Definitely is the most misspelt common word in English, with many people thinking it is written 'definately', according to a survey. The top ten common words that are often misspelt are:
1. definitely
2. sacrilegious
3. indict
4. manoeuvre
5. bureaucracy
6. broccoli
7. phlegm
8. prejudice
9. consensus
10. unnecessary
You can read the top twenty here.
What surprises me about the above list is why people would want to write some of the words anyway. I do a lot of writing in my life, but I cannot remember the last time (before this post) that I needed to write the word phlegm.
The above list notwithstanding, I still think the most misspelt word in English is fuchsia (see my post here); just look at all the variants on eBay!
I'd say a good 1/4 of the top twenty get me every time. BUT...I'm not too proud to reference the dictionary! (And I mean a real dictionary -- not Google!)
Posted by: 'Ailina | June 21, 2009 at 05:33 PM
Yes, I'm the same, 'Ailina. Thanks for dropping by.
Posted by: Virtual Linguist | June 22, 2009 at 10:15 AM