A right or immunity granted as a benefit or favor.
(a) recommend (b) recomend
Endorse as fit or worthy.
(a) sacreligious (b) sacrilegious
Irreverence toward a hallowed person, place, or thing.
(a) tenative (b) tentative
Not fully worked out or agreed on.
(a) tradegy (b) tragedy
A disastrous event.
(a) verbage (b) verbiage
Wordiness.
The correct answers are on page twо:
Here are the correct answers to the Quiz on 25 Commonly Misspelled Words.
(b) absorption
(a) accidentally
(b) ulterior
(a) Arctic
(b) asterisk
(a) basically
(b) congratulations
(b) definite
(b) disastrous
(b) embarrass
(a) epitome
(a) grammar
(b) grievous
(a) marshmallow
(a) mathematics
(b) murmur
(a) parliament
(b) prerogative
(a) possible
(b) privilege
(a) recommend
(b) sacrilegious
(b) tentative
(b) tragedy
(b) verbiage
Glossary of Usage: Index of Commonly Confused Words http://grammar.about.com/od/words/a/UsageGlossary.htm
By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide
See More About:commonly confused words
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"Advice" or "advise"? "Farther" or "further"? "Principal" or "principle"? It's easy to confuse words that are similar in sound, spelling, or meaning. But with a bit of review it's also easy to clear up such confusions.
Here in our Glossary of Usage you'll find more than 200 sets of commonly confused words--with links to definitions, examples, and practice exercises that should help you keep these words straight. You can test your understanding of these words at our Review Quiz: Commonly Confused Words and Quiz on 20 Commonly Confused Words.
See also:
200 Homonyms, Homophones, and Homographs
The Big Quiz on Commonly Confused Words
A, An, & And
Accept, Except, and Expect
Adapt and Adopt
Adverse and Averse
Advice and Advise
Affect and Effect
Afterward(s) and Afterword
Aggravate and Irritate
Aid and Aide
All Ready and Already
All Together and Altogether
Allude and Elude
Allusion and Illusion
Allusive and Elusive
A Lot (Much, Many)
Altar and Alter
Ambiguous and Ambivalent
Among and Between
Amoral and Immoral
Amount and Number
Amuse and Bemuse
Anecdote and Antidote
Angel and Angle
Anonymous and Unanimous
Anxious and Eager
Anyone and Any One
Appraise and Apprise
Ardent and Arduous
Are and Our
Ascent and Assent
Assure, Ensure, and Insure
Aural and Oral
Avocation and Vocation
Awhile and A While
B
Baited and Bated
Band and Banned
Bare and Bear
Beside and Besides
Bloc and Block
Boar, Boor, and Bore
Board and Bored
Bolder and Boulder
Brake and Break
Breakdown and Break Down
Breath and Breathe
Bridal and Bridle
Bring and Take
Buy, By, and Bye
C
Calvary and Cavalry
Canvas and Canvass
Capital and Capitol
Carat, Caret, and Carrot
Ceiling and Sealing
Censor and Censure
Cent, Scent, and Sent
Cereal and Serial
Chafe and Chaff
Chaotic and Inchoate
Childish and Childlike
Choose, Chose, and Chosen
Chord and Cord
Cite and Site
Cleanup and Clean Up
Click and Clique
Climactic and Climatic
Close, Clothes, and Cloths
Coarse and Course
Collaborate and Cooperate
Complement and Compliment
Complementary and Complimentary
Confidant and Confident
Conscience and Conscious
Consequently and Subsequently
Contemptible and Contemptuous
Continual and Continuous
Council and Counsel
Credible, Creditable, and Credulous
Criterion and Criteria
D
Dam and Damn
Days and Daze
Dazed and Dazzled
Defective and Deficient
Defuse and Diffuse
Deprecate and Depreciate
Desert and Dessert
Device and Devise
Diagnosis and Prognosis
Discover and Invent
Discreet and Discrete
Disinterested and Uninterested
Distinct and Distinctive
Dual and Duel
E
Economic and Economical
E.g. and I.e.
Elicit and Illicit
Emigrate and Immigrate
Eminent and Imminent
Envelop and Envelope
Epigram, Epigraph, and Epitaph
Etc. and Et al.
