My Boys

My Boys

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Misspelled

Everyone has their little quirks and odd interests. I have to confess that I am a grammar nerd. I took a grammar class in college that really opened up my eyes, and I felt like I was finally able to piece together everything I learned in my previous schooling. I'm definitely not perfect, but I love paying attention to grammar and spelling specifically. In my opinion, spelling correctly shows refinement and attention to detail. There are so many tricky words though, and I'm still finding new words that I realize I've been spelling wrong! It's like a fun little puzzle for me. So here are a list of supposedly the most commonly misspelled words (misspelling in parentheses). Have someone quiz you to see how you do!

accommodate
accordion (accordian) I can't recall ever writing this word, but I would have spelled it incorrectly.
acquaintance (acquaintence, aquaintance)
atheist (athiest)
axle (axel)
barbecue (barbeque)
believable (believeable)
broccoli (brocolli)
cantaloupe
carburetor
cemetery (cemetary)
chocolaty (chocolatey)
collectible (collectable)
Dalmatian (Dalmation)
definitely (definately) This one annoys me a bit with how often I see it spelled wrong. It's such a commonly used word that I think people should spell it right!
Dr. Seuss A lot of people spell it Dr. Suess.
embarrass (embarass)
exhilarate
flotation (floatation)
gauge
handkerchief (hankerchief)
harass (harrass)
hemorrhage (hemorage)
indispensable (indispensible)
inoculate (innoculate)
irascible
irresistible (irresistable)
judgment (judgement) I have a funny story about misspelling this one when I was in high school.
lieutenant
liquefy (liquify)
marshmallow (marshmellow)
medieval
millennium (millenium)
minuscule (miniscule)
mischievous (mischievious) I realized not too long ago that I've been pronouncing this word wrong all my life.
occasion
occurrence
onomatopoeia
pharaoh (pharoah)
pigeon (pidgeon)
pistachio (pistacchio)
plagiarize
plenitude (plentitude)
poinsettia (pointsettia)
pronunciation (pronounciation)
privilege (priviledge)
puerile
raspberry
rhythm
ridiculous
sacrilegious (sacriligious)
savvy
sergeant
supersede (supercede)
ukulele (ukelele)
vacuum
weird

Learn anything new?

2 comments:

Kelly Vowles said...

In defense of some of us (namely myself).... some of these often misspelled words are actually correctly spelled when written in foreign countries :-) I get so mixed up, having learned to spell in Australia, I don't know what's right and what's wrong anymore, so your list was very enlightening. Thx!

Kim said...

I'm pretty good at spelling, but I have misspelled my share of these! I'll have to hear about your judgment story sometime. Can't wait to hear how the play was last night!