Do You Need Help with Spelling?

It is hard to master English spelling but you can at least improve your skills on it. After all, a good writing requires not only proper grammar but also correct spelling. Even native speakers struggle at spelling, so do not despair or feel less about your own self. The following are spelling facts, including longest words correctly spelled and shortest words incorrectly spelled. This can be good help with spelling if you use this info correctly. Later, you will also learn how to improve your English spelling.

10 Longest Words Correctly Spelled

Sesquicentennial
Sphygmomanometer
Tintinnabulation
Michelangelesque
Ornithorhynchous
Austoschediastic
Heterotrichosis
Flibbertigibbet
Nephrolithiasis
Bibliothecarial

10 Shortest Words Spelled Incorrectly

Rya
Vair
Maar
Feis
Yeti
Lieu
Serf
Roux
Jehu
Woad

Percentage When the Letter Was Substituted Incorrectly with Another Letter:

J, 8.8%
Q, 7.1%
Y, 6.5%
X, 6.3%
K, 5.5%
O, 4.9%
I, 4.6%
Z, 4.5%
E, 4.2%
A, 3.8%
W, 3.0%
C, 2.5%
U, 2.1%
F, 2.0%
S, 1.7%
D, 1.3%

Most Common Mistakes

to A, 70%
E to A, 61.25%
I to E, 49.4%
A to E, 45%
E, 44.4%

Tips for Help with Spelling

Memorize at least 10 words daily

Improve on your vocabulary skills, which also develop spelling skills. Every day, you can at least try familiarizing yourself with 10 new words. While it may seem hard at first, developing your spelling skills takes practice and one of the ways to do it is to memorize some words every day.

Use a good dictionary

You can learn about how the words are pronounce, which can give you an idea on how a particular word is spelled. By using a dictionary, you can also get yourself familiar with near-homophones, homophones and confused words.

What happens is that some words almost have the same pronunciation, but different spellings. So if you were going to use homophones, for instance, in a sentence, it would be wise to determine if such a word gives justice to the contextual meaning of your sentence.

Learn how to check the errors when you are proofreading by first learning what the words mean when used in the sentence. A good dictionary will help.

Commonly Confused Words:

Accept/except
Adverse/averse
Palette/palate
Precede/proceed
Elicit/illicit
Broach/brooch
Principle/principal
Right/write/rite
Isle/aisle
Cite/site/sight
Tortuous/torturous
Waver/waiver
Lose/loose
Desert/dessert
Your/you’re

Avoid Over Relying on Spell Checkers

While a spelling checker can spot most common spelling mistakes, they might fail at checking for homophones when used in the sentence. To avoid the problem, proofread manually after using the tool for the best results.