Your most frequently misspelled words

Forums: English, Grammar, Language, Spelling, Spellings
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For me, it's definitely definately. After misspelling it twice on A2k today inadvertently (too bad I couldn't edit in one instance), I had a gut feeling I was probably getting it wrong and had to look the word up. Turns out, I actually really was misspelling it after all.

Gah. Also brings up a recent memory when an office colleague (and also current crush) was going through something I'd written. And I'd misspelt this very word, and he said, "Spellings aren't exactly your strong point, are they?" That document had other errors apparently. I felt like a mornon. To my defense, I would say I was new then, a bit nervous and always in a rush to finish tasks.

But definately, er, definitely, always confuses me. I wouldn't be surprised if I'm looking it up again in a few months.

That said, which words do you repeatedly tend to misspell?

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[+3] - laughoutlood - 11/29/2010i hate these romantic threads

@spidergal,

I never misspell anything. Wink

I use a dictionary.

Others? It's got to be recieve, etc.

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As I grow older, I rely on a spell-checker more and more. Words I have spelled correctly since grade school suddenly became difficult to figure out. On the Internet, I rely on the google toolbar for checking. It just prompted me to capitalize 'Internet.'

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@spidergal,

weird.

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@spidergal,

Definitely is one word I never misspell - I guess I looked it up so many times
that it stuck with me. There are plenty of others though - too many to name...
ah, one comes to mind - I tend to write greatful instead of grateful. I always
thought it originated from "great" Very Happy

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I have a mental block with brocolli. Sometimes I spell it broccoli and other times brocolli. Also, 'embarrass' - sometimes I put only one r in it. But you know when you type it and there are those red dots underneath that it's wrong. For a long time I thought dilemma was dilemNa - sounds like damn - don't know why.

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@Mame,

I like Miss Pell.

You can find her on Facebook.

http://gismonda.pagesperso-orange.fr/misspell.jpg

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@spidergal,

I had to come up with a trick - because definitely was one of mine, as well. I use 'finite' - and reason that definite means no more wrangling - this sucker is definite - it's over.

separate/ seperate (pare it into parts)
Most of mine center on -ance or -ence endings.
license I usually put s and c in the wrong place.

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@CalamityJane,

Quote:

Definitely is one word I never misspell

http://able2know.org/topic/51686-1419#post-4415756

Laughing

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@Lash,

Quote:

If you put an A in definitely, then you're definitely an A-hole

I think I will probably not misspell that word again.

Courtesy of this poster I found online: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling

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@spidergal,

smiling - that's better than what I had...

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@spidergal,

Quote:

Your most frequently misspelled words

Adoption of fully fonetic spelling will help to avoid this problem.

David

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@edgarblythe,

edgarblythe wrote:

... On the Internet, I rely on the google toolbar for checking. It just prompted me to capitalize 'Internet.'

'Internet' is capitalized? Shocked

Really? I had no idea! Laughing

Edit:

Did some checking myself, and this is what I came up with:

Quote:

The name Internet versus generic internets
The Internet standards community has historically differentiated between the Internet and an internet (or internetwork), the first being treated as a proper noun with a capital letter, and the latter as a common noun with lower-case first letter. An internet is any internetwork or inter-connected Internet Protocol networks.

link to article

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@Reyn,

Actually, in Brit English - which I've been forced to adopt recently - you do not capitalize Internet.

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@OmSigDAVID,

You will have to explain that to me.

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@spidergal,

spidergal wrote:

You will have to explain that to me.

Sound logic requires that English words be spelled exactly as thay r pronounced;
e.g., the word enuf shoud never be spelled "enough"
nor shoud the word tho be spelled "thoUGH", etc.

Those r atavistic throwbacks to the Germanic origins of English.

Exceptions r, e.g., right, which u shoud not spell "rite" because that ALREADY is taken. It means a ceremony.

Continued use of the old ways now has no value
and makes no sense. To teach the old ways to defenseless children
in schools is malpractice and professional negligence.

David

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@OmSigDAVID,

Quote:

Exceptions r, e.g., right, which u shoud not spell "rite" because that ALREADY is taken. It means a ceremony.

Om is full of ****. What of the word 'get' which has many meanings. Do we need to have a new spelling for each and every meaning of a word.

Quote:

Continued use of the old ways now has no value
and makes no sense. To teach the old ways to defenseless children
in schools is malpractice and professional negligence.

With the type of "logic" you've presented over time, you must have made a career of professional negligence.

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@spidergal,

David meant to say Phonetic.

It doesn't matter how I spell some words. Once I get them on paper, the just don't 'look right'.

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@OmSigDAVID,

Phonetic spelling may seem more logical but I think if you completely lose the history of the words you lose much of the inherent beauty of the language . If a billion Chinese and Japanese children can learn their much more complicated and very beautiful writing systems then I don't think we need to dumb down ours.

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restaurant

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Your most frequently misspelled words

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