100 Commonly Misspelled Words in English (With Correct Spellings)

Why Are These Words Commonly Misspelled?

English spelling is notoriously difficult, even for native speakers. The commonly misspelled words in this list trip up writers of all levels—students, professionals, and seasoned authors alike. But why are these particular words so problematic?

The root cause lies in the history of the English language. English has borrowed extensively from Latin, Greek, French, Norse, and dozens of other languages, each with its own spelling conventions. On top of that, English spelling was largely standardized in the 15th and 16th centuries, but pronunciation continued to change afterward (most notably during the Great Vowel Shift). The result is a spelling system where the relationship between letters and sounds is inconsistent and unpredictable.

Understanding the rules of English spelling—and their many exceptions—is the first step toward mastering these commonly misspelled words. Let's look at the 100 words that cause the most trouble.

The 100 Most Commonly Misspelled Words

Here are 100 of the most commonly misspelled words in English, listed with the correct spelling and the common misspelling to watch out for:

#	Correct Spelling	Common Misspelling	Tip
1	accommodate	accomodate	Two C's and two M's
2	achieve	acheive	I before E after CH
3	acknowledge	acknowlege	Remember the D before G
4	acquaintance	aquaintance	ACQ- not AQ-
5	apparent	apparant	Ends in -ENT not -ANT
6	argument	arguement	Drop the E from argue
7	believe	beleive	Don't believe a LIE
8	bizarre	bizzare	One Z, two R's
9	calendar	calender	Ends in -AR not -ER
10	category	catagory	E not A in the middle
11	cemetery	cemetary	All E's, no A's
12	changeable	changable	Keep the E before -ABLE
13	collectible	collectable	-IBLE not -ABLE
14	column	colum	Silent N at the end
15	committed	commited	Double T
16	conscience	concience	SCI in the middle
17	conscientious	consciencious	-TIOUS ending
18	consensus	concensus	SEN not CEN
19	decease	decease/desease	Note: disease is different
20	definitely	definately	FINITE is in the middle
21	discipline	disipline	SC in the middle
22	dumbbell	dumbell	Two B's
23	embarrass	embarass	Two R's and two S's
24	environment	enviroment	Remember the N before M
25	exaggerate	exagerate	Two G's
26	exceed	excede	Double E
27	existence	existance	-ENCE not -ANCE
28	experience	experiance	-IENCE not -IANCE
29	fiery	firey	-ERY not -REY
30	foreign	foriegn	E before I (exception)
31	gauge	guage	GAU- not GUA-
32	grateful	greatful	GRATE not GREAT
33	guarantee	garentee	GUA- at the start
34	harass	harrass	One R, two S's
35	height	heighth	No H at the end
36	hierarchy	heirarchy	HIER- not HEIR-
37	humorous	humourous	No U before the O (AmE)
38	ignorance	ignorence	-ANCE not -ENCE
39	immediately	immediatly	-ATELY ending
40	independent	independant	-ENT not -ANT
41	indispensable	indispensible	-ABLE not -IBLE
42	intelligence	inteligence	Double L
43	jewelry	jewellry	JEWEL + RY (AmE)
44	judgment	judgement	No E (AmE preferred)
45	kernel	kernal	-EL not -AL
46	knowledge	knowlege	Remember the D
47	leisure	liesure	EI not IE
48	liaison	liason	Two I's: LI-AI-SON
49	library	libary	Two R's
50	license	lisence	C before S (AmE)

#	Correct Spelling	Common Misspelling	Tip
51	maintenance	maintainance	-ENANCE not -AINANCE
52	maneuver	manuever	EU not UE (AmE)
53	medieval	medeval	I after D: MEDI-EVAL
54	memento	momento	MEM- not MOM-
55	millennium	millenium	Double L and double N
56	miniature	minature	IA in the middle
57	mischievous	mischievious	-VOUS not -VIOUS
58	misspell	mispell	MIS + SPELL = double S
59	necessary	neccessary	One C, two S's
60	neighbor	nieghbor	EI not IE
61	noticeable	noticable	Keep the E before -ABLE
62	occasion	occassion	Two C's, one S
63	occurrence	occurence	Double C, double R
64	pastime	pasttime	Only one T
65	perseverance	perserverance	-SEVER- not -SERVER-
66	personnel	personel	Double N, ends -EL
67	playwright	playwrite	WRIGHT not WRITE
68	possession	posession	Two S pairs: SS-SS
69	precede	preceed	-CEDE not -CEED
70	privilege	priviledge	-LEGE not -LEDGE
71	pronunciation	pronounciation	NUN not NOUN in the middle
72	publicly	publically	No AL, just -LY
73	questionnaire	questionaire	Double N
74	receive	recieve	I before E except after C
75	recommend	reccommend	One C, two M's
76	referred	refered	Double R when adding -ED
77	relevant	relevent	-ANT not -ENT
78	restaurant	restaraunt	-TAUR- not -TARA-
79	rhythm	rythm	H after R: RH-YTH-M
80	schedule	shedule	SCH- at the start
81	separate	seperate	A RAT in separate
82	sergeant	sargeant	-GEA- not -GEA-
83	siege	seige	IE not EI
84	supersede	supercede	-SEDE not -CEDE
85	surprise	suprise	First R: SUR-PRISE
86	threshold	threshhold	Only one H in the middle
87	tomorrow	tommorow	One M, two R's
88	tongue	tounge	-ONGUE not -OUNGE
89	truly	truely	Drop the E from true
90	tyranny	tyrrany	One R, two N's
91	until	untill	Only one L
92	vacuum	vaccuum	One C, two U's
93	vegetable	vegatable	-ETA- not -ATA-
94	vehicle	vehical	-CLE not -CAL
95	vicious	visious	CI not SI
96	weather	wether	EA in the middle
97	Wednesday	Wensday	Silent D: WED-NES-DAY
98	weird	wierd	EI (exception to I before E)
99	wherever	whereever	WHERE + EVER, one E joins
100	withhold	withold	WITH + HOLD = double H

