Oxford Learning Institute

University of Oxford

Commonly Misspelled Words

The correct spelling is very important if you want to create a good impression in your
writing and get the right meaning across. Here is a list of some of the most commonly
misspelled words, to help you learn to spell them correctly.

A
accessible
accidentally
accessory/accessories
accommodate/accommodation
acquaintance
acquire
acquitted
address
advertisement
advisor
aggression/aggressive/aggressor
agreeable
alcohol
allege
amend/amendment
apologise/apology
apparent
arctic
argument
average
B
basically
beautiful/beauty/beautify
beginning
belief/believable/believe
benefited
burglar/burglary
business
C
cemetery/cemeteries
changeable
chaos
colleague
committee
comparative/comparison
conceive
conscientious
consensus/consensual
controversy/controversies/controversial
correspondence
council (a meeting)
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University of Oxford

counsel (to advise)

credible
D
deceive/deceit
definite/definitely
dependent
desperate/desperately
description
developed
difference
disappoint/disappointment
discipline

E
eighth
efficient
embarrass/embarrassment
emigrate
environment
exaggerate
excitement
existence
experience
extraordinary
extreme
F
favourite
fascinate/fascination
foreign
fluorescent/fluorescence
friend
fulfill/fulfils/fulfilling/fulfilled/fulfillment
G
gauge
government
grateful
guarantee/guaranteeing/guaranteed
guard
H
harass/harassment
height
heir
humorous/humorous/humorist
hypocrisy/hypocrite/hypocritical
I
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University of Oxford

illegible
illiterate
immediate/immediately/immediacy
immigration
independent/independence
ingenious
installment
intelligent
irrelevant
itinerary/itineraries
J

jewellery

knowledge

L
leisure
licence (noun – a permit to do something)
license (verb – to allow)
M
maintenance
manoeuvre/maneuverable
marvelous
meant
Mediterranean
millennium/millennial
miniature
minuscule
miscellaneous
mischievous
misspell
N
naïve/naivety
necessary/necessarily
negligible/negligibly
neighbour
niece
noticeable
nuisance
O
occasion
occur/occurrence
omission/omissible
original
 Oxford Learning Institute
University of Oxford

outrageous
P
panic/panicked
parallel
parliament
perceive
playwright
possess/possession/possessive/possessor
potato/potatoes
practice (noun – the action of doing something)
practise (verb – do something repeatedly to improve skill)
presence
privilege
procedure
proceed
Q
quarter
questionnaire
queue
quiet
quite
R
really
receive
recommend/recommendation
referral
referee
reference
resistance
restaurant
rhythm
S
secretary/secretaries
seize/seizure
separate/separately/separation
similar/similarity/similarly
sincerely
skilful
stationary (not moving)
stationery (paper)
success/successful/successor
sufficient
supersede
suppress
surprise
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University of Oxford

T
temporary
tendency
threshold
tomato/tomatoes
tomorrow
truly
tragedy
twelfth
U
unfortunately
unnecessary
valuable
V
vegetarian
vehicle
vicious
W
weather (clouds/sunshine/rain)
weird
whereas
whether (depending upon)
willful
withhold
worshipped
Y

yield