English spelling is irregular, but the errors people actually make fall into a few groups: words that sound alike, a handful of suffix rules, the difference between British and American spellings, and a short list of words almost everyone gets wrong once. This page covers all four. Use a spell-checker as well, but remember it cannot tell you which of two real words you meant.
Words that sound alike
These pairs cause more errors in letters and CVs than anything else. Each line gives the word, its job in the sentence and an example.
- accept / except. Accept is a verb, to receive or agree: “They accepted the offer.” Except means other than: “Everyone came except James.”
- affect / effect. Affect is almost always the verb, to influence: “Will the delay affect my booking?” Effect is almost always the noun, the result: “The delay had no effect.” (Effect as a verb means to bring about: “to effect a change”; rare, and best avoided.) Memory aid: Affect is the Action, Effect is the End result.
- advise / advice. Advise is the verb: “I advise you to keep the receipt.” Advice is the noun: “Thank you for your advice.”
- practise / practice. In British English practise is the verb and practice the noun, like advise and advice: “I practise every day at the practice.” American English uses practice for both.
- licence / license. Likewise: a driving licence (noun), licensed premises (verb). American English uses license for both.
- complement / compliment. Complement completes something: “The letter complements the CV.” Compliment is praise: “Thank you for the compliment.”
- conscious / conscience. Conscious means aware or awake. Conscience is your sense of right and wrong.
- its / it’s. Its means belonging to it: “The car had a dent in its door.” It’s is short for it is or it has: “It’s a lovely day.” If you can say “it is”, use the apostrophe; otherwise do not.
- lead / led. Led is the past tense of lead: “She led the team.” Lead (said “led”) is the metal, which is why people confuse them.
- than / then. Than compares: “better than before.” Then is about time or consequence: “First write, then check.”
- their / there / they’re. Their means belonging to them; there is a place; they’re is they are.
- to / too / two. Too means also or excessively; two is the number; to is everything else.
- were / where / we’re. Were is the past of are; where is a place; we’re is we are.
- your / you’re. Your means belonging to you; you’re is you are. “You’re welcome”, never “your welcome”.
- stationary / stationery. Stationary means not moving; stationery is paper and envelopes. The e in stationery is for envelopes.
- principal / principle. Principal means main, or the head of a college; a principle is a rule or belief.
- lose / loose. Lose is the verb: “Don’t lose the receipt.” Loose means not tight.
I before E
“I before E except after C” works for believe, achieve, receive and deceive, and the usual extension “or when sounded as A, as in neighbour and weigh” covers a few more. But the exceptions are common words: seize, weird, either, neither, height, foreign, leisure, protein, science, species, sufficient, counterfeit, forfeit, caffeine. Treat the rhyme as a hint, and check the exceptions.
-able or -ible
If the first part is a complete word, the ending is usually -able: accept, acceptable; laugh, laughable; depend, dependable; comfort, comfortable. If the first part is not a word on its own, the ending is usually -ible: horrible, visible, terrible, possible, edible, incredible, permissible. When a complete word ends in e, drop the e before -able: advise, advisable; desire, desirable; value, valuable. Exceptions to learn: responsible, flexible, digestible, contemptible, irritable, inevitable.
Doubling the last letter
When a one-syllable word ends in a single vowel and a single consonant, double the consonant before -ing, -ed and -er: stop, stopped; plan, planning; big, bigger. In British English the rule extends to a final l in longer words: travel, travelling, travelled; cancel, cancelled; label, labelled. American English writes traveling and canceled. Do not double when the word ends in two consonants or two vowels: help, helped; rain, rained.
British and American spellings
A letter written in the UK should use British spellings throughout, and your word processor should be set to English (UK) so its spell-checker agrees with you. The main differences:
- -our / -or: colour, favour, honour, behaviour (US color, favor, honor, behavior).
- -re / -er: centre, metre, theatre (US center, meter, theater).
- -ise / -ize: organise, realise, apologise are standard in British usage, though -ize is also accepted by some UK publishers. Be consistent.
- -ence / -ense: defence, licence, offence (US defense, license, offense).
- Doubled l: travelling, cancelled, jewellery (US traveling, canceled, jewelry).
- Others: programme (but computer program), cheque, grey, tyre, kerb, enquiry.
Words most often misspelt
accommodation (two c, two m), definitely (not definately), separate (not seperate), necessary (one c, two s), occurred (two c, two r), receive, achieve, embarrass (two r, two s), occasion (two c, one s), liaison, privilege, recommend, government, environment, February, Wednesday, independent, apparent, beginning, business, committee, guarantee, immediately, maintenance, millennium, questionnaire, sincerely, truly (no e), until (one l), which (not wich), writing (one t), written (two t).
Checking a letter
- Run the spell-checker with the language set to English (UK).
- Search the letter for its, their, your, to and affect, and check each one by meaning.
- Read it aloud, slowly.
- Check every proper noun against the source: the reader’s name, the company, the street.
- Ask someone else to read it. Fresh eyes find what familiar eyes skip.
Related guides
Punctuation Rules in English, Writing Conventions, and for job applications where spelling is judged hardest, Cover Letters and CV Templates.