We all make spelling mistakes from time to time — in fact, “misspelled” is itself often misspelled as “mispelled.” It’s easy to get many words wrong, particularly homophones. These are words that sound the same but have different spellings. For example, “there,” “their,” and “they’re” are all pronounced the same way but have different meanings and are often confused.

Then there are words that are spelled differently in different places. For example, people in England wear colourful socks, whereas Americans might prefer colorful. In fact, the “u” has been dropped from many American English words, so that we savor favors and flavors.  

Americans sometimes even misspell the names of states, especially some with a complicated history behind the name. You probably wouldn’t get New York wrong, but how about Connecticut or Massachusetts?

In the internet age, online dictionaries are just a click away and even if you’re pretty sure you know how to spell a word, you can double check in no time. Does accommodation have one “c” or two? One “m” or two? Does millennium have one “n” or two? And if you’re using a smartphone, autocorrect will do the job for you (although it doesn’t always correct to the right word).

And then there are words that are so rarely used they’d send anybody but a spelling bee champion to a dictionary. For example, one of the most common “how to spell” searches in several states is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, according to Google.

To compile a list of 50 of the most commonly misspelled words in English, 24/7 Tempo reviewed numerous online articles and resources, including dictionaries and Google Trends list of the top searches related to “how to spell.”

Click here to read about 50 commonly misspelled words in English.