10 Common Misspellings as an ESL Learner

When it comes to spelling words in the English language, even native speakers have trouble with its complicated and unpredictable rules! First, let’s look into the reasons for this challenge. After that, we’ll review 10 common misspelled words in the English language.

The History of English

English doesn’t act like one language because it was formed from many! By borrowing from languages such as Latin, French, and other Germanic languages, English has developed diverse spelling and grammar rules. 

Phonetics 

English uses a wide range of phonetic variations! Meaning, several words sound the same, but are spelled differently. Here’s an example: both “sea” and “see” are spoken like /sē/, but they end in different letters. This can be difficult when trying to spell based on what a word sounds like. 

Silent Letters

Silent letters, referring to words that contain letters that aren’t pronounced out loud, appear in many different languages. English is no exception! Some examples include “knight” with a silent “k”, “debt” with a silent “b”, and “herb” with a silent “h”. 

Fun fact: The “h” in “herb” is silent in American English; in the United Kingdom, the “h” is pronounced out loud. 

10 Common English Language Misspellings

1. Restaurant - frequently misspelled as "resturant" or "restraunt".
   

2. Necessary - commonly misspelled as "neccessary" or "nessesary".
   

3. Tomorrow - sometimes spelled as "tommorrow" or "tomorroww".
   

4. Receive - often misspelled as "recieve" or "recieve".
   

5. Embarrass - sometimes spelled as "embarass" or "embarassed".
   

6. February - frequently misspelled as "Febuary" or "Feburary".
   

7. Definitely - often spelled as "definately" or "definatly".
   

8. Wednesday - commonly misspelled as "Wendsday" or "Wednsday".
   

9. Question - often misspelled as "queston" or "quesion".
   

10. Disappear - often misspelled as "dissapear" or "dissappear".