1. VOCABULARY
SPELLINGS
THE MOST FREQUENTLY MISSPELLED WORDS
The following 4 words are, perhaps the most commonly misspelled words in the English language:
allright
coming
receive
separate
School children commonly misspelled the following:
bicycle
description
really
similar writing
For office workers, secretaries and businessmen, the culprits are the following:
advertisement
correspondence
definite
envelope
recommend
schedule
Housewives most frequently misspelled any of these words:
acquaintance
development
pleasant
spinach
Following is a list of some of the most spelling demons of sixth-graders in U.S. schools. Make a quick check to see whether
you need to relearn any of them.
accommodate
across
already (one word)
arithmetic
athletics, athlete
balloon
bicycle
business
ceiling
challenge
Christmas
coming
deceive
description, describe
February
forty
fourth
good night (two words)
grammar
Halloween
minute
missile
niece
really
separate
similar
sincerely
studying
surprise
writing, written
High School Spelling Demons
The following list of 87 words is compiled from studies in the American School Board Journal, college entrance and placement
exams. The list is based on tests given to more than 87000 high school graduates from 750 different American high schools.
The words in bold are the words appearing in the list above, which would mean that the students have been misspelling
them since the sixth grade!
absence
across
athletics
business
conscious
definite
desperate
dispensable
escape
experience
foreign
guidance
independent
losing
neighbor
occurrence
parliament
possess
receive
rhythm
success
villain
absurd
advertisement
attendance
coming
convenient
dependent
develop
eHMrrass
exaggerate
familiar
forty
humorous
irresistible
lovely
niece
omitted
performance
prejudice
recommend
schedule
surprise
weird
accidentally
all right
beginning
committee
correspondence
descend
difference
environment
excellent
fascinate
government
imaginary
laboratory
misspelled
occasion
opportunity
permanent
privilege
repetition
separate
tragedy
writing
accommodate
amateur
believe
condemn
criticize
description
disappoint
equipped
existence
February
grammar
immediately
lightning
necessary
occurred
parallel
pleasant
professor
restaurant
similar
truly
Collegian Demons
The following list which has 67 words is based on spelling tests given to more than 27,000 students and adults who had
completed two years of college at 135 institutions. Note that 42 of these words, printed in bold, are carried over from the
high-school list.
absence
all right
accidentally
amateur
achieve
appearance
aggravate
argument

2. athlete
coming
conscious
criticize
desirable
disappear
enforcement
exercise
government
laboratory
mischievous
occurrence
permissible
procedure
recommend
rhythm
supersede
believe
committee
convenience
definitely
despair
disappoint
environment
existence
grievance
losing
noticeable
omitted
precede
proceed
repetition
schedule
tragedy
benefited
competition
correspondence
dependent
develop
dispensable
exaggerate
foreign
irresistible
maintenance
occasion
parallel
prejudice
pronunciation
responsibility
separate
villain
cemetery
conscientious
council
descendant
dining
eHMrrass
exceed
forty
knowledge
marriage
occurred
permanent
privilege
receive
restaurant
superintendent
weird
Spelling Problems of Professionals
Many business executives and professionals still have spelling problems. Following are the 50 words which they misspell
most often. The words printed in bold are carried over from the collegian list.
accessible
acquainted
all right
analyze
appearance
assistant
burglar
campaign
canceled
coming
conscientious
coolly
correspondence
desirable
develop
dispensable
drunkenness
eHMrrass
envelope
exceed
existence
incidentally
insistent
intercede
irresistible
irritable
laboratory
license
loneliness
mortgage
occasion
occurred
occurrence
ommitted
permissible
perseverance
precede
prejudice
privilege
proceed
recognize
recommend
repetition
restaurant
schedule
seize
superintendent
supersede
villain
weird
withhold
QUIZ – 1
(Time: 2 minutes)
Choose the correctly spelled word from each pair below. This quiz comes from the high school college lists. Repeat the test
until you can give all the correct answers in two minutes. (Answer below)
1. (a) rhythm
(b) rhithm
2. (a) foreign
(b) foriegn
3. (a) equiped
(b) equipped
4. (a) absence
(b) abcense
5. (a) criticise
(b) criticize
6. (a) priviledge
(b) privilege
7. (a) prejudise
(b) prejudice
8. (a) omitted
(b) omited
9. (a) dependant
(b) dependent
10. (a) irresistible
(b) irresistable
11. (a) recommend
(b) reccommend
12. (a) occurred
(b) occured
13. (a) occassion
(b) occasion
14. (a) professor
(b) proffesor
15. (a) committee
(b) commitee
16. (a) permanant
(b) permanent
17. (a) independent
(b) independant
18. (a) eHMrass
(b) eHMrrass
19. (a) escape
(b) excape
20. (a) humourus
(b) humorous
21. (a) argument
(b) arguement
22. (a) performence
(b) performance
23. (a) indifferance
(b) indifference
24. (a) attendence
(b) attendance
Answers:
1. (a)
2. (a)
3. (b)
4. (a)
5. (b)
6. (b)
7. (b)
8. (a)
9. (b) 10. (a)
11. (a) 12. (a)
13. (b) 14. (a) 15. (a) 16. (b) 17. (a) 18. (b) 19. (a) 20. (b) 21. (a) 22. (b)
23. (b) 24. (b)
Experts’ Woes
One would expect such people as English teachers, newspaper editors and writers to be particularly good spellers.
