Words you ALWAYS misspell

Channy · Mar 26, 2015

I thought this might be a fun discuss.. either here or Office Party but probably here... No matter how much you write in a day, no matter how many times you write these words down, you never get them right. There's always that one.. or two... or a handful.

Absence/License.

Because these two just HAVE to be difficult... I can never remember which is the one where s comes first.. or if there's even a c in either one.. (Made even MORE complicated because it's licence in Canada. Urgh.)

Embarrass

I'm always embarassed when I can't remember how to spell embaress. It's so embarressing... how many ways can there be to spell this incorrectly?! How can you tell which is real?

jjdebenedictis · Mar 26, 2015

Personnel. Sapphire. Unnecessary.

It's those double-letters that get me. I'm always trying to double the wrong consonant.

Layla Nahar · Mar 26, 2015

*anything* with 'i' and 'e' together...

Roxxsmom · Mar 26, 2015

sihluoette, um, silhuoette, um, silhoutte, silhouette.

Damn, I can't even spell that one right if the word is right in front of me. My mind's eye refuses to "see" or remember the letters in the correct order. Takes multiple "trial and error" tries each time.

Unnecessary gets me sometimes too. Like JJ, I often end up doubling the wrong letters.

KidCassandra · Mar 26, 2015

In my "real" job I'm a medical documenter. There are some words which I must use daily and which I will never, EVER spell correctly on the first try.

Bowel--as in bowel movement--is one. I just had to google it, and even then I'm not 100% confident. It totally has two l's...doesn't it? How many ms are in hemorrhage? Am I quite sure that many vowels belong in "dyspareunia?"

As far as more mundane words, most of my problem is just typos--my fingers not cooperating with my brain. That said, I cannot ever spell "separate" without thinking really hard about it. I also put u's in words that don't require them in American English--even though I was born over here. And I constantly misspell asphalt.

Maryn · Mar 26, 2015

Those maddening -ible or -able words only loosely related to ability. The -ents and -ants also pain me greatly.

Maryn, who loves spell check for the ones she cannot learn

KidCassandra · Mar 26, 2015

Maryn said:
The -ents and -ants also pain me greatly.

Oh. Oh yes. And -ence vs -ance, as well.

CathleenT · Mar 26, 2015

Judgment. Doesn't it just cry out for an e after that g?

Layla Nahar · Mar 26, 2015

Wait. There's no 'e' in judgement? I mean judgment ....

blacbird · Mar 26, 2015

Layla Nahar said:
Wait. There's no 'e' in judgement? I mean judgment ....

That's an either/or. Brits (and their kin) use the 'e', Yanks do not, usually.

I've always been a pretty good speller, but I learned a few years ago that I commonly misspell ~~refridgerator~~ refrigerator.

caw

Gringa · Mar 26, 2015

rythem rythmn ...... rhythm

franky_s · Mar 26, 2015

maneuoeuver

seriously, why do you need so many vowels?

jjdebenedictis · Mar 26, 2015

franky_s said:
maneuoeuver

seriously, why do you need so many vowels?

The French needed that many vowels. Those of us foolish enough to steal their words must simply pay the price.

Speaking of which, lieutenant and the aforementioned silhouette.

blacbird · Mar 26, 2015

No nation ever has so loved the multiple vowels and silent consonants as do the French.

caw

CrastersBabies · Mar 26, 2015

mischievous

alleycat · Mar 26, 2015

I used to misspell lieutenant half the time until I memorized it as "lie u tenant."

Roxxsmom · Mar 26, 2015

alleycat said:
I used to misspell lieutenant half the time until I memorized it as "lie u tenant."

That's another one that gives me trouble. I'll have to remember your little trick

TheCuriousOne · Mar 27, 2015

I touch-type and my N finger always always gets carried away when I type "ratio"... and it ends up becoming "ration" just because of habit.

And I know the feeling, KidCassandra, and it's even worse in UK English: haemorrhage, diarrhoea... I'm working on the revised version of the translation for a book on cancer drugs I worked on two years ago, worked in the medical field for over 10 years, and I still find myself having to double check some "common" words because I'm not sure how to spell them. And no matter how slow I go, weirdy drug names will get me every time!

BethS · Mar 27, 2015

CrastersBabies said:
mischievous

Yes, but can you pronounce it correctly?

An astonishing number of people don't.

oceansoul · Mar 27, 2015

Anything with the ei instead ie combination. Luckily, autocorrect usually nabs that.

Niccolo · Mar 27, 2015

Necessary/unnecessarily. Unconsciousness. Auto correct had to fix those for me.

flapperphilosopher · Mar 27, 2015

Gringa said:
rythem rythmn ...... rhythm

Oh goodness yes!

For some reason, unless I fully stop and think through it, I never spell museum right on the first try, which is especially bad since I'm in a field where it comes up a lot!

It comes up way less often but I well and try can't spell Norwegian (thanks spell check!).

Gilroy Cullen · Mar 27, 2015

teh ... er the.

Alessandra Kelley · Mar 27, 2015

Sheriff.

Because I know it comes from "shire reeve". I keep wanting to double that "r" and use only one "f".

Reading Middle English totally messed up my spelling.

Shunter · Mar 27, 2015

Beaurocracy. Bureaucracy. Wow, right on the second try, that's a first (sorta). Vowel strings always get me.

Words you ALWAYS misspell

Me Gusta

is watching you via her avatar

Seashell Seller

Beastly Fido

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At Sea

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I write

Seashell Seller

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Burninator!

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Beastly Fido

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Sophipygian