MEPX
Chapter 6 of 10All chapters
  1. 1Why English is like this
  2. 2Doubling consonants
  3. 3Adding endings
  4. 4The i before e rule
  5. 5Words people mix up
  6. 6The commonly misspelled
  7. 7Plurals and possessives
  8. 8British and American
  9. 9Spell checkers
  10. 10Getting better

Chapter 6 of 10

The commonly misspelled

A working list.

The usual suspects

Necessary, separate, definitely, accommodate, occurrence, embarrass, rhythm, conscience, maintenance, privilege, recommend, restaurant, liaison, questionnaire.

  • Necessary: one collar, two sleeves. One c, two s.
  • Separate contains a rat. Definitely contains finite.

Building memory hooks

A silly association fixes a spelling faster than repetition. The hook only has to work for you and never has to be defensible.