The following list consists of 62 reasonably plain, everyday words that are most commonly misspelled by even such
professionals. Those words in the list that are followed by an asterisk (*) are considered generally confounding. Try how
many of the following words you can spell correctly:
abscess*
annihilate*
broccoli*
accelerator
assassin
catalyst*
aggressor*
battalion*
category
allotted
besiege
chrysanthemum*

3. connoisseur*
demagogue
desiccate*
dilapidated
discriminate
disheveled
dissipate
ecstasy*
effervescent
exhilarate*
fission*
fricassee*
fuselage
gaiety
gynecologist
harebrained*
hippopotamus*
hypocrisy*
immaculate
innocuous
inoculate
liquefy*
millionaire
miscellaneous
moccasin*
paraffin
paralyze
pedagogue
penitentiary
perspiration
phlegm
picnicking
prairie
prescription
propeller
questionnaire*
raspberry
requiem*
rhinoceros
sacrilegious*
sheriff
sieve
solder
subpoena*
tariff
tonsillitis
tyranny
vacillate
vanilla
victuals*
This last list is a tough one. Most college graduates can spell only about thirty-five (56%) of these words. Most experts
get about fifty-three (85%) right.
QUIZ – 2
(Time: 3 Minutes)
Choose the correctly spelled word from each pair below. This quiz is from the college-graduates and experts’ lists. Take the
test repeatedly until you can give all the correct answers in three minutes. (Answer below)
1. (a) campagne
(b) campaign
2. (a) recognize
(b) reconize
3. (a) sherrif
(b) sheriff
4. (a) dissipate
(b) disippate
5. (a) genealogy
(b) geneology
6. (a) develope
(b) develop
7. (a) an envelop
(b) an envelope
8. (a) sieve
(b) seive
9. (a) ecstasy
(b) exstacy
10. (a) hypocracy
(b) hypocrisy
11. (a) proceed
(b) procede
12. (a) exceed
(b) excede
13. (a) preceed
(b) precede
14. (a) supercede
(b) supersede
15. (a) responsability
(b) responsibility
16. (a) desireable
(b) desirable
17. (a) assistant
(b) assistent
18. (a) seize
(b) sieze
19. (a) cemetary
(b) cemetery
20. (a) mischievious
(b) mischievous
21. (a) questionnaire
(b) questionaire
22. (a) millionnaire
(b) millionaire
23. (a) auxilliary
(b) auxiliary
24. (a) perscription
(b) prescription
Answers:
1. (b)
2. (a)
3. (b)
4. (a)
5. (a)
6. (b)
7. (b)
8. (a)
9. (a) 10. (b)
11. (a) 12. (a)
13. (b) 14. (b) 15. (b) 16. (b) 17. (a) 18. (a) 19. (b) 20. (b) 21. (a) 22. (b)
23. (b) 24. (b)
How to improve Spelling
It is believed that whether your spelling is good or bad depends largely upon the way you read. If you read with keen critical
interest, you form mental pictures of printed words; a careless reader just manages to get a blurred impression. Lazy readers
make bad spellers. The first step towards good spelling is - careful reading. The second step is careful pronunciation.
The third step, the experts suggest, is to keep a notebook and to write down the correct version of the words whose spelling
causes you trouble.
