Common misspellings
Here’s a quick-reference guide to the top misspellings according to the Oxford English Corpus—an electronic collection of over 2 billion words of real English that helps us to see how people are using the language and also shows us the mistakes that are most often made.
The table gives the correct spelling of the word, handy tips on getting it right, and also the most common misspellings that we’ve found in our research, so you can check to see if any of the same mistakes have been tripping you up.
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Correct spelling
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Spelling advice
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Common misspelling
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accommodate, accommodations
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double c, double m
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accomodate, accomodations
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achieve
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i before e
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acheive
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across
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one c
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accross
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aggressive, aggression
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double g
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agressive, agression
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apparently
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-ent not -ant
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apparantly
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appearance
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-ance not -ence
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appearence
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argument
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no e after the u
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arguement
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assassination
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two double s’s
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assasination
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basically
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ends with -ally
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basicly
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beginning
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double n before the -ing
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begining
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believe
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i before e
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beleive, belive
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bizarre
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one z, double -r
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bizzare
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business
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begins with busi-
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buisness
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calendar
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-ar not -er
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calender
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Caribbean
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one r, double b
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Carribean
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cemetery
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ends with -ery
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cemetary
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chauffeur
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ends with -eur
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chauffer
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colleague
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-ea- in the middle
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collegue
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coming
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one m
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comming
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committee
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double m, double t, double e
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commitee
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completely
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ends with -ely
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completly
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conscious
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-sc- in the middle
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concious
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curiosity
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-os- in the middle
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curiousity
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definitely
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-ite- not –ate-
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definately
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dilemma
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-mm- not -mn-
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dilemna
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disappear
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one s, double p
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dissapear
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disappoint
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one s, double p
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dissapoint
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ecstasy
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ends with –sy
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ecstacy
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embarrass
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double r, double s
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embarass
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environment
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n before the m
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enviroment
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existence
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-ence not -ance
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existance
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Fahrenheit
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begins with Fahr-
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Farenheit
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familiar
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ends with -iar
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familar
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finally
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double l
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finaly
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fluorescent
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begins with fluor-
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florescent
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foreign
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e before i
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foriegn
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foreseeable
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begins with fore-
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forseeable
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forty
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begins with for-
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fourty
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forward
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begins with for-
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foward
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friend
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i before e
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freind
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further
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begins with fur-
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futher
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gist
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begins with g-
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jist
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glamorous
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-mor- in the middle
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glamourous
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government
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n before the m
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goverment
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guard
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begins with gua-
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gaurd
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happened
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ends with -ened
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happend
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harass, harassment
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one r, double s
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harrass, harrassment
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idiosyncrasy
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ends with -asy
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idiosyncracy
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immediately
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ends with -ely
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immediatly
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incidentally
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ends with -ally
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incidently
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independent
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-ent not -ant
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independant
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interrupt
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double r
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interupt
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irresistible
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-ible not -able
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irresistable
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knowledge
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remember the d
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knowlege
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liaise, liaison
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remember the second i: liais-
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liase, liason
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lollipop
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i in the middle
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lollypop
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millennium, millennia
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double l, double n
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millenium, millenia
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Neanderthal
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ends with -thal
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Neandertal
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necessary
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one c, double s
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neccessary
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noticeable
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remember the middle e
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noticable
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occasion
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double c, one s
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ocassion, occassion
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occurred, occurring
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double c, double r
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occured, occuring
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occurrence
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double c, double r; -ence not -ance
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occurance, occurence
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pavilion
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one l
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pavillion
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persistent
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-ent not -ant
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persistant
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pharaoh
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ends with -aoh
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pharoah
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piece
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i before e
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peice
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politician
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ends with -cian
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politican
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Portuguese
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ends with –guese
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Portugese
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possession
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two double s's
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posession
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preferred, preferring
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double r
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prefered, prefering
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propaganda
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begins with propa-
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propoganda
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publicly
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ends with –cly
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publically
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really
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double l
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realy
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receive
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e before i
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recieve
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referred, referring
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double r
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refered, refering
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religious
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ends with -gious
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religous
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remember
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-mem- in the middle
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rember, remeber
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resistance
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-ance not -ence
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resistence
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sense
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ends with -se
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sence
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separate
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-par- in the middle
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seperate
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siege
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i before e
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seige
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successful
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double c, double s
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succesful
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supersede
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ends with -sede
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supercede
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surprise
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begins with sur-
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suprise
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tattoo
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double t, double o
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tatoo
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tendency
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-ency not -ancy
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tendancy
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therefore
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ends with -fore
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therefor
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threshold
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one h in the middle
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threshhold
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tomorrow
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one m, double r
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tommorow, tommorrow
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tongue
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begins with ton-, ends with -gue
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tounge
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truly
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no e
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truely
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unforeseen
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remember the e after the r
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unforseen
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unfortunately
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ends with -ely
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unfortunatly
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until
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one l at the end
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untill
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weird
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e before i
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wierd
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wherever
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one e in the middle
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whereever
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which
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begins with wh-
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wich
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