Here is a quick-reference guide to the top misspellings according to the Oxford English Corpus. The table gives the correct spelling of the word, handy tips on getting it right, and also the most common misspellings in IELTS that we have found in our research, so you can check to see if any of the same mistakes have been tripping you up.
| Correct spelling | Spelling advice | Common misspelling |
|---|---|---|
| accommodate, accommodation | two cs, two ms | accomodate, accomodation |
| achieve | i before e | acheive |
| across | one c | accross |
| aggressive, aggression | two gs | agressive, agression |
| apparently | -ent not -ant | apparantly |
| appearance | ends with -ance | appearence |
| argument | no e after the u | arguement |
| assassination | two double s’s | assasination |
| basically | ends with -ally | basicly |
| beginning | double n before the -ing | begining |
| believe | i before e | beleive, belive |
| bizarre | one z, double -r | bizzare |
| business | begins with busi- | buisness |
| calendar | -ar not -er | calender |
| Caribbean | one r, two bs | Carribean |
| cemetery | ends with -ery | cemetary |
| chauffeur | ends with -eur | chauffer |
| colleague | -ea- in the middle | collegue |
| coming | one m | comming |
| committee | double m, double t, double e | commitee |
| completely | ends with -ely | completly |
| conscious | -sc- in the middle | concious |
| curiosity | -os- in the middle | curiousity |
| definitely | -ite- not –ate- | definately |
| dilemma | -mm- not -mn- | dilemna |
| disappear | one s, two ps | dissapear |
| disappoint | one s, two ps | dissapoint |
| ecstasy | ends with –sy | ecstacy |
| embarrass | two rs, two s’s | embarass |
| environment | n before the m | enviroment |
| existence | ends with -ence | existance |
| Fahrenheit | begins with Fahr- | Farenheit |
| familiar | ends with -iar | familar |
| finally | two ls | finaly |
| fluorescent | begins with fluor- | florescent |
| foreign | e before i | foriegn |
| foreseeable | begins with fore- | forseeable |
| forty | begins with for- | fourty |
| forward | begins with for- | foward |
| friend | i before e | freind |
| further | begins with fur- | futher |
| gist | begins with g- | jist |
| glamorous | -mor- in the middle | glamourous |
| government | n before the m | goverment |
| guard | begins with gua- | gaurd |
| happened | ends with -ened | happend |
| harass, harassment | one r, two s’s | harrass, harrassment |
| honorary | -nor- in the middle | honourary |
| humorous | -mor- in the middle | humourous |
| idiosyncrasy | ends with -asy | idiosyncracy |
| immediately | ends with -ely | immediatly |
| incidentally | ends with -ally | incidently |
| independent | ends with -ent | independant |
| interrupt | two rs | interupt |
| irresistible | ends with -ible | irresistable |
| knowledge | remember the d | knowlege |
| liaise, liaison | remember the second i: liais- | liase, liason |
| lollipop | i in the middle | lollypop |
| millennium, millennia | double l, double n | millenium, millenia |
| Neanderthal | ends with -thal | Neandertal |
| necessary | one c, two s’s | neccessary |
| noticeable | remember the middle e | noticable |
| occasion | two cs, one s | ocassion, occassion |
| occurred, occurring | two cs, two rs | occured, occuring |
| occurrence | two cs, two rs, -ence not -ance | occurance, occurence |
| pavilion | one l | pavillion |
| persistent | ends with -ent | persistant |
| pharaoh | ends with -aoh | pharoah |
| piece | i before e | peice |
| politician | ends with -cian | politican |
| Portuguese | ends with –guese | Portugese |
| possession | two s’s in the middle and two at the end | posession |
| preferred, preferring | two rs | prefered, prefering |
| propaganda | begins with propa- | propoganda |
| publicly | ends with –cly | publically |
| really | two ls | realy |
| receive | e before i | recieve |
| referred, referring | two rs | refered, refering |
| religious | ends with -gious | religous |
| remember | -mem- in the middle | rember, remeber |
| resistance | ends with -ance | resistence |
| sense | ends with -se | sence |
| separate | -par- in the middle | seperate |
| siege | i before e | seige |
| successful | two cs, two s’s | succesful |
| supersede | ends with -sede | supercede |
| surprise | begins with sur- | suprise |
| tattoo | two ts, two os | tatoo |
| tendency | ends with -ency | tendancy |
| therefore | ends with -fore | therefor |
| threshold | one h in the middle | threshhold |
| tomorrow | one m, two rs | tommorow, tommorrow |
| tongue | begins with ton-, ends with -gue | tounge |
| truly | no e | truely |
| unforeseen | remember the e after the r | unforseen |
| unfortunately | ends with -ely | unfortunatly |
| until | one l at the end | untill |
| weird | e before i | wierd |
| wherever | one e in the middle | whereever |
| which | begins with wh- | wich |
Related IELTS Resources
Take a practice test to find out what is your current weakness in terms of IELTS scale and allow more time to improve your weak spots. The following IELTS resources will help you to develop your skills faster:
