“Misspelled” Words Spellcheck Doesn’t Flag

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Whatever word-processing software you use, it probably has a spelling checker. Spellcheck can be an incredibly useful tool for keeping your writing as error free as possible, but as you have probably already discovered, it’s not infallible.

Generally, your word processor won’t pick up on misspellings if the misspelled word is itself an actual word.

Many editors compile a list of common misspellings to check for, and some eventually create an exclusion dictionary within the software. I recently reached out to my fellow editors online for some of the most common “misspellings” they see in their work to add to my list, and I thought I’d share their generous contributions here.

​I’ve broken the list down into three basic categories: words misspelled due to a slip of the fingers on the keyboard, words people often confuse because they sound alike, and a special section to watch out for because confusing those words usually leads to an extra dose of embarrassment.
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Slips of the Fingers

• Affect / Effect
• Angel / Angle
• Apart / A Part
• Bear / Bare
• Cannon / Canon
• Causal / Casual
• Compiled / Complied
• Compliment / Complement
• Confidently / Confidentially
• Consumer / Customer / Costumer
• County / Country
• Ethic / Ethnic
• Field / Filed
• First / Fist
• Forego / Forgo
• From / Form
• Health / Heath
• Horse / Hoarse
• Hyper- / Hypo-
• Imminent / Immanent / Eminent
• Inter- / Intra-
• Its / It’s
• Lead / Led
• Leaning / Learning
• Lightning / Lightening
• Lose / Loose
• Manager / Manger
• Mantle / Mantel
• Marital / Martial
• Medication / Meditation / mediation
• Message / Massage
• Minister / Minster
• Now / Not
• Pants / Plants

• Paris / Pairs
• Peek / Peak / Pique
• Peel / Peal
• Policies / Polices
• Precious / Previous
• Primary / Primacy / Privacy
• Primate / Private
• Principal / Principle
• Puss / Pus / Plus
• Quiet / Quite
• Soldier / Solder / Solider
• Stationary / Stationery
• Statue / Statute / Stature
• Stimulate / Simulate
• Stonewall / Stone Wall
• Stroke / Stoke
• Then / Than
• There / Their / They’re
• Through / Thorough / Though / Thought / Trough
• Tilted / Titled
• Trail / Trial
• Two / To / Too
• Underserved / Undeserved
• Use / Sue
• Vale / Value
• Vicious / Viscous
• Were / We’re
• Which / Witch
• Wide / Wild / Wield / Wile / While
• Widely / Wildly
• Wonder / Wander
• You / Your / You’re

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User Confusion

• Balm / Bomb
• Console / Consul
• Discrete / Discreet
• Elicit / Illicit
• For Sale / For Sell
• Forward / Foreword
• Hoard / Horde
• Insure / Ensure
• Mean / Mien
• Meddle / Mettle
• Peddle / Pedal / Petal

• Per Se / Per Say
• Polo / Polar (Bear)
• Pour / Pore
• Reign / Rein / Rain
• Stock / Stalk
• Stradivarius / Stratovarius (Or any proper noun, really.)
• Tack / Tact
• Tenant / Tenet
• Utter / Udder
• Wrapped / Rapt​

Truly Funny (i.e., Embarrassing) Errors

• Assess / Asses
• Click / Clit
• Deified / Defied / Defiled
• Importance / Impotence
• Insect / Incest

• Public / Pubic
• Unparalleled / Unapparelled
• Whole / Whore
• Pen Is / Penis

​If you would like to download and print the list for your own uses, you can get the PDF here.

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Rebecca Miller is a professional copyeditor and general fan of all things having to do with the written word and the English language.
You can check out her website at Oakdale Editing or connect through Facebook, LinkedIn, or Email.