Last week, I discussed how using a wrong word could make readers cringe. Read that post <a href="http://wp.me/p6raJB-1zU">here</a>. Today we’re looking at the problem of misspelled words.

<a href="http://judythewriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/misspelled2.jpg"><img class="alignleft wp-image-6106 size-medium" src="http://judythewriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/misspelled2-300x225.jpg" alt="misspelled2" width="300" height="225" /></a>Word processors, phones, and pads/tablets have speller checker apps and most word processors offer an auto correct feature to assist. Still, misspellings slip into our writing and Social Media posts. When that happens our readers can think we aren’t trying to write well or do sloppy editing.

Truth is, most of us struggle with all the confusing words in the English language that are exceptions to spelling rules. Spelling bee champions seemed to be the only ones who can whiz through words most of us couldn’t even look up in the dictionary.

Check out this sentence and see how many words you can find misspelled. (HINT: There are a lot.) Ignore the fact the sentence does not make sense. We’re looking for spelling/misuse errors.
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>You’re acknowlegment of my atempt to accomodate enough wierd camoflage equiptment just shows a concensus would only inadvertantly embarass any seperate liason by the comittee in trying to guage an miniscule withdrawl. </em></p>
Did you find fourteen spelling mistakes? What about the grammatical errors? There are some tricky English words whose spelling you just have to learn.

Here’s a list of twenty-four most commonly misspelled words that make me crazy. Should you want to see longer lists of the most commonly misspelled words in English, check <a href="http://bit.ly/1L7UznK">here</a> or <a href="http://bit.ly/1je34Xz">here</a><strong>.</strong>
<ol>
	<li>accommodate                                                             13. consensus</li>
	<li>acknowledgement                                                      14. argument</li>
	<li>commitment                                                                15. deductible</li>
	<li>dependent                                                                    16. embarrass</li>
	<li>harass                                                                           17. liaison</li>
	<li>separate                                                                       18. withdrawal</li>
	<li>equipment                                                                   19. gauge</li>
	<li>lightning                                                                       20. minuscule</li>
	<li>achieve                                                                         21. committee</li>
	<li>definitely                                                                     22. surprise</li>
	<li>weird                                                                           23. camouflage</li>
	<li>existence                                                                    24. privilege</li>
</ol>
Most spell checkers should catch most of these for you. Maybe not.

Consider the possessive adjective<em> Its</em> vs the contraction <em>it’s</em>.  Too often my Word spell checker advises me to write “<em>it’s</em>” when the context calls for <em>its</em>.

You shouldn't rely on your grammar/spell checkers to catch this one. I highly recommend mastering correct spellings of troublesome words yourself just to be sure.

Is there a word you would add to my list?