240 Common Spelling Mistakes in English

English spelling can be tricky, even for English speakers! That’s because English is not 100% phonetic and also because there are so many exceptions. Study the 240 most commonly misspelled words below. Then, try the free spelling test at the end to check how well you’re doing.

While some words admit multiple spellings, some are not considered standard, and thus are misspellings. A misspelled word can be a series of letters that represents no correctly spelled word of the same language at all or a correct spelling of another word. Misspellings of the latter type can easily make their way into printed material because they are not caught by simple computerized spell checkers.

Misspellings may be due to either typing errors, or lack of knowledge of the correct spelling. Whether or not a word is misspelled may depend on context, as is the case with American / British English distinctions. Misspelling can also be a matter of opinion when variant spellings are accepted by some and not by others.

Incorrect: acommodation

Correct: accommodation

Incorrect: acheive

Correct: achieve

Incorrect:  accross

Correct: across

Incorrect:  adress

Correct: address

Incorrect:  appearence

Correct: appearance

Incorrect:  assasination

Correct: assassination

Incorrect:  beggining

Correct: beginning

Incorrect:  buisness

Correct: business

Incorrect:  collegue

Correct: colleague

Incorrect:  commitee

Correct: committee

Incorrect:  concious

Correct: conscious

Incorrect:  copywrite

Correct: copyright

Incorrect:  dependance

Correct: dependence

Incorrect:  desireable

Correct: desirable

Incorrect:  embarass

Correct: embarrass

Incorrect: enviroment

Correct: environment

Incorrect:  Febuary

Correct: February

Incorrect:  fourty

Correct: forty

Incorrect:  glamourous

Correct: glamorous

Incorrect:  independance

Correct: independence

Incorrect:  interupt

Correct: interrupt

Incorrect:  intresting

Correct: interesting

Incorrect:  knowlege

Correct: knowledge

Incorrect:  libary

Correct: library

Incorrect:  lightening

Correct: lightning

Incorrect:  mischievious

Correct: mischievous

Incorrect:  mispell

Correct: misspell

Incorrect:  neccessary

Correct: necessary

Incorrect:  neice

Correct: niece

Incorrect:  calender

Correct: calendar

Incorrect:  definately

Correct: definitely

Incorrect:  tommorrow

Correct: tomorrow

Incorrect:  noticable

Correct: noticeable

Incorrect:  convinient

Correct: convenient

Incorrect:  deterioreit

Correct: deteriorate

Incorrect:  dissappear

Correct: disappear

Incorrect: arguement

Correct: argument

Incorrect: Wensday

Correct: Wednesday

Incorrect: ignor

Correct: ignore

Incorrect: occured

Correct: occurred

Incorrect: opertunity

Correct: opportunity

Incorrect: que

Correct: queue

Incorrect: speach

Correct: speech

Incorrect: thier

Correct: their

Incorrect: truely

Correct: truly

Incorrect: liesure

Correct: leisure

Incorrect: sieze

Correct: seize

Incorrect: wierd

Correct: weird

Incorrect: intresting

Correct: interesting

Incorrect: knowlege

Correct: knowledge

Incorrect: lollypop

Correct: lollipop

Incorrect: paralell

Correct: parallel

Incorrect: pasttime

Correct: pastime

Incorrect: persue

Correct: pursue

Incorrect: potatoe

Correct: potato

Incorrect: preceeding

Correct: preceding

Incorrect: pronounciation

Correct: pronunciation

Incorrect: recieve

Correct: receive

Incorrect: reccomend

Correct: recommend

Incorrect: rythm

Correct: rhythm

Incorrect: shedule

Correct: schedule

Incorrect: seige

Correct: siege

Incorrect: sentance

Correct: sentence

Incorrect: seperate

Correct: separate

Incorrect: sincerly

Correct: sincerely

Incorrect: tatoo

Correct: tattoo

Incorrect: tendancy

Correct: tendency

Incorrect: untill

Correct: until

Incorrect: vaccuum

Correct: vacuum

Incorrect: vegeterian

Correct: vegetarian

Incorrect: whereever

Correct: wherever

Incorrect: writen

Correct: written

Incorrect: finaly

Correct: finally

Incorrect: fluoroscent

Correct: fluorescent

Incorrect: goverment

Correct: government

Incorrect: grammer

Correct: grammar

Incorrect: happend

Correct: happened

Incorrect: dilemna

Correct: dilemma

Incorrect: existance

Correct: existence

Incorrect: familar

Correct: familiar

Incorrect: foriegn

Correct: foreign

Incorrect: futher

Correct: further

The Most Common Spelling Mistakes for English Language Learners

The English language doesn’t always seem completely logical and some spellings aren’t obvious, even to native speakers. These are words that you just have to learn.

This is especially confusing when it comes to words that sound the same but have different meanings. It’s very easy to mix these up when you’re writing them down, but it will cost you a lot of marks in your writing exam.

Let’s look at some of the most common mistakes that English learners make – and how to avoid them.

It’s and Its

“It’s” is short for it is. Here, the apostrophe takes the place of the “i”. For example, you would write “it’s very cold outside” (it is very cold outside) or “it’s half past twelve” (it is half past twelve).

“Its” means that the next thing in the sentence belongs to whatever the “it” is. For example, you could say, “the dog dropped its ball” or “the best thing about the iPhone is its camera”. In these sentences, it would not make sense to say “the dog dropped it is ball” or “the best thing about the iPhone is it is camera”.

So, if you are unsure of which to use, replace “it’s”/”its” with “it is”. If it still makes sense, you should use “it’s”. It if doesn’t, use “its”.

They’re, Their and There

“They’re” is the plural version of the “it’s”. It’s short for “they are”. For example: “What time are your friends arriving?” “They’re arriving at 8pm” (They are arriving at 8pm).

“Their” is the plural form of “its”, “hers” or “his”. For example, “The children put on their shoes” or “the lions showed their teeth”.

Finally, “there” refers to a place – to where something is. For example, you could say “I put the book over there” or “The car is parked there”, or “It was there that we saw the fireworks”.

The English language doesn’t always seem completely logical and some spellings aren’t obvious, even to native speakers. These are words that you just have to learn.

This is especially confusing when it comes to words that sound the same but have different meanings. It’s very easy to mix these up when you’re writing them down, but it will cost you a lot of marks in your writing exam.

Let’s look at some of the most common mistakes that English learners make – and how to avoid them.

It’s and Its

“It’s” is short for it is. Here, the apostrophe takes the place of the “i”. For example, you would write “it’s very cold outside” (it is very cold outside) or “it’s half past twelve” (it is half past twelve).

“Its” means that the next thing in the sentence belongs to whatever the “it” is. For example, you could say, “the dog dropped its ball” or “the best thing about the iPhone is its camera”. In these sentences, it would not make sense to say “the dog dropped it is ball” or “the best thing about the iPhone is it is camera”.

So, if you are unsure of which to use, replace “it’s”/”its” with “it is”. If it still makes sense, you should use “it’s”. It if doesn’t, use “its”.

They’re, Their and There

“They’re” is the plural version of the “it’s”. It’s short for “they are”. For example: “What time are your friends arriving?” “They’re arriving at 8pm” (They are arriving at 8pm).

“Their” is the plural form of “its”, “hers” or “his”. For example, “The children put on their shoes” or “the lions showed their teeth”.

Finally, “there” refers to a place – to where something is. For example, you could say “I put the book over there” or “The car is parked there”, or “It was there that we saw the fireworks”.