Commonly Misspelt Words Notes for Competitive Exams

Spelling questions appear regularly in SSC CGL, CHSL, MTS, CPO, bank clerk exams, CDS and many state-level exams. A typical question asks you to find the correctly spelt word or the misspelt word among four options. These questions look easy, but the options are designed to confuse you with one missing letter or a swapped vowel. Spelling also matters beyond objective exams: in UPSC Mains, Essay and any descriptive paper, frequent spelling mistakes create a poor impression on the examiner. The good news is that English spelling, though irregular, follows a few useful rules, and most exam questions come from a list of about 200 commonly confused words.

Quick Facts at a Glance

• Exam format: Choose the correctly spelt (or wrongly spelt) word from four options.
• Main trouble spots: Double letters, silent letters, ie/ei, -able/-ible, -ance/-ence and -ary/-ery endings.
• Best method: Learn rules plus a list of exceptions, then practise with timed sets.
• Indian exams generally follow British spelling (colour, centre, programme), though both forms may appear.

1. Important Spelling Rules

Rule 1: "i before e, except after c"

Use "ie" in most words (believe, achieve, field, piece), but "ei" after c (receive, ceiling, deceive, conceive). The rule also uses "ei" when the sound is "ay" (neighbour, weigh, vein).

Exceptions to remember: seize, weird, either, neither, leisure, foreign, height, protein, science, species.

Rule 2: Doubling the final consonant

For a word ending in a single vowel + single consonant, double the consonant before adding a suffix starting with a vowel, if the stress is on the last syllable.

• begin → beginning; occur → occurred, occurrence; refer → referred; admit → admitted.
• But: visit → visited; benefit → benefited (stress is not on the last syllable).
• In British English, words ending in -l usually double it: travel → travelled, cancel → cancelled.

Rule 3: Dropping the silent "e"

Drop the final silent e before a suffix beginning with a vowel: make → making, hope → hoping, write → writing, argue → arguing. Keep it before a consonant suffix: hope → hopeful, manage → management.

Exceptions: argument (not arguement), truly (not truely), ninth (not nineth), duly, awful. Keep e after c or g to preserve the soft sound: noticeable, manageable, courageous.

Rule 4: Changing "y" to "i"

For words ending in consonant + y, change y to i before most suffixes: happy → happiness, carry → carried, beauty → beautiful. Keep y before -ing: carry → carrying. If a vowel comes before y, keep it: play → played, enjoy → enjoyment.

Rule 5: -able vs -ible

Use -able mostly when the root is a complete word (accept → acceptable, depend → dependable, comfort → comfortable). Use -ible mostly when the root is not a complete word (visible, possible, terrible, edible, credible). This is a guideline, not a perfect rule, so memorise common words.

Rule 6: -ance/-ence and -ant/-ent

There is no simple rule, so learn by groups: -ance (appearance, assistance, attendance, maintenance, relevance), -ence (existence, independence, occurrence, persistence, reference, residence).

2. List of Commonly Misspelt Words

3. Words With Silent Letters

• Silent b: debt, doubt, subtle, plumber, tomb.
• Silent c: muscle, scissors, scene, fascinate.
• Silent g: foreign, sign, campaign, reign.
• Silent h: honest, hour, rhythm, rhetoric, exhaust.
• Silent k: knowledge, knife, knee, knot.
• Silent n: autumn, column, condemn, solemn.
• Silent p: psychology, pneumonia, receipt.
• Silent w: wrestle, answer, sword, wrist.

4. British vs American Spelling

Both forms are generally accepted, but exam options rarely mix them in a way that makes one "wrong". Indian official usage largely follows British spelling. Note that in British English, "practice" is a noun and "practise" is a verb; "licence" is a noun and "license" is a verb.

5. Commonly Confused Pairs

• Stationary (not moving) vs stationery (paper, pens).
• Principal (head; main) vs principle (rule, belief).
• Complement (completes) vs compliment (praise).
• Affect (verb: to influence) vs effect (noun: result).
• Loose (not tight) vs lose (to misplace).
• Dessert (sweet dish) vs desert (dry land; to abandon).

Tricks to Remember Spellings

• Accommodation has room for two c's and two m's.
• There is a rat in separate.
• Necessary: one collar, two sleeves (one c, two s).
• The principal is your pal.
• Stationery has e for envelope.
• Rhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move spells rhythm.

Practice Questions

1. Choose the correctly spelt word: (a) Occurence (b) Occurrence (c) Ocurrence (d) Occurrance. Answer: (b).
2. Choose the misspelt word: (a) Embarrass (b) Harass (c) Accommodate (d) Seperate. Answer: (d), correct is "separate".
3. Choose the correctly spelt word: (a) Liesure (b) Leisure (c) Leasure (d) Leisuer. Answer: (b).
4. Choose the correctly spelt word: (a) Entrepreneur (b) Enterpreneur (c) Entreprenuer (d) Entrepeneur. Answer: (a).

