If you do find yourself over-relying on spell checkers or misspelling the same word for the 17th time this year, it would obviously be to your advantage to improve your spelling. One shortcut to doing this is to consult the following list of words that are frequently used and misspelled. Many smart writers even put a mark next to a word whenever they have to look it up, thereby helping themselves identify those fiendish words that give them the most trouble. To improve your spelling, you must commit the words you frequently misspell to memory, and physically looking them up until you do so is an effective path to spelling perfection.
A
- abandon
- abandoned
- abundant
- absence
- academic
- academically
- accelerator
- accept
- acceptable
- accessible
- accidentally
- accommodate
- accompanied
- accompanying
- accomplish
- accumulate
- accuracy
- accustomed
- achievement
- acknowledge
- acknowledgment
- acquaintance
- acquire
- acquit
- acre
- acreage
- across
- actually
- address
- admission
- admittance
- adolescent
- adolescence
- advantageous
- advertisement
- aerial
- against
- aggravate
- aggressive
- aisle
- a lot (never alot)
- allotting
- almost
- already
- always
- amateur
- among
- amount
- analysis
- analyze
- ancestry
- announcement
- annual
- apparatus
- apparent
- apparently
- appearance
- appreciate
- appropriate
- appropriately
- approximate
- approximately
- arctic
- arguing
- argument
- article
- artistically
- association
- athlete
- athletic
- attendance
- attitude
- awful
- awkward
B
- balance
- bankruptcy
- bargain
- basically
- battalion
- beautiful
- becoming
- before
- beginning
- believe
- beneficial
- benefited
- biased
- biggest
- boundary
- Britain
- bulletin
- bureaucratic
- business
C
- calendar
- camouflage
- candidate
- career
- careful
- category
- ceiling
- challenge
- channel
- chaos
- character
- characteristics
- chief
- chiefly
- choose
- chose
- chosen
- clothes
- clothing
- coarse
- column
- coming
- commercial
- commission
- commitment
- committee
- communism
- communists
- compel
- compelled
- competition
- completely
- concede
- conceivable
- condemn
- condemned
- conferred
- confused
- connoisseur
- conscience
- conscientious
- conscious
- consists
- continuous
- controlled
- controlling
- controversial
- convenient
- coolly
- criticism
- crowded
- cruelty
- curiosity
- curriculum
D
- dealt
- deceive
- decision
- deferred
- definite
- definitely
- definition
- descend
- description
- desirable
- desperate
- develop
- different
- dilemma
- disagree
- disappear
- disappoint
- disapprove
- disaster
- disastrous
- discern
- discipline
- discussion
- dispel
- disservice
- dissipate
- distinct
- duly
- during
E
- echoes
- efficiency
- efficient
- eighth
- eliminate
- ellipse
- embarrass
- eminent
- empty
- endeavor
- enemy
- enthusiastically
- entirely
- entrance
- environment
- equipment
- equipped
- especially
- essential
- except
- excellent
- excess
- existence
- experience
- explanation
- extremely
F
- fallacy
- familiar
- family
- fascinate
- fascism
- favorite
- February
- fiery
- finally
- financial
- financially
- fission
- fluorine
- foreign
- foresee
- foreseeable
- forfeit
- forty
- forward
- fourth
- frantically
- friend
- fulfill
G
- generally
- genius
- government
- grammar
- grammatically
- grandeur
- Great Britain
- grievance
- guarantee
- guerrilla
- guidance
H
- handicapped
- happily
- harass
- heard
- height
- here
- hindrance
- hoping
- hopeless
- humorous
- hundred
- hurriedly
- hygiene
- hypocrisy
- hypocrite
I
- ideally
- ignorant
- illogical
- imagine
- imitate
- immediately
- immense
- impossible
- incidentally
- independent
- individually
- ingenious
- initially
- initiative
- innocent
- innocuous
- inoculate
- intellectual
- intelligence
- intelligent
- insistent
- interest
- interfered
- interference
- interrupt
- iridescent
- irrelevant
- irreplaceable
J
- jewelry
- judgment
- judicial
K
- knowledge
- knowledgeable
L
- laboratory
- later
- lenient
- liable
- liaison
- library
- lightning
- likely
- listening
- literature
- loneliness
- loose
- lose
- lying
M
- magazine
- maintenance
- manageable
- maneuver
- manner
- manual
- marriage
- mathematics
- meant
- medicine
- medieval
- mileage
- millennium
- miniature
- miscellaneous
- mischievous
- missile
- misspelled
- mortgage
- muscle
N
- narrative
- naturally
- necessary
- necessity
- nineteen
- ninety
- ninth
- noticeable
- noticing
- nuclear
- nuisance
- numerous
O
- occasion
- occasionally
- occur
- occurred
- occurring
- occurrence
- official
- omission
- omit
- omitted
- oneself
- operate
- opinion
- opponent
- opportunity
- opposite
- oppression
- ordinarily
- originally
P
- pamphlet
- paraffin
- parallel
- parliament
- particular
- particularly
- pastime
- peaceable
- peculiar
- perceive
- permissible
- perseverance
- persistence
- pollute
- pollution
- population
- possess
- possession
- possible
- possibly
- practically
- preference
- preferred
- prejudice
- prejudiced
- primitive
- privilege
- probably
- proceed
- procedure
- profession
- professor
- publicly
- purpose
Q
- quantify
- quantity
- quiet
- quite
R
- realize
- rebellion
- recede
- receive
- recession
- recommend
- reference
- referring
- remembrance
- reservoir
- rhythm
- ridiculous
S
- saccharine
- sacrifice
- safety
- satellite
- schedule
- scientists
- scintillate
- separate
- sergeant
- shepherd
- shining
- shrubbery
- similar
- sincerely
- sophomore
- souvenir
- specifically
- statistics
- strenuous
- stretch
- stubbornness
- subtle
- subtly
- succeed
- success
- succession
- succinct
- sufficient
- summary
- summation
- summed
- supersede
- supposed
- suppress
- surely
- surprise
- surrounding
- syllable
- symmetry
- symmetrical
T
- tariff
- technique
- temperament
- temperature
- their
- therefore
- thorough
- though
- through
- tobacco
- tomorrow
- tragedy
- transferred
- trespass
- truly
- Tuesday
- twelfth
- tyranny
U
- unanimous
- unconscious
- uncontrollable
- undoubtedly
- unforeseen
- unmistakably
- unnatural
- unnecessary
- until
- usable
- useful
- usually
V
- vacuum
- valuable
- various
- vegetable
- vehicle
- vengeance
- villain
- violence
- vicious
- visible
W
- warring
- weather
- Wednesday
- weird
- where
- whether
- whistle
- wholly
- whose
- writing
- written