There's no use having long lists of misspelled words without a way to get people to spell them right! This is a collection of tricky words, and ways to spell them correctly, that I've picked up over the years.
- 2 couches, 2 mattresses in
accommodation
- Use the word raven: Remember, affect
verb, effect noun
Affect can be a noun, and effect a verb, but they are very rarely used that way. See affect vs. effect
- A rat in the
house may eat the
ice cream
- What did the lady say when she saw a ghost at the
cemetery? "e-e-e!"
- There are three pairs of people in a committee - mm, tt and ee
thanks Hapax for this one
- Think of the word finite
- Definitely also has two is in
it
- You can find sweet stuff in
desserts...
- but only sand in a desert
- u can be four or fourteen, u cannot
be forty yet
- I'll be your friend until the end!
- Many people died in Medieval times
Thanks Maylith for this
- Minuscule things are small. To make something smaller, use the
minus sign
- Just think of poor Miss Pell, don't misspell her
name
- Never eat cakes,
eat
sausage sandwiches, and
remain
young
- 1 coffee, 2 sugars
- 1 corset, 2 stockings
- Please take a piece of pie
thanks XWiz for this one
- Rhythm helps your
two hips move!
- There is a rat in separate
- Why eat? It's really delicious!
The methods listed here are all positive methods - they teach you how to spell words
right. Negative methods teach you how not to spell a word wrong. It's a bad idea to try to
learn both types at once, lest you get confused and learn the incorrect spellings by
mistake.
This far from a complete list; the mnemonics mentioned here are just ones that I've
been learning gradually. Many have different versions - necessary can have
crisps/chips instead of cakes, for example. If you know any that I have missed, please /msg.
Still stuck?
If you're trying to remember a spelling, and can't remember any of the methods listed
above, you could always...
- Try writing the word down. Sometimes you can tell if it 'feels' wrong.
- Try saying the word to yourself. "Mispell" sounds a bit like "My Spell", where
"Misspell" sounds like it is said.
- Knock off any endings. "Definately" gets shortened to "Definate", and that
doesn't look right...
- Knock off any beginnings. "Mispell" gets shortened to "Pell", and Miss Pell
won't be too happy with that.
- Use synonyms - if you know what a word means, try using a different one. "Housing" instead of "accommodation", "needed" instead of
"necessary", "spelt wrong" instead of "misspelt", for examples.