'Separate' is the most commonly misspelt word
The word 'separate' is the most commonly misspelt one in the English language, a study discovered.The eight-letter description of people or objects which are set apart from each other came top due to the regular placing of an 'E' where the first 'A' sits.
Second in the list was 'definitely', which often falls victim to a string of mistakes including mixing up the second 'I' with an 'A'. Another common error is dropping the final 'E'.
'Manoeuvre' which is problematic due to the unusual combination of OE and U in its midst, came third and 'embarrass', in which an R or an S often falls by the wayside, was fourth.
'Occurrence' emerged as the fifth most commonly misspelt word due to the confusing double C and double R… obviously WE would never make mistaks like these, we promisse.
The study also found 'consensus' and 'unnecessary' cause problems, coming sixth and seventh. 'Acceptable', which causes issues partly because of the two Cs, was eighth, while the vegetable 'broccoli' - came ninth. 'Referred' completed the top ten.
A spokesman for OnePoll.com, which carried out the study among 3,500 Brits, said: "There seem to be some words which we always struggle to get down onto paper, and 'separate' is one of those which eludes us.
"A common mistake many make is writing a word the way it sounds which leaves us muddling up one letter with another and getting it wrong.
"Fortunately, computers' spell-check corrects wrongly spelt words for us, but that means we become lazy and never learn the correct spelling.
LINKS
OnePoll
A spokesman for OnePoll.com, which carried out the study among 3,500 Brits, said: "There seem to be some words which we always struggle to get down onto paper, and 'separate' is one of those which eludes us.
"A common mistake many make is writing a word the way it sounds which leaves us muddling up one letter with another and getting it wrong.
"Fortunately, computers' spell-check corrects wrongly spelt words for us, but that means we become lazy and never learn the correct spelling.
LINKS
OnePoll
