Vocabulary practice · Skill 13 of 14

Commonly Misspelled Words: Spelling Practice With Answers

Most spelling mistakes follow a few patterns: a double letter missed or added, a quiet letter dropped, a vowel guessed, an ending mixed up, or the wrong word from a pair that sounds alike. Learn the seven patterns below, then practice the most commonly misspelled words in 40 questions with instant feedback.

40 questions 8 levels of 5 7 rules Level 1 free

17%

What we measured

of the 40,853 Complete the Words boxes students missed in 12,000 of our Reading sections were only one or two letters away from the right spelling.

What patterns cause most spelling mistakes?

Count the double letters

This rule fixes the most mistakes, and it works in both directions. Some words have a double letter you simply learn: accommodate, committee, address, tomorrow and necessary (one c, two s). Others never double: habit, resource, develop, until. When you add -ed or -ing to a word that ends in one vowel and one consonant, double the consonant only if the stress is at the end: occur, occurred; begin, beginning. Visit is stressed at the start, so it is visited.

Right:The new dorm can accommodate 300 students.
Right:The power outage occurred during the exam.
Right:She is beginning a new research project.

Not:Our committe meets on Fridays.Instead:Our committee meets on Fridays.
Not:The bake sale was a big sucess.Instead:The bake sale was a big success.

Say the letters you do not hear

Many misspellings drop a letter that goes quiet in speech. Long words are often short words joined, and each part keeps all its letters: govern + ment, environ + ment, count + less, surround + ing. Say the word slowly in a spelling voice, one part at a time, and the lost letter comes back. Other silent letters come from history and are learned by sight: the h in which and school, the p in psychology, the gh in through, the first r in February.

Right:The government funds this research.
Right:Regular exercise strengthens your memory.
Right:Which class do you have in February?

Not:There were counless questions after the talk.Instead:There were countless questions after the talk.
Not:The surronding hills are covered in snow.Instead:The surrounding hills are covered in snow.

Find the vowel you cannot hear

In a long English word, one syllable is stressed and the others often shrink to a quick "uh" sound. That sound can be spelled with any vowel, so students guess: definitely, separate, category, thousands. The fix is a related word where the vowel is clear. Definitely has the word finite inside it, so it has an i. Competition comes from compete, so it has an e. A person who does a job or studies a field usually ends in -ist, not -est: scientist, artist, chemist.

Right:I will definitely finish the essay tonight.
Right:Thousands of students came to the fall festival.
Right:The scientists shared their results.

Not:Please keep the two files seperate.Instead:Please keep the two files separate.
Not:Choose a catagory for your poster.Instead:Choose a category for your poster.

-able or -ible, -ent or -ant

These endings sound the same, so use two clues. First, -able usually joins a whole word that can stand on its own, and that word usually keeps its spelling: afford + able, remark + able, accept + able. The ending -ible usually follows a part that is not a word by itself: possible, visible, terrible. A few, like responsible, break this clue and must be learned. Second, the adjective and the noun share a vowel: different and difference, important and importance, independent and independence.

Right:The dining hall is more affordable than the cafes.
Right:It is possible to change your major.
Right:There is an important difference between the two theories.

Not:She gave a remarcable speech.Instead:She gave a remarkable speech.
Not:His example was not relevent.Instead:His example was not relevant.

I before e, and the exceptions that matter

The old rhyme is mostly right: i before e, as in believe, achieve, friend and piece, except right after c, as in receive, receipt and ceiling. A few common words break it. After c you still write ie when the c sounds like sh, as in efficient and ancient, or when the i and e are said separately, as in science and society. And ei appears with no c in their, weird, height and foreign.

Right:I believe the report is due on Friday.
Right:Did you receive my email?
Right:Science is my favorite subject.

Not:I recieved your message this morning.Instead:I received your message this morning.
Not:My freind lives in the same dorm.Instead:My friend lives in the same dorm.

Plurals: -s, -es, -ies, or no plural at all

Most nouns add -s. Add -es when the plural needs an extra syllable, which happens after s, x, sh and ch: classes, boxes, dishes, sandwiches. Some words ending in o take -es: tomatoes, potatoes, heroes. Short forms (photo, piano) and words with a vowel before the o (video) take only -s. A consonant plus y becomes -ies: studies, cities. A vowel plus y just adds s: days, essays. Uncountable nouns have no plural: information, advice, research, equipment.

Right:We bought tomatoes and potatoes for the picnic.
Right:Both classes meet in the same building.
Right:Many cities now have bike lanes.

Not:Two sandwichs, please.Instead:Two sandwiches, please.
Not:She gave me some useful advices.Instead:She gave me some useful advice.

Real words in the wrong place

Some of the costliest mistakes are real words in the wrong place, so they look fine at a glance. Link each spelling to one job. Affect is usually a verb and effect a noun. Than compares; then means next. Lose is a verb; loose means not tight. Their means belonging to them; there is a place. Advice is the noun; advise is the verb. You wear clothes and clean with cloths, and you send a message, not a massage.

