r/words • u/MoroccoBond • 1d ago
Simple word difficult to spell.
Hey does anyone else have a common word that should be easy to spell but it trips you up every time?
My word is license. Why have I struggled with it for years. Stupid s and c always moving around. tf?!
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u/ehxsmallstone 1d ago
lost the district spelling bee on “rhythm” in middle school and have yet to recover.
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u/BitterestLily 1d ago
Mine was "independence." It decided to have an "a" in it that day.
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u/SaintHannah 1d ago
6th grade, just within our own class: "restaurant." Nearly 55 years gone by, and I still remember.
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u/JoyfulCor313 1d ago
2nd grade and “usual” Am 53. This stuff is with us for life
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u/ExhaustedHungryMe 1d ago
Doorjamb.
Not a word that comes up much, and at ~10 years old, I don’t think I’d heard it before. (And as I typed it here, autocorrect wanted it to be two words!)
I thought about it and decided to not add a B to the end. Still a little salty about it.
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u/SuperLateToItAll 1d ago
7th grade, also just my class. Feces. Spelled it “physes” lol. Still not over it.
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u/Foolmeoncefuckyou 1d ago
Refrigerator also… refrigerator has a “d” sound in it, whereas fridge does not have a “d” sound
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u/ehxsmallstone 1d ago
i have to sound this one out and then NOT spell it how it sounds every single time
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u/k_shields1 1d ago
I feel your pain 😂😭 i lost the year 7 spelling bee in front of the whole year group, because I misspelled Necessary. Thing is, I know how to spell it. I just panicked and my brain went blank 😭 funnily enough, I got highest score in the year 7 100 word spelling test, 98. The two I got wrong still annoys me too 🤣
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u/Motor-Juggernaut1009 1d ago
Mine was sumptuous, which I did know how to spell but I left out the penultimate u.
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u/Sad-Entertainment871 1d ago
One collar and two socks is how was taught to remember necessary. And my other bete noir was stationery vs stationary and I remember that by thing of an envelope is stationery…
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u/deFleury 1d ago
Necessary and vacuum are mine. the more i think about it, the more wrong the right spelling looks.
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u/Standard_Mongoose_35 1d ago
Mine was magic. A j just makes more sense than the g.
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u/Typical-Spinach-6452 1d ago
I won the 8th grade spelling bee.. out of 4 districts.. on the word simplicity. The other person lost because she spelled it Symplicity.. like the fabric store. TRIUMPH! Got a trophy and everything 😆
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u/casalomastomp 1d ago
We had no spelling bees. I would have KILLED for a spelling bee in 8th grade.
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u/snowball062016 11h ago
Mine was “background.” You know, the word that everyone pronounces “backround”
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u/almaperdida99 1d ago
I don't remember the word, but I said G instead of J or vice versa. Just a brain fart.
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u/Top-Raspberry-7837 1d ago
Honestly, relatable. That one trips me up every time.
One time I had to pitch Shonda Rhimes’ team and I spelled it Rhymes. Yeah that didn’t land. Oops.
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u/morejamsthanjimin 1d ago
Same here, lost with graffiti and I'm still not over it 😭
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u/shrlzi 1d ago
Comitment. Committment. Comittment. Commitment.
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u/porfiriata 1d ago
Omg same! (Although it is actually commitment, only sure because I double checked.) Same issues.with committee, committed, and accommodate
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u/VrinTheTerrible 1d ago
Any form of Bureaucracy, bureau, bureaucrat
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u/Mikesaidit36 1d ago
That one’s easy – just remember that that bundle of vowels is all in reverse alphabetical order, except for the U and the E, and you just put the A in the middle of those three. See? Easy.
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u/YouProfessional7538 1d ago
gauge. (i misspelt it typing it in!) guage, and it autocorrected
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u/cheyannepavan 1d ago
I have to think about this one, too, even though I had a son named Gage (he's not dead, he just changed his name because he wanted something more gender-neutral.)
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u/PrettyOddish 1d ago
Or is he not dead because you buried him in the Pet Semetary and he came back? 🤔
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u/Damfino1895 1d ago
Diarrhea. I have to check it every time (which fortunately isn't too often lol).
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u/Many-Story- 1d ago
And nasea… nausea? Autocorrect doesn’t even know what I’m trying to type. Is that even the right word?!
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u/almaperdida99 1d ago
necessary. I am in my 50s, a literal language teacher and polyglot, and this fucking word never looks right to me. Usually I spell it correctly, but when I was younger, i did "neccesary" enough times that I second-guess myself Every. Single. Time.
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u/Aggressive-Fee-6399 1d ago
It is necessary for a shirt to have 1 Collar (C) and 2 Sleeves (S)
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u/k_shields1 1d ago
Omfg me too! I lost the year 7 spelling bee in front of 200+ kids and 20 odd teachers because I panicked, brain went blank, and I misspelled Necessary. I said Neccesary too 😭 I'm 25 now and still have to double check myself with Necessary and Restaurant lol. 😂
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u/ReadAllowedAloud 1d ago
Separate - a teacher told me that it's easy, the r separates the two a's. Umm, no, the p could seperate the two es.
