The 25 Most Commonly Misspelled Words

The 25 Most Commonly Misspelled Words is a list that has circulated among American businesses for decades. Two words have variant spellings for companies using British English spelling. Those two words are repeated at the end of the list of 25 words asking for the British spellings.

Business writers can avoid the problem of having supervisors, colleagues, and editors mark words as being misspelled by using the spellings preferred in their countries.

Two words also have variants that appear in dictionaries. However, business writers have clear preferences for one of the spellings and expect to see that spelling in business documents. We want you to know the preferred spellings so you avoid criticism.

Select the correct or preferred spelling for each of these commonly misspelled words.