WORDS TO WATCH
The following are some of the words most commonly misspelt. The figures in the bracket indicate the number of occurrences
per million words and are taken from Thorndike’s Junior Dictionary.
(—) signifies a frequency of less than (1/2) per million.
(A) signifies between 50 and 100 per million
(AA) signifies 100 or over per million
1. Words to Make Sure of
accommodate (11)
address (A)
benefited (A)
business (AA)
convenient (32)
correspondence (17)
dependent (adj.) (13)
develop (A)
exceedingly (18)
February (A)
gramophone (––)
harass (7)
license (verb) (22)
necessary (AA)
practice noun (AA)
practise (verb) (24)
privilege (33)
procedure (11)
recommend (29)
referred (37)
stationery (noun) (2)
success (AA)
Wednesday (28)
argument (48)
committee (A)
definite (33)
disappear (A)
fulfil (21)
interrupt (39)
occurred (A)
principal (adj.) (A)
quarter (AA)
separate (A)
transferred (28)
beginning (44)
comparative (17)
dependant (noun) (6)
eHMrrass (16)
governor (A)
licence (noun) (22)
omitted (14)
principle (noun) (A)
receive (AA)
stationary (adj.) (7)
until (AA)

4. 2. Words Commonly Confused
accept (AA), except (AA)
affect (5), effect (A)
bi-annual (––), biennial (1)
check (AA), cheque (2)
continuous (20), continual (13)
current (A), currant (6)
dependant (6), dependent (13)
draft (30), draught (16)
elicit (2), illicit (3)
eminent (11), imminent (6)
envelop (7), envelope (22)
licence (22), license (22)
personal (A), personnel (5)
principle (A), principal (A)
stationery (2), stationary (7)
advice (A), advise (49)
alternate (11), alternative (9)
canvas (21), canvass (2)
compliment (17), complement (5)
council (A), counsel (40)
decease (1), disease (A)
devise (17), device (34)
dying (1), dyeing (––)
emigrate (3), immigrate (––)
ensure (2), insure (15)
feint (1), faint (A)
lightening (7), lightning (1)
practice (AA), practise (24)
prophecy (12), prophesy (9)
their (AA), there (AA)
3. Other Words Used in Business and Commonly Mis-spelt
abbreviate (1)
abridge (2)
accede (1)
accentuate (3)
accessible (5)
accessory (8)
accomplish (A)
accrue (2)
achieve (28)
acousties (––)
acquaint (32)
acquiesce (3)
across (AA)
adhesive (1)
adjourn (5)
adjusting (13)
admissible (1/2)
adolescent (2)
advisable (5)
adviser (10)
advisory (2)
affidavit (1)
agreeable (16)
aggrieved (2)
allocate (––)
allotment (2)
allotted (7)
aHMssador (21)
ambitious (10)
amicable (1)
analysis (14)
announce (A)
annul (2)
anxious (48)
appalling (10)
appetite (24)
apprentice (9)
article (AA)
ascertain (10)
assessor (1/2)
assimilate (2)
atrocious (2)
attorney (23)
audible (5)
audience (42)
auxiliary (3)
barrister (1)
battalion (6)
beneficial (7)
biased (or biassed) (––)
bicycle (11)
bouquet (8)
budget (19)
bulletin (16)
bureau (44)
calendar (10)
campaign (A)
cancelling (8)
canvass (to solicit) (2)
carriage (46)
catalogue (12)
catarrh (1)
ceiling (1)
centring (––)
century (AA)
chagrin (3)
chaotic (1)
charter (20)
cheque (a document) (2)
circuit (21)
clientele (––)
collateral (2)
college (AA)
collusion (1)
colour (AA)
commission (A)
commissionaire (––)
competent (10)
conceivable (5)
concurrence (1)
confident (15)
connoisseur (3)
conscientious (5)
conscious (32)
convalescent (2)
convenience (16)
corrobarate (2)
courteous (10)
courtesy (19)
creditor (12)
criticism (25)
curriculum (1)
customary (12)
debris (3)
deceit (8)
decipher (2)
definable (––)
demurrage (––)
desultory (1)
different (AA)
disappoint (28)
discern (1)
