On this page, we take a look at 100 of the most commonly misspelled words in English. English is one of the most widely used languages in the world, with a vast vocabulary influenced by many other languages over time. Despite its global reach, English spelling can still be challenging. Many words are not spelled the way they sound, which often leads to confusion. For example, the word baloney is actually spelled bologna.
Commonly Misspelled Words
As most learners quickly discover, spelling in English is not always straightforward. With so many words to remember, it can feel overwhelming to spell every word correctly. This difficulty is increased by the fact that pronunciation and spelling do not always match.
If you find yourself misspelling certain words, there is no need to feel embarrassed. You are certainly not alone. In fact, dictionaries and language studies show that spelling mistakes happen far more often than many people realize. That said, learning the correct spelling is important, especially in professional and academic situations where accuracy matters.
Let’s take a closer look at the most commonly misspelled words in the English language.
100 Most Commonly Misspelled Words
1. Definitely
Commonly misspelled as: definitly, definately, defiantly.
2. Caribbean
Commonly misspelled as: Carribean.
3. Separate
Commonly misspelled as: seperate.
4. Humorous
Commonly misspelled as: humerous.
5. Guarantee
Commonly misspelled as: garantee, garentee, garanty.
6. Until
Commonly misspelled as: untill.
7. Occasionally
Commonly misspelled as: occasionaly, occassionally.
8. Immediately
Commonly misspelled as: imediately.
9. Questionnaire
Commonly misspelled as: questionaire, questionnair.
10. Vacuum
Commonly misspelled as: vaccuum, vaccum, vacume.
11. Friend
Commonly misspelled as: freind.
12. Exhilarate
Commonly misspelled as: exilerate.
13. Disappoint
Commonly misspelled as: dissapoint.
14. Library
Commonly misspelled as: libary, liberry.
15. Beginning
Commonly misspelled as: begining.
16. Underrate
Commonly misspelled as: underate.
17. Hygiene
Commonly misspelled as: hygene, hygine, hiygeine, higeine, hygeine.
18. Equipment
Commonly misspelled as: equiptment.
19. Column
Commonly misspelled as: colum.
20. Acknowledge
Commonly misspelled as: acknowlege, aknowledge.
21. Wednesday
Commonly misspelled as: Wenesday.
22. Embarrass
Commonly misspelled as: embarass.
23. Millennium
Commonly misspelled as: millenium, milennium.
24. Usable
Commonly misspelled as: usible.
25. Hypocrite
Commonly misspelled as: hipocrit.
26. Fascinating
Commonly misspelled as: facinating.
27. Tomorrow
Commonly misspelled as: tommorow, tommorrow.
28. Mischievous
Commonly misspelled as: mischievious, mischevous, mischevious.
29. Lightning
Commonly misspelled as: lightening.
30. Twelfth
Commonly misspelled as: twelth.
31. Business
Commonly misspelled as: buisness.
32. Height
Commonly misspelled as: heighth, heigth.
33. Guidance
Commonly misspelled as: guidence.
34. Welfare
Commonly misspelled as: wellfare, welfair.
35. Misspell
Commonly misspelled as: mispell, misspel.
36. Vicious
Commonly misspelled as: visious.
37. Cemetery
Commonly misspelled as: cemetary, cematery.
38. Maintenance
Commonly misspelled as: maintainance, maintnance.
39. Hierarchy
Commonly misspelled as: heirarchy.
40. Vehicle
Commonly misspelled as: vehical.
41. Relevant
Commonly misspelled as: relevent, revelant.
42. Beautiful
Commonly misspelled as: beatuful.
43. Desperate
Commonly misspelled as: desparate.
44. Lose
Commonly misspelled as: loose.
45. Grateful
Commonly misspelled as: gratefull, greatful.
46. Writing
Commonly misspelled as: writting, writeing.
47. Disastrous
Commonly misspelled as: disasterous.
48. Upholstery
Commonly misspelled as: upholstry.
