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 9 points 2 months 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 2 months ago

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

[–] cRazi_man@europe.pub 1 points 2 months ago

So few comments.... Yet mine is already taken. I get this wrong constantly too.

[–] Asafum@feddit.nl 8 points 2 months 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 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] Asafum@feddit.nl 8 points 2 months ago (2 children)

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

[–] i_dont_want_to@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 months ago

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

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago

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

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

Viscous vs vicious.

It’s a viscous cycle.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] Drusas@fedia.io 1 points 2 months ago

I used to do this with nauseous versus noxious.

[–] sanguinepar@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Sounds like a sticky situation.

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

Or slippery situation, depends on how viscous.

[–] southernbrewer@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

Diahhrheoea

Or whatever it is.

[–] rowinxavier@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months 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.

[–] Cuberoot@lemmynsfw.com 4 points 2 months ago

Pronounce and pronunciation seem like they should have the same root, but one of them has an extra 'o' for some perfectly logical reason. I know the difference and don't consistently misspell it, but if I edit a sentence to switch from one to the other without noticing that it's a danger inflection ...

Also maintain vs. maintenance for the same reason.

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months 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 3 points 2 months 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.

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

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Nice try, FBI stylometric profiler.

[–] greenbelt@lemy.lol 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

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

[–] paulzy@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months 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
[–] oyo@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 months ago

So you're just a time traveler from the 1200s. NBD.

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

[–] chunes@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months 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 2 months 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.

[–] Canopyflyer@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months 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 2 months ago

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

[–] Nusm@peachpie.theatl.social 2 points 2 months 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!)

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

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

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago

"effect/affect"

There are three meanings to each. Good luck.

[–] Goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 months 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 2 months ago

Literally and whether.

[–] Inkstainthebat@pawb.social 2 points 2 months 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 months ago

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

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

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

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

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[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months 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 🤷‍♂️

[–] Perspectivist@feddit.uk 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

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

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[–] starlinguk@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months 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.

[–] JTskulk@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months 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

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

english instructors, were so anal with the words "act and acts" in writing a paper. or cellular and celluar.

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