discoloration (1)
dissent (to disagree) (4)
dissipate (3)
draught (air) (16)
dubious (3)
duplicator (––)
efficiency (18)
eighteenth (13)
elapse (6)
eliminate (18)
emigration (2)
encyclopaedia (4)
enervate (1/2)
ephemeral (––)
erroneous (4)
evenness (––)
eventually (9)
evidence (A)
excellent (A)
exception (31)
excessive (12)
excitable (1)
exercise (AA)
exhibit (28)
expense (A)
facsimile (1/2)
fallacy (2)
fatigue (19)
feasible (19)
feasible (3)
foreign (AA)
forfeit (9)
freight (34)
accelerate (3)
accompany (A)
achievement (23)
acquire (46)
adjujicator (––)
advantageous (4)
aerial (9)
allege (12)
altar (a table) (22)
anaemic (––)
anonymous (3)
appreciate (28)
assess (1)
attitude (A)
auditor (2)
believe (AA)
biscuit (14)
buoyant (5)
cancellation (1)
casualty (3)
centre (AA)
champagne (4)
cipher (3)
colleague (8)
commemorate (4)
concede (9)
connoisseur (3)
consensus (3)
counsel (an adviser) (40)
credulous (3)
dearth (4)
deferred (1/2)
difference (AA)
discipline (21)
dissolve (29)
eccentric (5)
eligible (3)
endeavour (32)
etiquette (5)
exaggerate (11)
excise (1/2)
expedite (1/2)
fascinate (23)
flatation (––)
frontispeice (1/2)

5. fullness (7)
gradient (––)
guest (A)
hygiene (6)
immersion (1)
inconvenience (8)
indemnify (1/2)
inference (7)
installation (5)
irritation (5)
leisure (19)
liquidator (––)
marriage (––)
metre (measurement) (5)
necessitate (6)
obsession (2)
omission (5)
paralyse (10)
permissible (1)
Piccadilly (––)
precede (16)
preparation (40)
psychology (12)
receipt (20)
referring (37)
repudiate (3)
resume (27)
rhythm (7)
segregate (1)
stencilling (2)
suburb (13)
supersede (4)
synonymous (1)
television (AA)
thermometer (12)
tobacco (36)
transitory (1)
ultimatum (1)
unveal (2)
wrench (11)
gauge (5)
grammar (10)
guilty (28)
illegible (––)
immigrate (––)
incredible (14)
independence (36)
infinite (16)
instalment (10)
issuing (––)
liaison (1)
maintenance (11)
marvellous (33)
miniature (12)
necessity (A)
occasion (A)
oscillate (1)
parliament (28)
permitting (A)
platen (––)
precocious (2)
procession (27)
pursue (49)
reciprocate (1)
regrettable (1)
rescind (1)
retrievable (––)
schedule (14)
seize (A)
stevedore (1)
successful (A)
supervisor (5)
synopsis (1)
temporary (19)
thoroughly (13)
tolerant (4)
traveller (A)
unique (13)
usable (1)
yield (A)
glossary (1/2)
grievous (7)
honorary (2)
illicit (3)
imminent (6)
indefensible (1/2)
indispensable (10)
innovation (4)
intellectual (19)
labelled (7)
libellous (––)
mannequin (1)
mathematics (8)
miscellaneous (6)
neighbourhood (48)
occurrence (9)
paraffin (3)
pavilion (16)
persuade (37)
plausible (2)
preference (14)
programme (46)
queue (1/2)
reducible (––)
reimburse (1/2)
resistible (––)
retrogressive (––)
secede (3)
series (A)
storage (10)
summarized (4)
susceptible (5)
tacitly (1)
terrify (17)
tidily (––)
totally (9)
trial (A)
unmistakable (4)
vertical (10)
governor (4)
guarantee (15)
honourable (29)
illiterate (4)
incentive (5)
indelible (1)
infallible (3)
insolvent (1/2)
irrelevant (1)
lacquer (3)
licensed (––)
manoeuvre (5)
Mediterranean (15)
mischievous (6)
nuisance (10)
occurring (A)
parallel (23)
perceive (47)
pessimist (1)
possession (A)
preferring (A)
proprietary (2)
receivable (––)
referee (3)
remittance (2)
resources (20)
review (to re-exam) (45)
secondary (12)
skilful (17)
stupefy (3)
superannuation (1/2)
suing (––)
technique (6)
territory (A)
tidiness (––)
transferable (––)
typical (16)
unnecessary (17)
wholly (27)