English words, including “misspelled,” are often misspelled due to irregular spelling rules. Commonly misspelled words have confusing double letters or unfamiliar letter combinations. Some words violate spelling rules, have too many E’s, or are hard to pronounce. Homonyms and commonly confused words also cause errors. Identifying personal weaknesses can improve spelling.
A large assortment of words are often misspelled in English, including the word “misspelled” itself. Both native English speakers and learners of English have difficulty spelling many words as they do not follow common laws of spelling and cannot be written phonetically, as challenging words often can be in other languages. The most commonly misspelled words can plague even seasoned writers. It’s a great idea to analyze the words you personally misspell more frequently, in hopes of identifying weaknesses in your spelling so you can improve.
Many of the most commonly misspelled words have double letter combinations that can be confusing and disorienting. Some of these words include accommodation, a notorious missword, along with embarrassment, useless, guerilla, opportunity, and commitment. The most commonly misspelled words often include a double C, which can look odd on the page since it may not be apparent when the word is said aloud. If a word has a hard C sound followed by a soft C as in accession, incident, or accessory, it probably has a double C.
Others, among the more commonly misspelled words, have letter combinations that may seem unfamiliar or strange, sometimes because they are borrowed from other languages. Twelfth, knowledge, fiery, medieval, recognition and fluorescent are some common examples of these words. The spelling patterns in these words must be learned individually; the twelfth, for example, contains an awkward letter combination you’re unlikely to find in other English words.
Some spellers also struggle with E’s. There are words like weird that violate the “I before E” rule, and there are also words like graveyard, precedence, independent, existence, and perseverance that seem to have too many E’s when spellers they look on the page. Many spellers add A to these words, not realizing that an E can make a sound like an A in some cases.
Other words like upkeep, conscientiousness, judgment, sacrilegious, privilege, and surely are just hard to pronounce and often appear in lists of the most commonly misspelled words. Many spellers add extra letters or mix up the letters when trying to spell these words on the page. Another common problem is spelling a word correctly, but not realizing that the word has a homonym; principals may have principles that help them know how to run a school, for example. People also routinely confuse their/there/are, and his/is written. While not strictly spelling errors, these errors can be glaring, and it’s a great idea to review your work with an eye out for these common mistakes.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN