Commonly Misspelled English Words Quiz

English spelling is famously unpredictable. Centuries of borrowing from Latin, French, Greek, Old Norse and Germanic roots have left the language with silent letters, double consonants, irregular vowel clusters and exceptions to almost every rule. Words like 'accommodate', 'occurrence' and 'embarrass' routinely trip up native speakers and learners alike, not because they follow unusual patterns, but because the patterns they do follow are inconsistent with dozens of look-alike words.

A handful of these spellings appear on nearly every 'most misspelled' list: 'definitely' (not 'definately'), 'separate' (not 'seperate'), 'privilege' (no 'd' in the middle) and 'weird' (a rare 'ei' after 'w'). Others such as 'supersede', 'liaison' and 'pharaoh' reveal their foreign origins. And some — 'rhythm', 'conscience', 'millennium' — are simply stubborn, resisting even spell-checkers when typed from memory. Knowing why they look the way they do, from Latin 'mille' (thousand) to Egyptian 'pharaoh', makes them far easier to remember.

Whether you're brushing up for an exam, sharpening your writing, or just curious how sharp your eye really is, these are the words worth mastering. Pick the correct spelling and find out how many you already know by heart.