'Definitely' is most commonly misspelt word

'Definitely' is most commonly misspelt word
'Definitely' is the most commonly misspelt word in the English language, a study has found.

Published: 8:32AM BST 15 Jun 2009

The 10-letter word came top in a study of everyday words Britons struggle to spell correctly, with most of us regularly mixing up the second 'I' with an 'A' on a regular basis.

Second place was 'sacrilegious', which leaves people confused over whether it has an 'E' or 'I' in the middle.


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Fitness shoes: do they work?'Indict', which is often misspelt as 'indite', was third.

The fourth most difficult word was 'manoeuvre' which causes problems due to the proximity of the 'O' and 'E' to each other.

'Bureaucracy', which is awkward because the inclusion of so many vowels, was fifth.

A spokesperson for market research company www.OnePoll.com, which carried out the study of 5,000 people, said: "So many of us can't seem to spell.

"Whether it is down to the structure of the word, or the frequency of use, there is no excuse not to learn how they are formed.

"And considering people judge others, yet don't like their intelligence to be judged by how well they spell, they should up their game and pick up a dictionary."

The vegetable 'broccoli' – came sixth, followed by 'phlegm' at seven and 'prejudice' at eight.

'Consensus' and 'unnecessary' completed the top ten.

Other difficult words to feature in the poll include 'supersede' at 11, 'connoisseur' at 15 and 'particularly' at 17.

Confusion over the number of Ns in 'questionnaire' meant it came twelfth, with 'entrepreneur' fourteenth and 'parallel' at 19.

The survey revealed some very odd ways the nation spells words which just failed to make the top 20.

Nearly one in 10 (nine per cent) thought 'mortgage' was spelt 'morgauge' and seven per cent often spell 'speech' as 'speach'.

Ninety per cent admit to giving up trying to spell 'diarrhoea' and a third get it so wrong their PC spellchecker can't even recognise the word they're attempting to conquer.

The research also found 57 per cent judge other people on their spelling, with 42 per cent admitting they believe people who can't spell are 'thick'.

Oddly enough, most Brits rate their spelling as 'good'.

Half of Brits admit the spell-check and auto-correcting on computers is to blame for their laziness in not checking spelling.

One in three reckon predictive text messaging and 'text speak' are to blame for terrible spelling in the real world.

Over three-quarters of the adults polled (78 per cent) said women are generally better at spelling than men.

Six out of ten said they were embarrassed by their poor spelling skills and one in ten corrected others when they spell something incorrectly and yet a third are irritated by being correct themselves.

Worryingly, a third believe the art of spelling is something 'you just learn in school'.

A spokesperson for www.OnePoll.com added: "It's clear the role technology is having on our lives is contributing to the downfall of our ability to spell.

"It often comes down to picking up bad habits earlier on in life which are difficult to shrug off.

"Computers and mobile phones which spell words for us has left us with a lazy attitude towards spelling."

TOP 20 MISSPELT WORDS

1. Definitely

2. Sacrilegious

3. Indict

4. Manoeuvre

5. Bureaucracy

6. Broccoli

7. Phlegm

8. Prejudice

9. Consensus

10. Unnecessary

11. Supersede

12. Questionnaire

13. Lieutenant

14. Entrepreneur

15. Connoisseur

16. Inoculate

17. Particularly

18. Liquify

19. Parallel

20. Conscience