Misspellings by Category

The commonly misspelled words in the list above fall into several recognizable patterns. Understanding these patterns helps you avoid similar errors with other words too.

Words with Silent Letters

English contains many words with letters that are written but not pronounced. These silent letters are a frequent source of misspelling because writers may omit what they cannot hear: column (silent N), Wednesday (silent D), knowledge (silent K and D), rhythm (no vowel sound for Y).

Words with Unusual Letter Combinations

Some words contain letter combinations that do not follow typical English patterns: gauge (AU before G), guarantee (GUA-), queue (four silent letters), bureau (EAU).

Silent Letters and Tricky Spellings

Silent letters are one of the most distinctive—and frustrating—features of English spelling. They exist because English spelling was fixed at a time when these letters were still pronounced. Over the centuries, pronunciation changed but spelling did not. Understanding word origins can explain why silent letters appear where they do.

The silent K in "know," "knight," and "knee" was once pronounced in Old English. The silent W in "write," "wrong," and "wrist" was also once sounded. The silent B in "debt" and "doubt" was added by Renaissance scholars to reflect the Latin origins (debitum, dubitare), even though the English words had been borrowed from French without the B.

Double Letter Confusion

Knowing when to double consonants is one of the trickiest aspects of English spelling. Some commonly misspelled words involve incorrect doubling (or failure to double):

accommodate — double C AND double M
embarrass — double R AND double S
occurrence — double C AND double R
necessary — one C, double S (think: one collar, two socks)
recommend — one C, double M
harass — one R, double S

The IE/EI Problem

The famous rule "I before E except after C" is one of the first spelling rules children learn, but it has so many exceptions that some educators question its usefulness. The rule works for words like "believe," "achieve," "receive," and "ceiling." But exceptions abound: "weird," "seize," "foreign," "their," "neighbor," "leisure," and "science."

Homophone Mix-ups

Some commonly misspelled words are actually correct spellings of different words—homophones that sound alike but have different meanings and spellings:

there / their / they're — place / possession / contraction
your / you're — possession / contraction
its / it's — possession / contraction
affect / effect — verb / noun (usually)
then / than — time / comparison

Memory Tricks and Mnemonics

Mnemonics—memory aids—can help you remember the correct spelling of commonly misspelled words:

SEPARATE: There's A RAT in separate.
NECESSARY: A shirt has one Collar and two Sleeves (one C, two S's).
BELIEVE: Never believe a LIE.
DEFINITELY: It's FINITE—definitely.
CEMETERY: Three E's screaming "EEE!"
STATIONERY/STATIONARY: Stationery (paper) has an E for Envelope. Stationary (still) has an A for At rest.
PRINCIPAL/PRINCIPLE: The principal is your PAL. A principle is a RULE.
DESSERT/DESERT: Dessert has two S's because you always want seconds.
ACCOMMODATE: It's big enough to accommodate two C's and two M's.

Why English Spelling Is So Difficult

English spelling is harder than most other languages because of its complex history. Several factors contribute to the difficulty:

Multiple language sources: English has borrowed from Latin, Greek, French, Norse, and many others, each bringing its own spelling conventions.
Frozen spelling: Spelling was standardized centuries ago but pronunciation has continued to change.
The Great Vowel Shift: A massive change in English vowel pronunciation (1400–1700) occurred after spelling was largely fixed by printing.
Irregular borrowings: Words borrowed from other languages sometimes kept their foreign spelling, sometimes were anglicized, and sometimes were respelled incorrectly.

For more on this topic, see our full guide to English spelling rules.

Tips for Better Spelling

Read widely. Exposure to correctly spelled words in context reinforces correct spellings in your visual memory.
Use a dictionary. When in doubt, look it up. Online dictionaries make this instant.
Learn spelling rules. Despite their exceptions, rules like "I before E except after C" are right more often than wrong.
Study word roots. Understanding Latin and Greek roots reveals spelling patterns.
Use mnemonics. Create memorable associations for words you struggle with.
Practice writing. The physical act of writing words by hand reinforces spelling memory.
Keep a personal list. Track your own commonly misspelled words and review them regularly.
Use spell-check wisely. Spell-check catches many errors but misses homophones and context-dependent mistakes. It's a safety net, not a substitute for spelling knowledge.