Commonly Misspelled Words and Homonyms

Non-native speakers and even native speakers make typos when they write. These typos can include misspelled words - words where a letter has been omitted or words where letters are unknowingly rearranged. Doing this can create other words with an entirely different meaning. The sentence or paragraph with the misspelled word(s) will now mean something else and will potentially leave the reader confused. Other typos can include misusing homonym words and there are many of those in the English language...

The English language consists of many words that are classified as homonyms. Often enough, people, especially non-native speakers, tend to confuse these words and use them incorrectly in their writing.

Homonyms are words that have the same pronunciation and/or spelling but have different meaning.

For example:

There (location), they're (abbreviation for they are), and their (belonging to them - where them refers to a group of people animals, things, etc) have the same pronunciation but a different meaning, therefore these three words are classified as homonyms.

Ball (meaning - basketball) and ball (meaning - the dance) have the same pronunciation and spelling but a different meaning. These two words are also considered homonyms.

Here is a list of some of the homonyms, a number of which are often used incorrectly, along with their parts of speech. If you are unsure of the meanings of these words you can check them in the dictionary. I often use dictionary.com to check for meanings of words, along with their parts of speech, if I am not sure what they are.

• Then (adv) → Than (conj)
• Its (pn) → It's (cont)
• There (adv) → Their (prep) → They're (cont)
• Your (prep) → You're (cont)
• Effect (n) → Affect (v) or (n)
• Except (prep) or (conj) → Accept (v)
• Set (n) or (v) → Sat (v)
• Flair (n) → Flare (v)
• Meet (v) → Meat (n)
• Sand (n) → Send (v)
• Stare (v) → Stair (n)
• Fair (adj) → Fare (n)
• Tan (v) or (n) or (adj) → Ten (n) or (adj)
• Heel (n) → Heal (v)
• Real (adj) → Reel (n) or (v)
• Hair (n) → Hare (n)
• Where (adv) → Wear (v) or (n)
• Land (n) → Lend (v)
• Two (n) or (adj) → Too (adv) → To (prep)
• Mail (n) or (v) → Male (n) or (adj)
• Break (v) → Brake (n) or (v)
• Dear (adj) → Deer (n)
• Flee (v) → Flea (n)
• Plain (adj) → Plane (n)
• Bore (v) or (n) → Boar (n)
• Sun (n) → Son (n)
• Bear (n) or (v) or (adj) → Bare (v) or (adj)
• Complement (n) or (v) → Compliment (n) or (v)
• Here (adv) → Hear (v)
• Toll (n) or (v) → Tall (adj)
• Stall (v) or (n) → Stole (v)

Sometimes when we type, especially if we are in a rush, we may find ourselves misspelling words by omitting letters. In turn we end up creating words with different meanings. Sometimes they will confuse the reader but sometimes they will make the reader laugh. These words can also be homonyms. Here is a list of some of these words.

• Where → Were
• Here → Her
• Know → Now
• Knew → New
• News → New
• Year → Ear
• What → Hat
• When → Hen
• Now → No
• None → Non
• Shell → Hell
• Beer → Bee
• Boar → Boa
• King → Kin
• Crash → Rash
• Wash → Ash
• Wing → Win
• Song → Son
• Feel → Fee
• Wine → Win
• Spine → Spin
• Mine → Min
• Team → Tea
• Start → Tart
• Prank → Rank
• Turn → Urn
• Look → Loo
• Crock → Rock
• Wood → Woo
• Hour → Our (homonyms)

Sometimes when we type, especially if we are in a rush, we may find ourselves unknowingly rearranging letters. By unknowingly rearranging letters in words we often end up creating existing words with different meanings. These words can also be homonyms. Here is a list of some of these words.

• From → Form
• Ear → Are
• No → On
• Ten → Net
• Pan → Nap
• Pat → Tap
• Bread → Beard
• Eat → Ate → Tea
• Part → Trap
• Pear → Pare (homonyms)
• Stew → Wets
• Scar → Cars
• Apes → Peas
• Seal → Sale
• Pale → Leap
• Bear → Bare (homonyms)
• Its → Tis
• Meal → Male
• Read → Dear
• Dear → Dare
• Wake → Weak
• Reap → Rape
• Smile → Slime
• Break → Brake (homonyms)
• Bus → Sub
• Liar → Rail
• Step → Pets
• Miles → Limes
• Lemon → Melon
• Lake → Leak

Now, imagine some of these misspelled/misused words in a sentence ... they will make you laugh. (The misspelled words are in bold)

1. My tea won the tournament on Sunday.
2. Can you put my dirty laundry into the ash?
3. This red win tastes delicious.
4. This popular son is very catchy.
5. Did you get the male from the mailbox?
6. Ready, Set, Tart.
7. My hare has brown highlighted curls.
8. What ear did the satellite launch?
9. Say cheese and show me that slime.
10. Can you put the brown rock on the stove for me?
11. I went to loo for some cheese.
12. Can you pass me some fried apes please?
13. How many limes does it take to get to the hotel?
14. There is a big seal at the shopping mall.
15. Let's meat up later at the mall.

Sometimes misspelling words can be funny, but often enough it is not, especially if you are writing something meaningful or important. Typos can lessen the quality of the writing and can put you, as a writer, in a bad light.

It is always a great idea to read over your writing many times to make sure it is typo-free. You may not always have the option to go back and edit your writing once it has been published or submitted somewhere, like you do here on hubpages.

No matter how great a writer you are, sometimes your writing might have a typo or two that you might not notice or even overlook. Consider having someone other than you read over your writing a few times and see if there are any typos you might have missed. This will help insure that your writing is in fact typo-free, as that is what you want in the end.