GET A QUOTE
ORDER ONLINE
Which words do you think are the hardest to spell in English?
We all sometimes struggle with how to spell a certain word but are there words that everyone has difficulty remembering? We explore why some words are more difficult than others to spell and remember, and our Top 10 most common misspelt ones. Of course, English varies across each English-speaking country, but this article explores words that can trip all of us up!
So why do we make errors? Spelling mistakes can be due to several reasons, for example:
- Typing errors: Typing fast and carelessly can lead to mistakes which are not always picked up on using proofreading tools – a common one is ‘tot he’ instead of ‘to the’.
- Phonetic spelling: Some people spell words the way that they sound if they are unsure of the correct spelling like, ‘definately’ instead of ‘definitely’.
- Exceptions to spelling rules: We are taught it is ‘I before E, except after C’ but that is not true for ‘height’ or ‘leisure’ or ‘foreign’.
- Homophones: Some words sound alike but have completely different meanings. For example, accept (to agree with or receive) and except (which means apart from); or the verb affect (to influence something) and the noun effect (the result of).
- Silent letters: These are not pronounced but they are included in the spelling, for example ‘knife’, or ‘pneumonia’ or ‘write’.
- Phonetic inconsistencies: Some sounds can be spelt in different ways, for example ‘ough’ sounds different in ‘through’ though’ ‘tough’ and ‘thought’
- Evolution of language: Our English language is always evolving, and some older spelling of words persist even though they are not commonly used now. For example, ‘morrow’ is now ‘tomorrow’, and instead of ‘twattle’ we use ‘gossip’.
- Auto-correct: Normally predictive text can help to improve your spelling but sometimes it can introduce errors when it incorrectly ‘corrects’ a word. Some of the single most common autocorrect mistakes are ‘of’ to ‘if’, or ‘gave’ to ‘have’. These mistakes can be funny in a personal situation, but no business wants to be laughed at for making a silly mistake!
Our top 10 most commonly misspelled words in English
This list of words are our top 10 misspelt words that you will consistently find on any list , mainly due to silent letters, double letters and common phonetic errors:
- Receive not recieve
- Definitely not definately
- Awkward not akward
- Believe not belive
- Embarrassed not embarassed
- Entrepreneur not enterpreneur
- Liaison not liasion
- Licence not license
- Successful not successfull
- Thorough not thourough
Differences between English-speaking countries
There are particular words in different English-speaking countries that often result in misspelt words in the UK. The US way of spelling certain words often results in these words being spelt the same way by many other countries, for example ‘favourite’ to ‘favorite’, ‘travelling’ to ‘traveling’, or ‘defence’ to ‘defense’.
In Canada, it seems that some of the top misspelt words are ‘niece’, ‘received’ and in particular the word ‘licence/license’ which has two spellings in British (and Canadian) English depending on the context.
In Australia, ‘jewellery’ is often confused with one ‘l’, often the spelling of ‘colour’ to ‘color’ and ‘apologise’ to ‘apologize’ is misspelt.
How can spelling mistakes be minimised?
We have found that the best ways of trying to minimise spelling errors are:
- Always use spell-check or proofreading tools , these are often built into the software programmes that you use, or there are free tools you can download like Grammarly or Paperpal – but be aware even these tools may not find all mistakes!
- Take a break from the text – with fresh eyes you can sometimes spot these errors more clearly.
- Try to memorise any challenging words – by writing them with pen and paper a few times can help it stick.
- Ask someone else to review your text – a second pair of eyes can help to pick up on spelling mistakes that you just cannot see anymore.
At McGowan Transcriptions we pride ourselves in providing high-quality and accurate transcripts to a wide variety of businesses. Our expert team understand how vital spelling and accuracy is to you and your project, and your transcript will go through rigorous checks to ensure it’s the most accurate it can be before it’s sent on to you. If you’d like to know more, please get in touch with the team today by calling 0800 158 3747 or drop us an email at office@mcgowantranscriptions.co.uk.
Written by Cheryl Evans
May 2024
