8 Words I Can Never Spell ...

I’ve never had a problem with spelling, generally speaking. In fact, I was that irritating kid that always got 10 out of 10 in spelling tests at school and could spell Mississippi aged 7. However, there are always exceptions … and there are some words that I just seem to find impossible to get right …

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The

The Photo Credit: Laura Brunow Miner

Yes, one of the simplest words in the English language, and I can’t spell it. Or rather, I can’t type it. Like a lot of people, it always comes out as teh. This is OK in Word, as it auto-corrects, but not when typing in IM.

Prejudice

Prejudice Photo Credit: taylorkoa22

Is it prejudice, or predujice? Okay, when written down it’s obvious, but it’s the sound of the word that confuses me. So I always have to think about it!

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Frequently asked questions

Practice

When it comes to practice/practise, can I ever remember which is the noun and which is the verb? No I can’t! No matter how many times I look it up, it refuses to stick in my brain.

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Commitment

With this word, I have no trouble remembering that there is a double "m"; what foxes me is whether the "t" is also doubled. I think I have finally worked out a way of committing (note that the "t" IS doubled here) it to memory – it follows the noun ‘commit’, which only has one "t".

Separate

Whenever I’m about to type this, I always have to think for a moment first. Is it seperate or separate? (Word helpfully corrected me here, although I then had to undo the correction. That’s irony.)

Weird

I always used to have trouble with this. Of course, it’s one where the ‘I before E’ rule doesn’t apply. I think it’s finally sunk in though (hurrah).

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Independent

Another one that used to cause me trouble, but which is now sorted. Is it –ant or –ent, I used to ask myself? The key with this one was repeating ‘it’s all E! It’s all E!’.

Related: 8 Funniest TongueTwisters ...

Jewellry

Is it jewellry, jewelry or jewellery? I think I give up on this one …

Which words cause you problems? Do you think that English spelling needs to be simplified, or that correct spelling is essential?

Top Photo Credit: Pictures by Ann

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Where Thoughts and Opinions Converge

the McD drive thru picture is hilarious. :)

I really appreciated this articular, even if I shared only one word with you. The is atrocious and some of my friends are actually convinced I can't spell it, LoL. I have trouble with a lot of t h words (the, then, than, this . . .). Another typo one is like (liek, leik). Oh, and I always leave the caps lock on! As far as actual spelling goes. I can not familiar (familliar, formilliar, formiliar . . . grr!). But thankfully I have finally learned how to spell serious (I used to have no idea even where to start!).

English is not my native language but these words don't confuse me at all. I find them pretty easy. And it annoys me when people mistake "your" for "you're" and "their" for "there". The only word I find hard to spell is "nautious" because every time I want to put a "c" on it.

I cannot for the life of me spell restaurant.

You forgot forgot and embarrassment... xD

I enjoyed reading this because you have reasons to be confused about the spelling of those words! English isn't my native language, I only learned it a few years ago, but I can spell all those words and most words, while many people who were born and raised here in the United states cannot spell them correctly! Maybe I just learned to spell words correctly because I analyzed them so much! I would write each word many times until I could spell it without looking at the books. The only word I had trouble with used to be "throughout" and it was because I didn't know how to pronounce it! There are also words that people have trouble with because they are spelled almost like another word! My friends often confuse "then" with "than", "you're" with "your" and "bored" with "board". I'm thinking that I was too hard on myself when I was learning English, that's why I learned to spell perfectly =O!

Seperate or separate or whatever always confuse me.

Nowadays I am confused about HUMANS and HUMEN. which is right?

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