Q.
What are the most commonly misspelled words?

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A.
The stories that autocorrect could tell. Are there certain words that stump us every time? “Tommorrow, Tomorow, I love ya, tommorow..”

Some – student, teacher, employee, boss – have nightmares about being unable to spell simple words in public. When the fear of spelling mistakes reaches phobic levels, it is called ortographobia.

Where are we most likely to stumble in our spelling? A Nick Jr. UK study of 2,000 adults identifies the 50 words that British respondents most frequently struggle to form. Is it a coincidence that ’embarrassment’ comes in at number one? Those double letter words – is it one r and two s’s? Or two r’s and one s? – are particularly tricky.

40% of those polled admit that they type willy-nilly and rely on autocorrect to fix their spelling. Meanwhile, 48% of  respondents say that they can’t help but judge people who cannot spell.

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Top 50 Common Words That People Find Difficult To Spell.
Nick Jr. UK

1. Embarrassment
2. Fluorescent
3. Accommodate
4. Psychiatrist
5. Occasionally
6. Necessary
7. Questionnaire
8. Mischievous
9. Rhythm
10. Minuscule
11. Conscience
12. Xylophone
13. Pronunciation
14. Graffiti
15. Millennium
16. Occurrence
17. Exhilarate
18. Restaurant
19. Accessory
20. Guarantee
21. License
22. Separate
23. Believe
24. Colleague
25. Definite
26. Humorous
27. Weird
28. Symphony
29. Illicit
30. Species
31. Appearance
32. Possession
33. Vacuum
34. Changeable
35. Queue
36. Acquire
37. Receipt
38. Receive
39. Difficulty
40. Foreign
41. Discipline
42. Equipment
43. Business
44. Relevant
45. Beautiful
46. Technology
47. Neighbour
48. Friend
49. Religious
50. Government

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No need to rely on our confessions. Unforgiving CPUs can effortlessly track the words that we enter most often for spelling guidance.  Oxford Dictionary has their list of Top 10 Misspellings. Can you correct the mistakes?

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Oxford Top 10 Most Common Misspellings

(Do not sear into brain. These are incorrect)

i. Publically
ii. Pharoah
iii. Definitaly
iv. Goverment
v. Seperate
vi. Occured
vii. Untill
viii. Recieve
ix. Wich
x. Accomodate

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Oxford The Correct Spellings
i. Publicly
ii. Pharaoh
iii. Definitely
iv. Government
v. Separate
vi. Occurred
vii. Until
viii. Receive
ix. Which
x. Accommodate

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Merriam Webster has their own exhaustive list of  commonly mangled words.

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Merriam Webster. Most Commonly Misspelled English Words

Can you spot which of these words are spelled wrong here? 

a. conscientious
b. concieve
c. convenient
d. specifically
e. dissappoint
f. questionnaire
g. guerilla warfare
h. acommodate
i. foreign
j. susceptible
k. ecstasy
l. acquaintance
m. proceed
n. tommorow
o. marshmallow

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And now for the misspelled words above:

b. concieve should be conceive
e. dissappoint should be disappoint
g. guerilla warfare should be guerrilla warfare
h. acommodate should be accommodate
n. tommorow should be tomorrow

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You can test your own spelling – speed and accuracy – through Merriam Webster’s online Spell It game.

MW Spell It Game

www.justcurious.ca

Header: Edgar Degas

Image 2: Johannes Vermeer.  Mistress and Maid. 1667

Image 3: Rembrandt. Man Sharpening A Quill. 1632