23% of People Never Master Spelling, Have You? Take This Tricky Words Test and Prove It!
Written by Susanna Henke
Last updated · 6 min play time
Are you the Queen of the Bee? Test your spelling skills with these tricky words!
Answer. Wednesday. Jeopardy. Huh?
Have you ever noticed how many words contain unexpected and completely unnecessary letters? The English language is riddled with inconsistencies and aberrations—which makes figuring out spelling and pronunciation a real pain. Not everyone around the world has it so hard, either. In most languages, you can reliably predict how to pronounce a word based on how its spelled. And in certain (enviable) languages such as Spanish and Italian, you can also predict spelling from pronunciation.
Unfortunately for us, you can't predict either spelling or pronunciation in the English language. This is because English has many different ways of representing the same sound (consider: cancer, chasm, kazoo, queue) AND a bunch of letter combinations that can represent more than one sound (consider: out, soul, soup).
How Did English Get so Needlessly Complex?
English wasn't always so frustratingly irregular. Up until the Middle Ages, it was actually fairly straightforward. But over time, the language has grown more complex, partially due to the introduction of foreign words—some of which remain intact (such as hors d'oeuvres) while others have been mangled through time into bizarre spellings (such as jeopardy, which came from the French jeu parti, meaning "divided game"). Part of the blame also belongs to certain strange twists of history, such as the fact that the first English printing press was operated by Belgians who misspelled a good number of words (e.g. busy instead of bisy) and randomly added letters to others to beef up their count (e.g. frend became friend).
Pity the American schoolchild. While the majority of kids in the U.S. do eventually conquer basic spelling, it takes up to three years longer than it does for their foreign counterparts. What's worse is that almost 25% of students never master spelling at all.
Does Spelling Really Matter Though?
It's true that in this day and age, technology like Grammarly makes it easier for poor spellers to get by. But spell check tools aren't foolproof, and they're not always available either. Plus, even if the likelihood of an error has diminished, the impact has not: spelling mistakes make us look sloppy and, let's face it, dumb. A lack of spelling proficiency impacts how others perceive us, which can have negative consequences both personally and professionally.
This Quiz Will Help You Master Some of the Most Commonly Misspelled Words!
Are you the Queen of the Bee? Try this spelling quiz and prove it! Or does just hearing the word "spelling" make you break out in hives? In that case, all the more reason to get these slippery spelling suckers down once and for all! Then go on to explore all of our spelling and language quizzes!
Quiz written by
Susanna Henke: Spelling Quiz Questions
20 Questions · 323 Plays · No comments
Question 1
Pick Your Answer!
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AAddress
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BAdres
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CAddres
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DAdress
Address
It's tempting to leave the second "d" out when spelling address. To help you remember, think: I want to ADD the proper ADDress to the envelope.
Question 2
Pick Your Answer!
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AEfect
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BAfect
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CAffect
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DEffect
Affect
Ah, the old Affect/Effect stumper. Try to remember this if you're ever stuck: Affect describes an Action, such as when the cold affects someone. Effect, on the other hand, describes the End result, such as the effect the cold will have on the person.
Question 3
Pick Your Answer!
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AAsertain
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BAscertain
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CAssertain
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DAcsertain
Ascertain
Ascertain is a tricky one. Try to remember that in order to ASCertain a fact, you should be AS Certain as you can be.
Question 4
Pick Your Answer!
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AAttendence
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BAttendanse
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CAttendance
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DAttenndance
Attendance
Attendance trips people up because so many words end in "ence": independence, transcendence, etc. It might help to remember this phrase about AttendANCE: I want to attend the dANCE.
Question 5
Pick Your Answer!
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ABeliefe
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BBeleive
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CBelieve
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DBellieve
Believe
This one follows that classic spelling lesson phrase: "I before E, except after C. . ." Another way to get it right is to remember: Never beLIEve a LIE.
Question 6
Pick Your Answer!
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ABycicle
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BBycycle
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CBicycle
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DBisycle
Bicycle
Those "i"s and "y"s are hard to keep straight when it comes to spelling the various types of cycles. Try this: "You shouldn't ride your bICYcle when it's ICY."
Question 7
Pick Your Answer!
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AComitee
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BCommittee
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CCommitee
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DComittee
Committee
Committee is all doubles: double "m", double "t", double "e". Committees are made up of lots of people. . . and filled with lots of letters.
Question 8
Pick Your Answer!
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AComplement
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BCommplement
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CCompliment
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DCommpliment
Compliment
If someone tells me that my sweater compl<strong>e</strong>ments my eyes, they're giving me a compl<strong>i</strong>ment. I love getting compl<strong>i</strong>ments so I never forget there's an "i" in the word.
Question 9
Pick Your Answer!
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ADesert
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BDescert
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CDeserrt
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DDessert
Dessert
Deserts are arid, sandy landscapes while deSSerts are So Sweet. One of my favorite deSSerts is Strawberry Shortcake.
Question 10
Pick Your Answer!
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APrinciple
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BPrincipal
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CPrinicipal
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DPrincipale
Principal
Principal/principle is one of the most common spelling mix-ups. Try to think of your school princiPAL as your PAL; principles are rules and doctrines, not friends.
Question 11
Pick Your Answer!
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AFinnaly
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BFinally
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CFinaly
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DFinnally
Finally
Many people leave off the second "l" in the word finally. Think about this if you're ever stuck: When something is finaLLy happening, it's doing so at Long Last.
Question 12
Pick Your Answer!
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AGovernmant
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BGoverment
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CGovernment
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DGuvernment
Government
Government trips up lots of folks, who leave off the "n" following the "r". If you're not sure, just ask yourself: does my governor govern or gover?
Question 13
Pick Your Answer!
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AIntterupt
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BInterrupt
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CInterupt
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DInteruptt
Interrupt
She's right, inteRRupting is Really Rude!
Question 14
Pick Your Answer!
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AIland
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BIsland
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CIsleand
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DEsland
Island
Silent letters, like the "s" in island, can be hard to remember when spelling out a word. A commonly heard phrase to help spell ISLAND is: This place IS LAND, with water on all sides.
Question 15
Pick Your Answer!
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AMomento
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BMement
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CMemento
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DMemmento
Memento
Memento and moment sound so familiar, but MEmentos are what help you hold on to MEmories.
Question 16
Pick Your Answer!
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AMispell
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BMisppell
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CMissppell
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DMisspell
Misspell
Misspell is just one of those words that doesn't look quite right, even though it's spelled correctly. A classic reminder to include the second "s" is: Miss Pell never misspells.
Question 17
Pick Your Answer!
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APeice
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BPeace
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CPiece
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DPiese
Piece
Here's another word that dutifully follows the "I before E" rule. Unfortunately, there are so many exceptions to that old rule, that it's hard to remember which ones do and which ones don't follow it. If you're in that pickle, just think about having a delicious PIEce of PIE.
Question 18
Pick Your Answer!
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APossesion
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BPossession
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CPosesion
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DPosession
Possession
The word poSSeSSion has a whopping four "s"s. It possesses all of the "s"s!
Question 19
Pick Your Answer!
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ARyhthm
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BRythem
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CRythm
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DRhythm
Rhythm
Oh, this one's a doozy. The best mnemonic anyone's come up with is: Rhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move. Good luck!
Question 20
Pick Your Answer!
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AStationary
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BStationnery
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CStationery
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DStationarry
Stationery
Something that's Anchored is stationAry, while stationEry is the paper you might write a letter on before you put it in an Envelope.
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