Eventually and Ultimately
Everyday and Every Day
Everyone and Every One
Evoke and Invoke
Exhort and Extort
Explicit and Implicit
F
Faint and Feint
Fair and Fare
Farther and Further
Faze and Phase
Few (Fewer) and Little (Less)
Finally and Finely
Flair and Flare
Flammable, Inflammable, and Nonflammable
Flaunt and Flout
Flesh Out and Flush Out
Flew, Flu, and Flue
Flounder and Founder
Forbear and Forebear
Foreword and Forward
Formally and Formerly
Forth and Fourth
Fortunate and Fortuitous
Full and Fulsome
G
Garner and Garnish
Gibe, Jibe, and Jive
Good and Well
Gorilla and Guerrilla
Gourmand and Gourmet
Grate and Great
Grisly and Grizzly
Groan and Grown
Guessed and Guest
H
Hanged and Hung
Hardy and Hearty
Have and Of
Hear and Here
Heard and Herd
Heroin and Heroine
Higher and Hire
Historic and Historical
Hoard and Horde
Hoarse and Horse
Hole and Whole
Home and Hone
Hoping and Hopping
Human and Humane
Hurdle and Hurtle
I
Imaginary and Imaginative
Imply and Infer
In and Into
Incidence and Incidents
Incite and Insight
Incredible and Incredulous
Indiscreet and Indiscrete
Ingenious and Ingenuous
Inhuman and Inhumane
Insidious and Invidious
Intense and Intent
Inveigh and Inveigle
Its and It's
J
Judicial and Judicious
L
Last and Latter
Later and Latter
Lay and Lie
Leach and Leech
Lead and Led
Leave and Let
Lend and Loan
Lessen and Lesson
Liable and Libel
Lightening and Lightning
Literally and Figuratively
Loath and Loathe
Loose and Lose
M
Mail and Male
Manner and Manor
Mantel and Mantle
Many and Much
Marital and Martial
Material and Materiel
Maybe and May Be
Medal, Metal, and Mettle
Media, Medium, and Mediums
Militate and Mitigate
Miner and Minor
Moot and Mute
Moral and Morale
N
Naval and Navel
Noisome and Noisy
Nutritional and Nutritious
O
Obsolescent and Obsolete
Official and Officious
P
Pair, Pare, and Pear
Palate, Palette, and Pallet
Passed and Past
Patience and Patients
Peace and Piece
Peak, Peek, and Pique
Pedal and Peddle
Perpetrate and Perpetuate
Perquisite and Prerequisite
Persecute and Prosecute
Personal and Personnel
Perspective and Prospective
Perverse and Perverted
Plain and Plane
Pole and Poll
Pore and Pour
Pray and Prey
Precede and Proceed
Precedence and Precedents
Premier and Premiere
Prescribe and Proscribe
Principal and Principle
Prodigy and Protégé
Prophecy and Prophesy
Prostate and Prostrate
Q
Quell and Quench
Quiet, Quit, and Quite
Quotation and Quote
R
Rack and Wrack
Rain, Reign, and Rein
Raise, Raze, and Rise
Rapt and Wrapped
Rational and Rationale
Ravage and Ravish
Recourse and Resource
Regretful and Regrettable
Reluctant and Reticent
Respectfully and Respectively
Restive and Restless
Review and Revue
Riffle and Rifle
Right, Rite, Wright, and Write
Ring and Wring
Risky and Risqué
Role and Roll
S
Scene and Seen
Sensual and Sensuous
Serve and Service
Set and Sit
Shall and Will
Shear and Sheer
Should and Would
Sic and Sick
Simple and Simplistic
Sole and Soul
Sometime, Some time, and Sometimes
Stanch and Staunch
Stationary and Stationery
Statue and Statute
Steal and Steel
Straight and Strait
Suit, Suite, and Sweet
T
Tack and Tact
Tail and Tale
Taught and Taut
Team and Teem
Temerity and Timidity
Than and Then
Their, There, and They're
Threw, Through, and Thru
Throes and Throws
Tide and Tied
To, Too, and Two
Torpid and Torrid
Tortuous and Torturous
Track and Tract
Troop and Troupe
Trustee and Trusty
Turbid, Turbulent, and Turgid
U
Urban and Urbane
V
Vain, Vane, and Vein
Vale and Veil
Vary and Very
Venal and Venial
Veracious and Voracious
W
Wade and Weighed
Waist and Waste
Wait and Weight
Waive and Wave
Ware, Wear, and Where
Way and Weigh
Weak and Week
Weather and Whether
Were, We're, and Where
Wet and Whet
Which and Who
Who and Whom
Whoever and Whomever
Whose and Who's
Y
Yoke and Yolk
Young and Youthful
Your and You're
How to Improve Your Spelling http://www.learnenglish.de/spelling/spellingtext.htm#prefixes
Keep a notebook of words you find difficult to spell. Underline the part of the word that you find most difficult.