49. Medieval
Commonly misspelled as: medeval, medevil, mideval.
50. Necessary
Commonly misspelled as: neccessary, necessery.
51. Gauge
Commonly misspelled as: guage.
52. Whether
Commonly misspelled as: wether.
53. Restaurant
Commonly misspelled as: restarant, restaraunt.
54. Quarantine
Commonly misspelled as: quarentine.
55. Bellwether
Commonly misspelled as: bellweather.
56. Committed
Commonly misspelled as: commited, comitted.
57. Successful
Commonly misspelled as: succesful, successfull, sucessful.
58. Jewellery (British English) / Jewelry (American English)
Commonly misspelled as: jewelery.
59. Occurrence
Commonly misspelled as: occurrance, occurence.
60. Becoming
Commonly misspelled as: becomeing.
61. Acquaintance
Commonly misspelled as: acquaintence, aquaintance.
62. Fluorescent
Commonly misspelled as: flourescent.
63. Apparent
Commonly misspelled as: apparant, aparent, apparrent, aparrent.
64. Neighbour
Commonly misspelled as: nieghbor.
65. Existence
Commonly misspelled as: existance.
66. Believe
Commonly misspelled as: beleive.
67. Weather
Commonly misspelled as: wether.
68. Experience
Commonly misspelled as: experiance.
69. Memento
Commonly misspelled as: momento.
70. Conscious
Commonly misspelled as: concious, consious.
71. Miniature
Commonly misspelled as: miniture.
72. Wilful (British English) / Willful (American English)
Commonly misspelled as: wilfull.
73. Absence
Commonly misspelled as: absense, absentse, abcense, absance.
74. Queue
Commonly misspelled as: que.
75. Definite
Commonly misspelled as: definate, definit.
76. Leisure
Commonly misspelled as: liesure.
77. Drunkenness
Commonly misspelled as: drunkeness.
78. Pronunciation
Commonly misspelled as: pronounciation.
79. Their
Commonly misspelled as: there, they’re.
80. Independent
Commonly misspelled as: independant.
81. Tomatoes
Commonly misspelled as: tomatos.
82. Reference
Commonly misspelled as: referance, refrence.
83. Privilege
Commonly misspelled as: privelege, priviledge.
84. Intelligence
Commonly misspelled as: inteligence, intelligance.
85. Noticeable
Commonly misspelled as: noticable.
86. Colleague
Commonly misspelled as: collaegue, collegue.
87. Surprise
Commonly misspelled as: suprise, surprize.
88. Recommend
Commonly misspelled as: recomend, reccommend.
89. Ignorance
Commonly misspelled as: ignorence.
90. Omission
Commonly misspelled as: ommision, omision.
91. Camouflage
Commonly misspelled as: camoflage, camoflague.
92. Dilemma
Commonly misspelled as: dilenma, dillemma.
93. Advisable
Commonly misspelled as: adviseable, advizable.
94. Possession
Commonly misspelled as: posession, possesion.
95. Outrageous
Commonly misspelled as: outragous, outragious.
96. Secretary
Commonly misspelled as: secratary, secretery.
97. Allegiance
Commonly misspelled as: allegaince, allegience, alegiance.
98. February
Commonly misspelled as: Febuary.
99. Accommodate
Commonly misspelled as: accomodate, acommodate.
100. Amateur
Commonly misspelled as: amatuer, amature.
Final Thoughts
These are 100 of the most commonly misspelled words in the English language. Hopefully, this list helps you correct spelling mistakes you may be struggling with, or at least reassures you that spelling difficulties are very common.
If you find it hard to remember correct spellings, you can improve your skills by using mnemonic techniques, learning basic spelling rules, and writing down words you find difficult. Reviewing them regularly can greatly improve your memory and confidence.
Commonly Misspelled Words with Images
Everytime vs. Every Time
Grateful vs. Greatful
Home In vs. Hone In