Why English Spelling Is Difficult

English spelling is irregular because the language borrowed words from Latin, Greek, French, German, Arabic, Hindi and many other languages, and often kept their original spellings. The pronunciation of English also changed over centuries while spellings stayed the same. That is why "knight" still has a silent k and gh, and why "colonel" sounds nothing like its spelling. Understanding this history helps you accept that spelling must partly be learnt by sight, not only by sound. The rules in this note cover a large share of exam words, and the rest is handled by regular reading and a personal list of difficult words.

Plural Forms That Are Often Misspelt

• Words ending in s, sh, ch, x or z add -es: bus → buses, box → boxes, church → churches.
• Words ending in consonant + o often add -es: potato → potatoes, hero → heroes, tomato → tomatoes; but photo → photos, piano → pianos.
• Words ending in f or fe often change to -ves: knife → knives, leaf → leaves; but roof → roofs, chief → chiefs.
• Some words keep Latin or Greek plurals: criterion → criteria, phenomenon → phenomena, datum → data, analysis → analyses, crisis → crises.
• Some words are the same in singular and plural: sheep, deer, series, species.

Spelling Words Often Used in UPSC Answers

UPSC aspirants regularly write certain words in General Studies and Essay answers. Misspelling them repeatedly can create a poor impression. Check that you can spell each of these correctly without hesitation: accountability, bureaucracy, constitutional, decentralisation, discrimination, entrepreneurship, environment, governance, infrastructure, jurisprudence, liaison, parliamentary, privilege, sovereignty, sustainable, transparency and vulnerable. Write each of them five times while revising, and include them in a short paragraph of your own. This simple exercise removes most spelling errors from Mains answers within a few weeks.

How to Prepare Spelling for Exams

• Week 1: Learn the six rules in this note with five examples each.
• Week 2: Learn the list of commonly misspelt words, 20 words a day, using memory tricks.
• Week 3: Solve previous year spelling questions from SSC and bank papers, and note every word you got wrong.
• Ongoing: Read one editorial daily and underline any word whose spelling surprises you. Add it to your personal list.

Spelling improves fastest through a mix of rules and reading. When you see a word correctly spelt many times, your eye starts to notice when it looks wrong, which is exactly the skill exam questions test.

Words With -ary and -ery Endings

Another frequent trap is the choice between -ary and -ery. Most adjectives and many nouns use -ary: necessary, ordinary, temporary, dictionary, library, secretary, voluntary. A smaller group uses -ery: cemetery, stationery, bakery, machinery, scenery, discovery. A helpful memory aid for "cemetery" is that it has three e's, just as people say "e-e-e" walking past it at night. For "stationery", remember "e for envelope", as given earlier.

Final tip: In the exam, if two options look equally correct, say each one slowly in your head syllable by syllable. Misspelt options usually drop or add one syllable sound, and slow reading makes the odd one stand out.

Related Notes

• Vocabulary Notes: Synonyms and Antonyms
• Subject-Verb Agreement and Error Spotting Notes
• Idioms and Phrases Notes
• All English Notes

Frequently Asked Questions

How are spelling questions asked in SSC exams?

Usually you must find the correctly spelt word or the misspelt word from four options.

What is the "i before e" rule?

Use "ie" in most words but "ei" after c, as in receive and ceiling. There are exceptions such as seize, weird and foreign.

Is it "accommodation" or "accomodation"?

The correct spelling is accommodation, with double c and double m.

Is it "separate" or "seperate"?

The correct spelling is separate.

When do we double the final consonant?

When a word ends in one vowel and one consonant with stress on the last syllable, double the consonant before a vowel suffix, as in begin to beginning.

What is the difference between stationary and stationery?

Stationary means not moving; stationery means writing materials like paper and pens.

Which spelling should I use in Indian exams, British or American?

British spelling is generally preferred in India, such as colour, centre and programme.

What is the difference between practice and practise?

In British English, practice is a noun and practise is a verb.

How can I improve my spelling quickly?

Learn the main rules, make memory tricks for difficult words and write tricky words a few times while revising.

Is "definitely" spelt with an "a"?

No. The correct spelling is definitely, from the word "finite".

What is the correct spelling: "millennium" or "millenium"?

Millennium, with double l and double n.

Why do spelling errors matter in UPSC Mains?

Frequent spelling errors make answers look careless and can affect the examiner's impression of your writing.