For years, the Scripps National Spelling Bee has been an annual tradition in Washington, D.C. where young wordsmiths showcase their ability to spell even the most difficult words. This got us thinking about the words we often misspell in our everyday writing. We spoke with professionals who work with words daily to compile a list of commonly misspelled words that even the most astute writers can slip up on.
1. Accommodation: “Accommodation” is often misspelled as acommodation, accomodation, or acomodation, according to Haley Slade, CEO and founder of Slade Copy House. She notes that this is a top offender for most misspelled words but shouldn’t be difficult to spell with autocorrect and spellcheck.
2. Affect/Effect: Lisa Williams advises against confusing affect with effect and sees a lot of students using the former when they mean the latter.
3. A lot: Gigi Marino, a communications and public relations professional in Winter Park, Florida, notices that “a lot” is frequently written as “alot,” which she thinks will eventually become accepted into standard usage.
4. And: Debra Boggs, founder and CEO of D&S Executive Career Management, notes that many professionals incorrectly use an ampersand in their resumes instead of writing “and.”
5. Canceled: Jacob Richey, executive copy editor at Axia Public Relations, notes that words like “canceled” and “traveled” often contain a double L that spellcheck misses.
6. Definitely: Jennifer Smith from North Central College notes that many people confuse “definitely” with “defiantly” and frequently misspell it as “definately” or “definatly.”
7. It’s/Its: Lenny Cassuto of Fordham University acknowledges the confusion surrounding “it’s” and “its” but emphasizes that it’s important to learn the difference.
8. High school: Marino notes that many people write “highschool” instead of “high school.”
9. Lead/Led: Boggs notes that people often confuse “lead” with the past tense of “lead,” which is “led.”
10. Misspell: Slade notes that people forget there are two s’s in “misspell.”
11. Multimillion-dollar: Boggs frequently sees executives incorrectly hyphenating “multi-million-dollar” as “multi-million dollar.”
12. Premier/Premiere: Marino notes that “premier” is the correct spelling for “top of the line” rather than “premiere.”
13. Restaurant: Slade notes that “restaurant” is commonly misspelled as “restaraunt” or “resturant” due to the placement of the “u” and “a.”
14. Separate: Slade notes that “separate” is often misspelled as “seperate” due to the placement of the “a” and “e.”
15. Spelled/Spelt: Google Trends reveals that many people are unsure whether to use “spelled” or “spelt.” The former is preferred in America, while the latter is the past tense of “spell” in England.
16. Theater/Theatre, Gray/Grey, Jeez/Geez, Blond/Blonde: Other commonly misspelled words, according to Google searches, include theater vs. theatre, gray vs. grey, jeez vs. geez, and blond vs. blonde.
17. There/Their/They’re: Stuart Patterson, associate professor, emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between these commonly confused words.
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