this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2025
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For me common spelling mistakes include confusing some of these word pairs.

  • loose vs. lose
  • then vs. than
  • were vs. where
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[–] MightyLordJason@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I always ALWAYS have to check separate / separation / separator. I want to put a third e in there so much.

[–] greenbelt@lemy.lol 2 points 3 weeks ago

uhm ... separate is an adjective and separation is a noun I guess?

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[–] Asafum@feddit.nl 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

For some reason unfortunately gave me trouble until I broke it down and remembered to have tuna in there lol

So I just think: unfor tuna tely

[–] greenbelt@lemy.lol 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] Asafum@feddit.nl 8 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I will cry if this becomes the evolution of emoji usage lol

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 weeks ago

We have kids saying U R . Emoji taking the place of words is just natural devolution.

Think of all of the interesting things you can do with regional dialects!

[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 7 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Viscous vs vicious.

It’s a viscous cycle.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] sanguinepar@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Sounds like a sticky situation.

[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Or slippery situation, depends on how viscous.

[–] rowinxavier@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Australian English is based off British English but is not identical. Both are different to US English and have a lot of words that are spelled with a bit more historical contingency. That said, knowing which words have which version of suffix can be difficult.

For example, authorise or authorize. Practice or practise. Gaol or jail. English is a pain but it does make a good common language.

[–] southernbrewer@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

Diahhrheoea

Or whatever it is.

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Nice try, FBI stylometric profiler.

[–] greenbelt@lemy.lol 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

you got me. But fuck I revealed my own spelling mistakes. Find me!

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It's only very recently that I learned I've been using the wrong then/than and effect/affect most of the time.

[–] Asafum@feddit.nl 2 points 3 weeks ago

What kinda helped me was thinking of then as relative to time and than was associated with math so it helped recognize how it related to concepts differently lol

Effect I just think of "special effects" and so I know the other is the one related to an impact.

[–] Goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

In english a lot. Not just because i am dislexic, but also french stemming words are a nightmare

"Litterly" is one i have still no idea how to spell. Or wether, not meaning the weather as in sun and run but the one for implying choice

[–] Trevita17@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Literally and whether.

[–] paulzy@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

More a typo than a spelling mistake but if a word ends in ‘th’, my brain cannot stop adding an ‘e’.

  • withe
  • bothe
  • mythe
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[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Licence / license, and practice / practise. I have to look them up every single time because I forget which of each is the noun and which is the verb, and even then, there are situations where using the noun as a verb might actually be the right thing to do and I hate the whole thing. So I probably still get those wrong whenever I use them.

Barring brain farts (increasingly common) and muscle memory leading me astray on the keyboard, my spelling is otherwise fairly good, but those pairings I could do without.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 1 points 3 weeks ago

Regarding license and licence, in American English it's just always license. So when in doubt pick that and claim to be an expat lol.

[–] Contramuffin@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

The former is British, the latter is American. Noah Webster eliminated letter doubles in words where he thought the extra one didn't add anything useful. Another word that did the same thing is "level(l)ing".

[–] Contramuffin@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

Interesting, so I could make the argument that I was right all along

[–] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 3 weeks ago

Can't recall them, but there are some words in which I keep typing double letters even though they aren't supposed to be there.

[–] chunes@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)
  • centennial, millennial, embarrassed, etc. (Where are the double-letters and where are they not? Who fucking knows.)
  • backward(s), forward(s), leftward(s), etc. (Do words like this have an S or not? Who fucking knows.)
  • reconnaissance (Just fuck this word.)
[–] kbal@fedia.io 2 points 3 weeks ago

I habitually throw random spelling and grammatical mistakes into my posts and comments all the time, to make it less likely that anyone can fingerprint my writing style and thereby dox me. That is the only reason for any such errors.

[–] grasshopper_mouse@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I fuck up "insure/ensure" and "effect/affect" a lot.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 weeks ago

"effect/affect"

There are three meanings to each. Good luck.

[–] Canopyflyer@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

ageing vs aging

The former is the way I learned it in school way back in the 70's... Apparently that is the way the British spell it and it sends US citizens into an aneurysm.

One that bothers me the most when people do it is brake vs break. Your car will break if you do not apply the brake in a timely fashion.

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 2 points 3 weeks ago

I'm an American and the former looks much more natural.

[–] Nusm@peachpie.theatl.social 2 points 3 weeks ago

I can never figure out where that pesky u goes in restaurant. (Thank goodness for autocorrect, or I couldn’t have spelled it for this post!)

[–] Inkstainthebat@pawb.social 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

embarrassed to admit I mix up which and witch, and have misspelled both as wich on occasion

[–] greenbelt@lemy.lol 2 points 2 weeks ago

Nothing to be embarrassed about. I can assure you I am worse at spelling.

Their vs there vs they're.

I know the difference but my fingers clearly do not.

[–] Perspectivist@feddit.uk 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I say wether, not whether, and anyways, not anyway. I also never remember how to write thorought.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 weeks ago

Thorought I think would be pronounced thor-uft.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 1 points 3 weeks ago

One thing I'm realizing more and more as I type in a game in PC is that I'm only good at spelling the first half of words. I've gotten used to auto correct on phones and spell check in other programs. My errors are typically on the end.

Necessary and apparently are two common words I get wrong fairly often.

[–] JTskulk@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

"effecient" instead of "efficient". The funny thing is as I get older I find myself typing homonyms of words instead of the word I meant. My fingers are barely listening to my brain lol

[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)
[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This one's easy, remember reecee, so it's rEcEive.

[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I just try to keep the mnemonic "I before E except after C" ^[1]^ in my brain.

References

  1. Type: Definition (Webpage). Title: "receive". Publisher: "Merriam-Webster". Accessed: 2025-09-19T07:04Z. URI: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/receive.
[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Don't follow those stupid rules, there are so many exceptions not even sure how that shit got coined. Welcome to English

[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Do you mind referencing some of the exceptions that you have in mind to the aforementioned rule?

[–] starlinguk@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

I used to have trouble with necessary. I have pages of notes with neccesary/neseccary/necesary/necessary scribbled in the margins to see which one looked right.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Somehow I am constantly mistyping "because" as "becsause." I know damn well I am hitting the a before the s but I type really fast (average 120wpm) and on a touchscreen it might be laggy 🤷‍♂️

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