MEPX
Chapter 10 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 10 of 10

Getting better

Deliberate and small.

Keep a list

Note every word you get wrong and review it occasionally. Most people misspell the same twenty words for decades because they never wrote them down.

  • Learn the words you actually use, not competition word lists.
  • Reading widely fixes spelling passively, over years.

Why it still matters

Spelling is not a measure of intelligence and it is a signal readers use. In writing that matters, correctness removes a distraction that would otherwise compete with your point.