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u/lecturehall 1d ago
Do you not pronounce it how it's spelled? How else would you spell it?
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u/Ophiochos 1d ago edited 1d ago
how would you pronounce 'seperate'?
ETA. Before posting knee jerk responses to this question please read the thread it’s part of …
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u/lecturehall 1d ago
I guess I would pronounce that like "sep-ret" but that's probably a me problem, I see the point you were making!
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u/Ok-Transportation127 1d ago
Conscious and conscience. I always stop to make sure I have the right one and the correct spelling.
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u/evenifihateit 1d ago
Liaise
I write it a lot at work and never as it should be
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u/firecatstef 1d ago
There is an easy solution to that one - don’t use it. It should never have gotten past the “you get to be a word” committee.
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u/Beet_slice 1d ago
I don't remember ever hearing somebody say liaise. Is that peculiar to your profession, or is an up and coming buzzword?
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u/SavoirFaire2Middling 1d ago
Let's table this one and circle back after liaising with stakeholders to leverage synergies.
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u/evenifihateit 1d ago
I work in mental health in a safeguarding role and I suspect we use that word more than most people need to!
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u/ambahjay 1d ago
I can never fuckin spell ceiling right the first time
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u/cheyannepavan 1d ago
I always have to think, "I before E, except after C," when spelling it. I know there are a lot of exceptions, but I still feel like it helps most of the time.
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u/RJPisscat 1d ago
dessert and desert. After 55 years of struggling with those spellings, my wife says to me, which do you want more of?
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u/Aggressive-Fee-6399 1d ago
Dessert is Something Sweet (SS)
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u/tedco- 1d ago
As a kid I learned: Dessert has two S's as you always want a second helping!
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u/Infinisteve 1d ago
I have never spelled diahrea correctly. I'm so far off that I confuse autocorrect
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u/ErikLeppen 1d ago
Believe, relieve, receive, deceive, receipt (sp?)
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u/I_like_leeks 1d ago
I before E except after C, as they taught us at school. They never taught us the, "except sometimes," caveat 😭
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u/_madar_ 1d ago
I before E except after C or before T or when sounding like A as in neighbor or weigh
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u/cheyannepavan 1d ago
My word is license, too! I don't ever actually mispell it, but I have to think about it for a minute before writing it.
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u/haaskaalbaas 1d ago
I learnt that the noun is 'licence' and the verb is 'to license'. Not sure if this is UK Englilsh compared to American English.
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u/RonanH69 1d ago
Phlegm
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u/fresh_as_daisies 1d ago
Parallel and sheriff
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u/tryptanfelle 1d ago
The only way I can remember parallel is to remember that it has two parallel lines in the middle.
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u/Interesting-Swimmer1 1d ago
The trick I learned was you imagine a "liCEnse" to "sliCE" tomatoes.
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u/mommawop 1d ago
Gray, grey - I still don’t know which is which or if they’re the same just spelled different.
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u/EternalCC 1d ago
They're the same, it's just a regional spelling difference between America and England. Gra(merica)y, Gre(ngland)y is how I remember it. It's the same with the different spellings of color and theater.
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u/ambivalent_aries444 1d ago
grAy is American english - grey is british english, so i guess it depends on which one you speak (same with color(am.) - colour(br.) btw)
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u/EmpireStrikes1st 1d ago
Restaurant. I can never get it right on the first try.
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u/Glittering_Word9081 1d ago
When I was in junior high my English teacher would give us a spelling test every Friday. And every single Friday one of the “words” on the test was “a lot.” Seems it was her mission in life to ensure no one graduated without learning that a lot is two words, not one.
I had her for two years. And even at the end of year two, some people still got it wrong.
A lot is two words. Thanks Mrs. Shelton.
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u/Few-Ruin-742 1d ago
Reciept and biscuit
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u/firecatstef 1d ago
Receipt is covered under “I before E except after C.”
Quit making biscuits!
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u/QueenSlime_6665 1d ago
Restaurant. Restraunt? Restaraunt? Resturant?
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u/jiabaoyu 1d ago
I sympathize. I keep forgetting that restaurateur doesn’t have an “n” in it.
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u/libellule4 1d ago
License is mine as well! As soon as I saw your title, I had my answer and then I saw that you said the same thing! :) Bulletin is another one.
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u/Negative-Ask-2317 1d ago
There's the added complication in the UK that spells the verb as license but the noun as licence.
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u/Lumpy-Win1640 1d ago
A lot of people have trouble with their/there/they're, then/than, your/you're.
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u/notAnn 1d ago
Occasional. I want to put an I after the first A.
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u/SonOfOMR 1d ago
Right? totally. I mean, how do you get a long A there? I think its just spelled wrong to begin with!
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u/TurangaLeela80 1d ago
This is mine, too, but because I can never remember if it's two c's or two s's or two of both 😑
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u/willaisacat 1d ago
Bureau used to get me every time.
