10 Misspelled Words That Get Me Down

10 Misspelled Words That Get Me Down 10 Misspelled Words That Get Me Down 10 Misspelled Words That Get Me Down By Maeve Maddox NOTE: Any spell-check program ought to catch most of these for you. However, the wisest course is to master them yourself. For fun, I did a search for the incorrect version of nine of the ten. I didn’t bother with Number 7 because both its and it’s are valid spellings. The number of hits for the misspellings is shown in parentheses. Some refer to intentional misspellings on English sites like this one, but not all. 1. argument (arguement 730,000) The verb is argue, but the noun is argument. 2. calendar (calender 29,600,000)   The register on which you schedule your appointments is spelled calendar. Yes, there is a specialized term spelled calender that refers to paper production, but I doubt that it accounts for millions of uses. 3. cemetery (cemetary185,000,000) There are three e’s in cemetery. Nary an a in sight. 4. definite (definate 539,000) Think, finite, infinite, infinity. Look at all those i’s. No a’s anywhere in definite. 5. finally (finaly 1,450,000) The adjective is final. The adverb is finally. Double that l in finally. 6. forty (fourty 783,000)   One less than five is spelled four. One more than thirty-nine is spelled forty. 7. its (possessive adjective) The problem with this habitual misspelling is that both its and it’s are English spellings. It’s is a contraction of the words â€Å"It is.† Its is a possessive adjective, like his. The best advice is to spell out â€Å"it is† when that is your meaning. You cannot rely on grammar/spell checkers to catch this one. Indeed, Word often advises me to write â€Å"it’s† when the context calls for its. 8. separate (seperate 31,700,000)   Take the word by syllables: sep-a-rate. Yes, we pronounce it [sep-uh-ret], but we spell it sep-a-rate. Look for â€Å"a rat† in sep.a.rat.e. 9. tragedy (tradgedy 212,000) The g in tragedy is soft. The e makes the g soft. No extra d, please. 10. truly (truely 62,600,000)   The adjective is true. The adverb is truly. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Common Mistakes category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Wether, Weather, WhetherConnotations of 35 Words for Funny People40 Synonyms for Praise