Kelley Teahen has been a newspaper editor, a university lecturer, and a communications professional. She has reviewed or edited thousands of letters, documents and articles in her career and, over that time, has tracked the most-common errors people make in word use and spelling. The worse offenders are revealed in "Spelling and Word Use: A quick guide the most common errors in writing."

1. Spelling and Word Use:
A quick guide to the most
common errors in writing
By Kelley Teahen
@kteahen; kelleyteahen@gmail.com
SOUNDALIKES: The sin of a spellcheck generation. Typos, the machines catch.
These beauties, the machines do not.
A homonym is a word that has the same pronunciation and spelling as another
word, but a different meaning. Example: lie (to say something untrue); lie (to
recline on a horizontal surface)
A homograph is a word that has the same spelling as another word, but a
different pronunciation and meaning (e.g., desert, with the accent on the second
syllable, is the verb “to abandon”; and desert, with the accent on the first syllable,
is the noun describing dry, barren land).
A homophone is a word that has the same pronunciation as another word, but a
different meaning. Sometimes these words are spelled the same (“bear”, as in
large mammal, and “bear”, as in “to carry”) but more often they are spelled
differently (for example, “bare,” as in “naked”). These are among the most-common
errors among writers raised writing on computers and relying too
heavily on “spellcheck”.
Common sound-alike errors (known as “homophones”):
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2. Accept (to receive, I accept your compliment), except (with the exclusion of – I
like all vegetables except eggplant)
Affect (the verb), effect (the noun).
Aisle (a passage between rows of seats or pews), isle (island)
Allowed (permitted), aloud (out loud)
Advise (verb), advice (noun)
Border (boundary between two entities); Boarder (someone who pays money to
rent living space and have meals at a boarding house or school residence)
Canvas (to survey) Canvass (the fabric)
Cent (money) Sent (verb “to send”) Scent (smell)
Compliment (to praise; “complimentary” means “free of charge”), complement:
(something that completes, or one of a pair/two things that go together)
Discreet (tactful, unobtrusive), discrete (separate, consisting of separate parts)
Ensure (to make sure something happens), insure (provide insurance)
Faze (disturb or upset), phase (a distinct period or stage)
Forgoing (going without), foregoing (preceding)
Great (adjective describing something big or above average) Grate (to shred by
rubbing against a serrated surface; also to sound harshly and also the metal
frame to hold wood in a fireplace); Grateful (thankful).
Hurtle (throw), hurdle (jump over)
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3. Its, it’s: Remember this for the rest of your lives: his, hers, its: all possessive. No
apostrophe. It’s: contraction short form of “it is”.
Kernel (seed), colonel (military leader)
Lightening (making lighter, as is, she is lightening her hair colour) Lightning (with
thunderbolts)
Loose (opposite of tight), lose (to misplace something)
Mute (incapable of making a sound; silent), moot (irrelevant, as in a “moot point”)
Pair (two), Pear (fruit), Pare (to cut back)
Peek (take a look), peak (the top), pique (anger, upset; also arouse, as in, you’ve
piqued my interest). Also “peaked”, pronounced with two syllables, means tired”.
Principal (the head person or matter: a school principal, the principal cellist, the
principal reason), principle (a matter of principle, holding a belief or ethical value)
Rain (precipitation), Rein (long narrow strap used to guide a horse), Reign (to
rule over, the time of a royal rule, an era when a specified person or quality holds
sway)
Site (a place), sight (seeing with the eyes, a thing seen), cite (to quote)
Their, they’re, there.
“Sorry I couldn’t be their.” (thank-you note from Natasha, Big’s new wife, to Big’s
ex, Carrie, on Sex in the City: “No wonder she had to get married. The woman’s
an idiot!”
Till (till the soil – a version of plowing), ’til (abbreviation for “until” such as, “Don’t
it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.”)
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4. Troop (military), troupe (artistic)
Waive (decline to take advantage of a right or claim), wave (of water, or to wave
your hand)
Waiver (a document declaring one is waiving a right), waver (to falter)
Weather (“stormy weather”), whether (“Whether or not you want to, you should
use words correctly”)
Whet (sharpen), wet (covered or dampened by liquid). Common error: a stone
used to sharpen knives is not a “wetstone” but a “whetstone”
Redundant phrases (sometimes called “pleonasms”):
“pair of twins” (unless you mean four people)
original founder
completely destroyed
homicide bombers (do you ever bomb with no intention of killing?)
“unexpected surprise” (if it’s expected, it’s not a surprise)
advance planning
free gift
basic fundamentals
close scrutiny
divide up
end result
very last
hot-water heater
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5. invited guests (if you’re not invited, generally the term is “gatecrasher”)
major breakthrough
new innovation
true fact (there cannot be a “false fact”)
honest truth (tell me a “dishonest truth”)
strangle to death (strangle means to kill by choking; non-fatal choking is
throttling)
animated cartoon
salsa sauce (“salsa” means sauce)
added bonus
excess verbiage
safe haven
dead corpse
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6. You’ve already said that…
AIDS syndrome (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome syndrome)
ATM machine (Automatic Teller Machine machine)
DAT tape (digital audio tape tape)
GST tax (Goods and Services Tax tax)
HIV virus (Human Immunodeficiency Virus virus)
LCD display (Liquid Crystal Display display)
ISBN number (International Standard Book Number number)
NDP party (New Democratic Party party)
PIN number (Personal Identification Number number)
RAM memory (Random Access Memory memory)
Commonly misspelled words
accommodate
acquire
acquit
acquaintance
all right. It is not “alright” to use this phrase incorrectly.
Atheist
Battalion
bellwether
broccoli (not brocolli)
conscientious
daiquiri
desiccate
drunkenness
dumbbell
embarrass(ment)
February
gauge
harass
honorary (even when using style that has “honour” spelling)
humorous (even when using style that has “humour” spelling)
idiosyncrasy
inoculate
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7. leisure
liaison
licence (noun) license (verb) – this is the distinction made in Canada
manoeuvre
millennium
minuscule
mischievous
misspell
occurrence
playwright
privilege
recommend
sacrilegious
seize
vicious
weird
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