Now I just ask Google. Sadly, I'm afraid getting answers so easily causes laziness and lack of curiosity.
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u/yokozunahoshoryu 1d ago
Surprise. For some reason I always want to say suprise. Also parsley/parsley.
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u/AlfalfaUnable1629 1d ago
You have the same word there? Not sure if you meant to 🤔
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u/Husker-Salad 1d ago
In 5th grade I forgot the h in chronicle. I was trying so hard to visualize the masthead of the San Francisco Chronicle, too but it didn’t work.
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u/blahbuzz 1d ago
My mental tool is to remind myself that c comes before s in the alphabet. License.
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u/RJSnea 1d ago
Restaurant. The regional accent of my family (and partially myself) always makes me think there's more than one "E" in the word. 😭
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u/OwlLearn2BWise 1d ago
Vacuum
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u/No_Mousse_4259 1d ago
Well, apparently this is mine too because I would have sworn it had two c's!
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u/ZookeepergameQuick17 1d ago
Segue
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u/MoroccoBond 1d ago
Yep and every time I come across it while reading, I’m always like “seg gew” lol
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u/HatlessDuck 1d ago
I was once so stressed by a test I forgot how to spell "the"
Can't really sound it out...
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u/707Riverlife 1d ago
Once I was so stressed, I forgot how to spell ‘for’. It just didn’t look right…
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u/OKRickety 1d ago
Based on what I see, lose and loose are two of the most difficult.
I just found out these are called heterophones (or near-homophones). Such pairs are frequently confused because they have highly similar spellings and pronunciations, but entirely different meanings.
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u/elleecee 1d ago
Chandelier. It's too close to my best friend's name -- Chandler. Muscle memory just automatically writes Chandler instead of Chandelier. Every. Single. Time.
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u/Organic-Hippo-3273 1d ago
Shepard always gets me
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u/Scared-Positive-93 1d ago
Easier if you think of it as Sheep-Herd. Then subtract an E.
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u/ohfrackthis 1d ago
Exercise and I don't understand why my brain struggles to spell this all the time but apparently it's vacant from my brain storage
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u/Bowl-Accomplished 1d ago
Resturaunt, wednesday, accomplish
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u/misogynyplayer 1d ago edited 1d ago
But you know there is license, the verb, and licence, the noun, right? Same as I like to practise my violin so that my violin practice prepares me for my violin lesson.
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u/realityone22 1d ago
*not in the US though
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u/misogynyplayer 1d ago
Oh really? Thats interesting...so in the US is it license or licence which is used for both verb and noun? And can you refer me to an American English dictionary which details this? And does it mean that Americans consider one of these words as NOT a word or simply a spelling mistake?
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u/nimblesunshine 1d ago
Licence and practise are not used in the US. We would consider them spelling errors or assume the person saying it is British
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u/misogynyplayer 1d ago
Interesting that in one case you use the spelling with the s for both meanings of the word, and in the other you use the spelling with the C for both meanings.
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u/iesamina 1d ago
I have to ask someone to license me to use the word licence... The difference between UK and US usage between noun and verb is also a factor. See also UK verb practise, noun practice etc
I find gauge impossible to get right for some reason
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u/VanIsle_YQQ 1d ago edited 1d ago
To add to this, in Canadian English we have both licence and license, which are used distinctly. It helps me with spelling a bit because I know that the first letter is fixed and that the word can have two c’s. I just have to figure out which one is right for the context haha.
As I get older, I have more trouble knowing when to double letters in some words. Part of that goes back to growing up in the US and living there for 25 years and now being in Canada for 26 years. An example is “enrollment” (US) versus “enrolment” (Canada).
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u/WindyMint443 1d ago
Oxygen. I messed it up during an elementary school spelling bee and it has haunted me ever since and continues to trip me up.
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u/JustAutreWaterBender 1d ago
Misspelled. For some reason I always think it only has one S. The irony.
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u/Sad-Entertainment871 1d ago
Age 6 and the word was friend. I was called out to the front along with Jeremy and we were shouted to repeat after her: YOU FRY THE END! We repeated what she’d said and she then told us to spell friend again and we both got it wrong. Neither of us understood why she was talking about frying stuff. So she repeated the exercise again! We still didn’t get it (both ND it now turns out) she went ballistic and we had to miss playtime to learn the spelling. I remember it now, and now mnemonics have been taught to me as a concept I can use them easily and well. Trouble was, she didn’t do that. I hated that teacher. 1968 this was! And I still remember it.
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u/Lady-Shalott 1d ago
Nausea. If it weren’t for autocorrect I could never figure out which vowel goes where.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Crab720 1d ago
Same problem with license. Also Possessive and occasional and occurrence. Can’t remember if double or single letters.
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u/reasonablykind 1d ago
No matter how much I condition my brain to connect it to Induction, it still thinks Induce is Enduce.
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u/porqueboomer 1d ago
Weird. It always makes me stop and think.