Right:The noise affects my sleep.
Right:Her talk was longer than mine.
Right:Do not lose your student ID.

Not:The new rule will effect everyone.Instead:The new rule will affect everyone.
Not:My essay is shorter then yours.Instead:My essay is shorter than yours.
Not:I need some advise about my schedule.Instead:I need some advice about my schedule.

Where this costs you marks on the TOEFL

Spelling costs marks in two places. In the Reading section, Complete the Words gives you the first part of words in a short paragraph, and you type the rest. An answer counts only if every letter is right, so "remarcable" earns nothing even when you clearly knew the word. That is not rare: 17% of the boxes our students missed were one or two letters off. You can drill the task in our Complete the Words practice. In Writing, you type the email and the academic discussion post with no spellchecker on the screen. One slip will not ruin a response, but frequent misspellings and confused pairs like then and than make your language control look weaker, and that can hold your score back.

If your first language is...

First language	What to watch for
Spanish and Portuguese speakers	Both languages are spelled much closer to how they sound than English is, and they use few double consonants. So English words that look like your own lose a letter: Spanish comunidad gives "comunity", oportunidad gives "oportunity", acomodar gives "acomodate". When a word looks like one from your language, check its double letters.
French speakers	Many English words came from French, and the French spelling often sneaks back in: "ressources" for resources, "exemple" for example, "adresse" for address, "developpement" for development. French also gives information a plural, and English does not. Your vocabulary is a real advantage, so spend your checking time on the look-alike words.
Turkish speakers	Turkish is written the way it sounds, one letter for each sound, so English silent letters are easy to leave out: "wich", "scool", "goverment". Turkish also has no th sound, so if you say "healty", you may write it that way too. Spell the word in a slow spelling voice that says every letter, even the silent ones.
Arabic speakers	Everyday Arabic writing leaves out most short vowels, and readers fill them in from context. That habit can carry over into English as missing or swapped vowels in unstressed syllables: "probly", "socity", "seprate". When you proofread, look at the vowels on purpose, one syllable at a time.

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Spelling practice: Level 1 with answers

Try these before you open an answer. Each one explains why, not only what.

Please send the form to my new email _____. (address / adress / addres)
Show the answer
address
Address has a double d and a double s. Think of it as ad + dress, and both doubles fall into place.
The same mistake _____ twice in my lab report. (occured / ocurred / occurred)
Show the answer
occurred
Occur has a double c, and its stress is at the end (oc-CUR), so the r doubles too before -ed: occurred.
Find the mistake: My roommate has good study habbits, and she is never late for class.
Show the answer
My roommate has good study habits, and she is never late for class.
Habit has only one b. Double letters go both ways: do not add one the word does not have. Roommate is right, because it is room + mate.
Is it _____ to bring my student ID to the exam? (neccessary)
Show the answer
necessary
Necessary has one c and a double s. A memory trick: a shirt has one collar and two sleeves.
Complete the word: Our biology quiz is tomo____ morning, so I am studying tonight.
Show the answer
tomorrow
Tomorrow has one m and a double r: to-mor-row. The double sits in the hidden half, so count the r's as you type.

Play level 1 with a score

FAQ

Common questions

What are the most commonly misspelled words?

Lists differ, but the same words come up again and again: accommodate, occurred, necessary, definitely, separate, receive, government, environment, and pairs like affect and effect. In our own students' Reading answers, the words misspelled most often include remarkable, scientists, landscapes and thousands. Corrections in our writing feedback include government, received, because and which. Most of them break one of the seven patterns on this page.

Does spelling count on the TOEFL?

Yes, in two places. In the Reading section, Complete the Words accepts only the exact spelling, so one wrong letter loses that answer. In Writing, your email and academic discussion post are judged partly on language control, and there is no spellchecker on the test screen. Spelling does not matter in Speaking, because nothing is written there.

How can I improve my spelling quickly?

Study patterns, not long lists. Most misspellings come from a handful of habits: a missing double letter, a quiet letter dropped, a guessed vowel, or the wrong word from a pair. Learn the seven rules here, keep a short list of the words you personally get wrong, and practice in short daily sets. Ten minutes a day works better than one long session a week.

What is the difference between affect and effect?

In most sentences, affect is a verb and effect is a noun. The weather affects my mood. The weather has an effect on my mood. A quick test: if you can put "an" or "the" in front of the word, you need effect. There are rare exceptions, such as "to effect change", but the simple rule covers almost every sentence you will write.

Why is English spelling so hard?

English kept many old spellings while its pronunciation changed, so letters that were once spoken, like the k in knowledge and the gh in night, are now silent. It also borrowed words from French, Latin and Greek and kept much of their spelling, which is why psychology starts with p and chlorophyll has ch and ph. The patterns are real, but they have exceptions.

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