14 Words You're Probably Misspelling

Ever find yourself staring at a word, convinced it just looks wrong? It’s easy to get tripped up by words that seem straightforward but have hidden complexities. Whether it’s double letters, silent vowels, or tricky prefixes, misspellings can sneak into our writing and leave us scratching our heads. To help you navigate these common slip-ups, we’ve compiled a list of 14 everyday words that many people often misspell.

1. Accommodate

Is it two c’s or two m’s? Turns out it’s both. While the tendency is to double either the “c: or the “m” (accomodate/acommodate), this particular word requires all the double letters. Another common misspelling of this word uses an “a” in place of the “o” (accommadate).

2. Acquire

It’s common to forget the “c” when spelling acquire (aquire), but the prefix “aqu-” typically comes from the Latin word meaning “water,” which has no place in this word’s meaning.

3. Cemetery

Based on how this vowel-rich word sounds, it makes perfect sense to use an “a” instead of a third “e” (cemetary), but doing so is incorrect.

4. Definitely

Another word where the vowels trip people up. Definite and definitely are often spelled with an “a” instead of an “e” (definate/definately). But the root of both words is “finite,” not “finate” (which isn’t a word).

5. Entrepreneur

This French word is often misspelled by omission of the “r” in “pre” or putting the “e” before the “r” in “pre” (entrepeneur/entreprenur/entreperneur). It’s a hard one that doesn't follow traditional English spelling rules.

6. License

Thankfully they don’t make you spell license to get your license. It’s usually misspelled by mixing up the “c” and “s” or using one instead of the other (licence/lisence).

7. Maintenance

Most people logically take the word “maintain” and add “ance” (maintainance). While it may sound right, there’s actually a “ten” in the word, not a “tain.”

8. Necessary

Move over double vowels, the consonants are here to cause some confusion. Whether the “s” or the “c” is doubled is usually the issue here (neccessary/necessary), but it’s only the “s” that requires doubling.

9. Publicly

Publicly is unlike any other word in the English language. Usually, when a word ends in “ic,” the rule is to add “ally” to form the adverb equivalent (basically, magically, etc.). This is not the case with publicly, which only adds “ly.”

10. Receive

Despite adhering to the “i before e, except after c” rule perfectly, this word is often misspelled by putting the “e” before the “i” (recieve).

11. Recommend

Another case of double consonants leading to misspellings, recommend only has one set of double m’s. Some people double both the “c” and the “m” while others don’t double either (recomend/reccommend).

12. Successful

When it comes to the word successful, most people are doubling at least one consonant, it’s just usually not the right one (succesful/successfull/sucessful). The correct spelling doubles the “s” and the “c.”

13. Tomorrow

Tomorrow is another word where the instance of a double letter is duplicated, leading to people using two m’s and two r’s (tommorrow). The correct spelling uses only two r’s in the root “morrow,” which means “morning” or “the next day.”

14. Vacuum

We see double c’s all the time, but double u’s? While we may not see too many instances of words with double u’s, vacuum is one of them. Common misspellings include vaccum and vaccuum.

Spelling correctly is more than just a skill - it’s a way to ensure your writing is taken seriously and understood clearly. From “accommodate” with its tricky double letters to “vacuum” with its unusual double u’s, these 14 words can be challenging. But with a little attention and practice, you can avoid these common mistakes and improve your spelling accuracy.

References: Commonly Misspelled Words | These are the 32 most commonly misspelled words, say grammar experts. How many can you get right?