Use a dictionary, not a spell-checker! OK use a spell-checker, but don't rely on it. Spell-checkers don't check for meaning, the most common misspelt words I have seen on the net are there and their.
Learn words with their possible prefixes and suffixes.
Learn the rules, but don't rely on them. As I mentioned earlier for every rule there is at least one exception. For example:- i before e except after c
One of the first English spelling rules that was learnt in most schools is "i before e except after c". This only works when the pronunciation of the word is like a long ee as in shield.
For example:-
piece, relief, niece, priest, thief
but after c
conceive, conceit, receive, receipt
when A or I is the sound
it's the other way round
with an 'a' sound - deign, eight, neighbour, feign, reign, vein, weight
with an 'i' sound either, feisty, height, neither, sleight
Exceptions (sorry):
seize, weird, conscientious, conscience, efficient
Spelling Determined by Word Meaning
1. Mist and missed sound alike, as do band and banned. To determine the spelling, remember that -ed is a past-tense tending.
The mist drifted into the harbor.
I nearly missed my bus.
The movie was banned in Boston.
The band played on.
2. The endings of dentist and finest sound alike. Deciding which one to use can be tricky. One rule helps but doesn't cover all cases:
--ist is a suffix meaning someone who does something:
artist - machinist - druggist
--est is the ending used on superlative adjectives:
finest - sweetest - longest
3. The sounds at the end of musician and condition sound alike. but....
cian always means a person, where...
tion or sion are never used for people.
4. How do you tell whether to use tion or sion?
If the root word ends in /t/, use -tion: complete, completion
If the root word ends in /s/ or /d/, use sion: extend, extension
suppress, suppression
If the sound of the last syllable is the "heavy" sound of /zhun/ rather than the light sound, /shun/, use s: confusion, vision, adhesion
Exception: The ending, --mit becomes -mission:permit - permission omit - omission
submit - submission commit - commission
The Hiss
1. The letter s between vowels sounds like a z:nose result noise
present partisan tease
preside resound reserve
2. The light "hissy" sound is spelled with either ss or ce. Predictably, ss, like any proper doubled consonant, follows accented short vowels. Soft c is used anywhere else. (A soft c is one that is followed by e, i, or y).notice reticent massive bicycle
recent gossip russet rejoice
essence vessel discuss pass
3. The plural ending is always spelled with a single letter s unless you can hear a new syllable on the plural word. In that case, use -es:loss, losses bank, banks twitch, twitches tree, trees
box, boxes list, lists judge, judges
No compendium of spelling rules would be complete with the most important rule of all:
WHEN IN DOUBT, ASK (or look it up)
But ask first - it's quicker.
English and American English Spelling
Here are the principal differences in spelling between English and American English. English American English
Final -l is always doubled after one vowel in stressed and unstressed syllables in English but usually only in stressed syllables in American English, for example:
rebel > rebelled
travel > travelled
rebel > rebelled
travel > traveled
Some words end in -tre in English and -ter in American English, for example:
Centre center
theatre theater
Some words end in -ogue in English and -og in American English, for example:
analogue analog
catalogue catalog
Some words end in -our in English and -or in American English, for example:
colour color
labour labor
Some verbs end in -ize or -ise in English but only in -ize in American English, for example:
realise, realize realize
harmonise, harmonize harmonize
Common Differences
English American English
all right all right, alright (disputed)
analyse analyze
centre center
cheque check
colour color
counsellor counselor
criticise, criticize criticize
defence defense
doughnut donut
favour favor
fibre fiber
flavour flavor
fulfil fulfill
grey gray
honour honor
humour humor
jewellery jewellery, jewelry
judgement, judgment judgment
kerb curb
labour labor
license, licence (verb) license (verb)
licence (noun) license (noun)
litre liter
metre meter
mould mold
neighbour neighbor
offence offense
practise (verb) practice (verb)
practice (noun) practice (noun)
pretence pretense
programme (plan, concert etc) program
program (computer software) program
pyjamas pajamas
realise, realize realize
savour savor
speciality specialty
theatre theater
travelled travelled, traveled
travelling travelling, traveling
tyre tire
valour valor
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