My wife recently handed me a list purporting to contain the 100 most often misspelled words in the English language, and I thought it might be fun to take a look at some of them and the hints given for remembering how to spell them correctly. No, you do not have to wade through all 100 of them today. We’ll just go through the letter A. My comment about each one is added.
- acceptable – Several words made the list because of the suffix pronounced -êbl but sometimes spelled -ible, sometimes -able. Just remember to accept any table offered to you and you will spell this word OK.
Sounds kinda silly, but maybe it’ll help someone remember.
- accidentally – It is no accident that the test for adverbs on -ly is whether they come from an adjective on -al (“accidental” in this case). If so, the -al has to be in the spelling. No publical, then publicly.
This seems sensible. If the root word ends in al, the adverb ends in ally. Okay.
- accommodate – Remember, this word is large enough to accommodate both a double “c” AND a double “m.”
For some reason, I’m good at misspelling this one. I always get the double “m” but frequently forget to double the “c.”
- acquire – Try to acquire the knowledge that this word and the next began with the prefix ad- but the [d] converts to [c] before [q].
Seems like someone is really stretching to be cute here.
- acquit – See the previous discussion.
Same as above.
- a lot – Two words! Hopefully, you won’t have to allot a lot of time to this problem.
I almost never see this one spelled right. Please, folks. There is no alot.
- amateur – Amateurs need not be mature: this word ends on the French suffix -eur (the equivalent of English -er).
This one would be easier if we’d pronounce it properly—amater–instead of amature.
- apparent – A parent need not be apparent but “apparent” must pay the rent, so remember this word always has the rent.
This doesn’t even make sense. Just remember the double “p.”
- argument – Let’s not argue about the loss of this verb’s silent [e] before the suffix -ment.
They’re right, but is this clue easier to remember than just remembering the spelling to start with?
- atheist – Lord help you remember that this word comprises the prefix a- “not” + the “god” (also in the-ology) + -ist “one who believes.”
Has anyone actually ever misspelled this one?
Don’t know how helpful this will be. Should I do more of these or just quietly retire the idea? Which of these words have you had trouble remembering how to spell?
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