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This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.
A misspelling of purchased on a service station sign

Misspelling refers to spelling a word incorrectly. Misspelling is distinguished from other errors in writing, such as grammatical errors, incorrect capitalization or misuse of punctuation. A misspelled word can be a series of letters that represents no correctly spelt word at all (such as "liek" for "like") or a correct spelling of another word (such as writing "here" when one means "hear", or "now" when one means "know"). Misspellings of the latter type can easily make their way into printed material because they cannot be caught by computerized spell-checkers.

Misspellings may be due to either "finger-trouble" (e.g. typing teh for the), or lack of knowledge of the correct spelling. Whether or not a word is misspelled may depend on context. For example, in a British publication center would be a misspelling, whereas in an American publication it would not. Misspelling can also be a matter of opinion when variant spellings are accepted by some and not by others. For example "miniscule" (for "minuscule") is a misspelling to many, and yet it is listed as a legitimate variant in a number of dictionaries.

Commonly confused words

are: plural of is (I am, he/she is, you are, we are, they are) /ɑɹ/
our: belonging to us /aʊɹ/ (unstressed /ɑɹ/)

barley: the grain used to make beer /ˈbɑɹli/ (rhymes with "Harley")
barely: hardly /ˈbɛɹli/ (rhymes with "rarely")

breath: the noun /bɹɛθ/ (rhymes with "death")
breathe: the verb /bɹið/ (rhymes with "seethe")

Misspelling of Occasion (Occassion) and Confectionery (Confectionary) on a shop front

collage: something made from a variety of magazine cut-outs mounted on paper /kəˈlɑʒ/ (rhymes, for some people, with "barrage")
college: university /ˈkɒlɪdʒ/ (rhymes with "knowledge")

corpse: dead body /kɔɹps/ (rhymes with "warps")
corps: army or similar organization /kɔɹ/ (rhymes with "four"); also the plural of "corp" when it's short for "corporation"

coup: act of overthrowing a government /ku/ (rhymes with "too")
coupe: vehicle /kup/ (rhymes with "group" in U.S. English. Elsewhere, however, the word is in fact French, and has an accented 'e' - coupé, /kupˈeɪ/ (pronounced "koop-ay."))

everyday: routine, commonplace /ˈevɹideɪ/ ; often used instead of:
every day: daily, once per day /ˈevɹi ˈdeɪ/

fair: evenhandedness; a market or gathering; light in hair or skin; etc /fɛɹ/
fare: food or drink as part of a diet (e.g., "At the movies, we had the typical fare: popcorn, candy, and cola") /fɛɹ/

its: possessive form of the word "it" (e.g., "Its quality is unsurpassed") /ɪts/
it's: contraction of the phrase, "it is" (e.g., "It's getting dark out") or "it has" (e.g., "It's been a while") /ɪts/

loose: opposite of tight (rhymes with "goose") /lus/
lose: opposite of win, gain or find (rhymes with "choose") /luz/

now: at the present time /naʊ/ (rhymes with "how")
know: be familiar with the facts; be acquainted with; be aware /noʊ/ (rhymes with "go")

of: belonging to or somehow connected with; associated with; forming a part of; a certain amount of /ʌv/ (rhymes with "love") (unstressed /əv/)
off: opposite of on /ɒf/ (rhymes with "cough")
've: This is the word "have" as part of a contraction. This sounds like "of" after some words like "could" and "might", but is actually a contraction for "have" (could have, might have). You write: should've, might've, would've, etc. /əv/

physics: the laws that govern objects moving in space; related to physical, physiology, physicist, physician /ˈfɪzɪks/ (the first syllable sounds like "fizz")
psychic: having ESP; pertaining to the soul; related to psychology, psychiatrist, psyche, psycho, psychedelic, psychopath, psyched (psychic scars) /ˈsaɪkɪk/ (the first syllable sounds like "sigh")

pore: to study carefully or intently (e.g., "He spent the evening poring over his Chemistry textbook") /pɔɹ/
pour: to angle a receptacle filled with something such that whatever is in the receptacle falls out /pɔɹ/

principle: a rule, standard, law, or assumption /ˈpɹɪnsɪpl̩/
principal: the head of an elementary or high school /ˈpɹɪnsɪpl̩/

quite: rather, to an impressive degree /kwaɪt/ (rhymes with "night")
quiet: not very loud /ˈkwaɪ.ɪt/ (rhymes with "riot")

than: conjunction to introduce second member of comparison /ðæn/ (unstressed /ðən/)
then: at that time, after that, etc. /ðɛn/

through: from one end to the other; finished /θɹu/ (rhymes with "too")
thorough: complete, exhaustive /ˈθʌɹoʊ/, /ˈθɝoʊ/(rhymes with "burro")

were: past tense of the verb to be (I was, you were) /wɝ/(rhymes with "fur")
where: at what place? /wɛɹ/, /ʍɛɹ/ (rhymes with "share")
wear: have clothes on; break something down eventually through use (wear out, wear thin, wear and tear) /wɛɹ/ (rhymes with "share")

whet: to sharpen or hone /wɛt/, /ʍɛt/ (e.g., "Whet your appetite")
wet: saturated with moisture or water /wɛt/

which: what one; that (He kicked against my leg, which bothered me) -- a question word like what, when, where or why, it should begin with WH (homophonous with "witch" in some dialects, but in others it begins with a /ʍ/ sound, as do "whale", "where", "white", and "wheat") /wɪtʃ/, /ʍɪtʃ/
witch: a female sorcerer (always pronounced with a simple /w/ sound at the beginning) /wɪtʃ/

List of notable misspellings, including some that stuck

  • Zenith - Arabic zamt was misspelled by scribes.
  • Camel-and-needle-eye proverb - Translators from Hebrew into Greek may have confused kamêlos (cable) with kamilos (camel).[1]
  • Cocoa - from cacao (misspelling also influenced by coco). Many foreign languages and foreigners speaking English still use "cacao".
  • Hoodlum - first appeared as a pseudonym in a newspaper article, whose editor had misread "Noodlum" (the author's reversal of this wrongdoer's real surname, Muldoon). [This popular account of the derivation is discredited by most sources.]
  • Google - intentional misspelling of googol.
  • Potatoe - misspelling of "potato" mistakenly prepared for a classroom spelling bee hosted by Dan Quayle.
  • Pwned - Internet slang for "owned"
  • Odelay - Beck dictated the title he had chosen to the person writing down the name of his next album, originally to be titled Órale (Spanish for "wow!"). See also: Becktionary and the Futurama parody
  • Sherbert instead of Sherbet.
  • "Minuscule" has been misspelled as "miniscule" so frequently over the past 50 years that the latter is now accepted by many as an allowable variation [2] (though some continue to view it as incorrect).

See also

  • Misspellilizer - Takes a sentence and misspells all the words, but the sentence should still be readable.
  • Spelling Center - Listing of the most frequently misspelled words as reported by SpellingCenter.com users.
  • Spelling Therapy - an attempt to diagnose common symptoms of frequently misspelled words
  • Spell Correct Info - directory of misspellings for common and popular topics
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