Language Arts Do you worry about misspelling words? Some words are more commonly misspelled than others. This article has the most common misspellings and tips and tricks on how to remember the correct spelling of words that often trip people up.

The list of the most common misspellings is, of course, dependent both on age and on field of work. The words that give the most difficulty will be different for doctors than for orchestral conductors; different for high school students than for college students, because the words they need to write are strikingly different. And the list would be noticeably different for children in elementary or middle school.

So here is a list based on a number of other lists that focus on words that anyone from high school up and whatever their field of expertise might have difficulty with. After each word is at least one question that someone spelling the word might have, along with an answer.

• accidentally Do I just add -ly  to accident? No - accidental is a word, and you're adding -ly to that.
• accommodate  How many c's and m's? The same number of each: 2.
• acknowledgment Keep the e from acknowledge while adding the ending?  No: leave the e to the English - we in the US drop it.
• argument Keep the e from argue while adding the ending?  No: again, leave the e to the English - we in the US drop it.
• broccoli How many c's? Broccoli has lots of Vitamin C-give it two c's.
• changeable Keep the e from change? Yes-this word is a “change” from the usual rule.
• commitment How many m's? Commitment lasts for a long time: stretch out the word with two m's.
• consensus Conc or Cons? This is a meeting of the minds, so think sense, rather than census.
• deductible -ible or -able? When you deduct, you end up with less - choose the thin, squished letter that takes up less space: i.
• dependent Final vowel is e or a? This word is completely dependent on the letter e: e's throughout.
• embarrass How many r's and s's? Same number: 2.
• exceed End with ede or eed? Stop the e's from being excessive: use the d to contain them.
• existence End with -ence or -ance? To extend your existence, you don't need any vowels you don't already have in exist: stick to e's
• harass How many r's and s's? One of the first and two of the second.
• indispensable End with -able or -ible? Remember that having another vowel in the word-an a-is indispensable.
• judgment  Keep the e from judge? No: leave the e to the English - we in the US drop it.
• liaison What vowel combination before the s? Think of the a as providing liaison between the two i's.
• license The letter c or s, and in which position? Both, in alphabetical order: c first.
• millennium How many l's and n's? The current millennium begins with a 2, and that's how many l's and n's there are.
• occasion How many c's and s's? When there's an occasion, everyone wants to see, so put in two c's. But since it is a singular affair, only include one s.
• occurrence How many c's and r's in a row? It's a very special occurrence, so pile on 2 of both.
• publicly Ending includes an a? There's no word publical, so just add -ly to public.
• rhythm How many h's and where? Create a rhythm pattern by placing an h after the first letter and immediately before the last letter.
• separate Include a's or e's and where? Separate the e's with two a's in between.
• vacuum How many c's and u's? The shape of the u would hold the dust the vacuum picks up, so put in two of those. It could well fall out of the c, so only put in one.
• withhold How many h's? Double your holding power with two h's.
• zucchini How many c's and n's? There's vitamins in this vegetable so double the c's because there's a vitamin called C, but not the n's, because there's not vitamin N.

For more misspelling issues, see the articles on easily confused word pairs and groups.