Difficult words that ESL learners struggle to spell

Do you often misspell these English words? Then our useful spelling guide will be able to help you.

Difficult words that ESL learners struggle to spell

Whether you are learning English as a second language or you are a native English speaker, some words can stop you right in your tracks and cause great distress and confusion. Some English words are very hard to spell and even the most grammatically correct individuals can struggle with the strange spelling of difficult English words.

Thankfully, we have put together a list of commonly misspelt English words for all of our students who want to learn English, specifically those who wish to improve their English spelling.

Use this table to test your friends and family with their spelling, to improve your own spelling, or even as a spell check guide whilst you are studying at our Twin English Centres.

Correct spelling	Common misspelling	Spelling advice
Accommodation	Accomodation Acommodation	Remember there are two C’s and two M’s
Achieve	Acheive	Remember the I before E rule
Across	Accross	There’s only one C
Appearance	Appearence	Remember the word ends with ‘ANCE’ not ‘ENCE’
Argument	Arguement	Remember to drop the E
Beginning	Begining	There are two N’s before ING
Believe	Beleive	Similar with the word achieve, remember the I before E rule
Business	Buisness	Remember the I goes in between the S and the N
Calendar	Calender	Don’t forget that this word ends in ‘DAR’ instead of ‘DER’
Colleague	Collegue	Remember that it is ‘EA’ in the middle
Coming	Comming	There is only one M
Completely	Completly	This word ends with ‘ELY’
Definitely	Definately	Remember that it is ‘ITE’ not ‘ATE’
Disappear	Dissapear	There’s only one S and two P’s
Disappoint	Dissapoint	Similarly with disappear, there’s only one S and two P’s
Embarrass	Embarass	Remember there’s two R’s and two S’s
Environment	Enviroment	Don’t forget the silent N, in between the O and the M
Familiar	Familar	This word ends in ‘LIAR’
Finally	Finaly	Remember that this word has two L’s
Foreign	Foriegn	Forget the I before E rule here, because it is spelt with E before I
Forward	Foward	Remember that this word begins with ‘FOR’
Friend	Freind	Remember the I before E rule
Further	Futher	This word begins with ‘FUR’
Government	Goverment	Similar to Environment, don’t forget the silent N, in between the R and the M
Guard	Gaurd	Remember this word starts with ‘GUA’
Happened	Happend	This word ends with ‘ENED’
Immediately	Immediatly	Similar to completely, remember that this word ends in ‘ELY’
Independent	Independant	Don’t forget that this word ends in ‘DENT’ not ‘DANT’
Interrupt	Interupt	Remember that this word has two R’s
Irresistible	Irresistable	This word ends with ‘IBLE’ instead of ‘ABLE’
Knowledge	Knowlege	Don’t forget the D, in between E and G
Necessary	Neccessary	Remember that there is only one C and two S’s
Occasion	Occassion	Remember that there are two C’s and only one S
Piece	Peice	Remember the I before E rule
Politician	Politican	This word ends in ‘CIAN’
Preferred	Prefered	This word has two R’s
Really	Realy	This word has two L’s
Receive	Recieve	Remember the I before E rule
Remember	Rember Remeber	Don’t forget that this word has ‘MEM’ in the middle
Sense	Sence	This word ends in ‘SE’, not ‘CE’
Separate	Seperate	This word has ‘PAR’ in the middle of it, not ‘PER’
Successful	Succesful	Remember that this word has two C’s and two S’s
Surprise	Suprise	Don’t forget that there is an R, in between the U and the P
Therefore	Therefor	Remember to add an E on the end
Tomorrow	Tommorrow Tommorow	Remember that this word only has one M and two R’s
Tongue	Tounge	Break up the word to help you spell it correctly, remember ‘TON’ at the beginning and ‘GUE’ at the end
Unfortunately	Unfortunatly	Similar with completely, remember this word ends in ‘ELY’
Until	Untill	Remember there is only one L at the end of this word
Wherever	Whereever	Don’t forget to drop the E, there is only one E in the middle
Which	Wich	Don’t forget that this word starts with ‘WH’

To improve your English language skills, or to learn more about English spelling, book your English lessons now.

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