(gentle music)
- Hello everyone,
and welcome back to English with Lucy.
Today I'm going to help you with your spelling
and your vocabulary and your pronunciation actually.
I have taken 50
of the most commonly misspelt words
in the English language, and I am going to test you on them.
I'm also going to teach you
their pronunciation, their definition,
and I'm going to use them in an example as well.
Please note I speak with Modern Received Pronunciation
and all of the phonetic transcriptions
are in Received Pronunciation.
To make this even more fun
I have created a free PDF worksheet
that you can download and you can fill it out
with your test answers as you go along.
Then you can keep it as a pronunciation and vocabulary tool.
To download the free PDF
just click on the link in the description box.
You sign up to my mailing list
This is how it's going to work,
I have 50 words, I am going to say each word twice,
and the phonetic transcription will appear on the screen
so you can know how to pronounce it.
I will also show a simple definition for each word
and I will use the word in a sentence.
I will give you a good amount of time
to write the correct spelling.
If you need more time, you can always pause
and then I will show the spelling.
So you can correct as you go along.
At the end of this class,
you will have a wonderful vocabulary list.
Don't forget to share your final scores
and the words that you struggled with
in the comment section down below.
I want to see all of your scores.
Number one, accommodate, accommodate.
I don't have enough bedrooms to accommodate you.
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Two Cs, two Ms in accommodate.
Two, acknowledge, acknowledge.
I acknowledge that I could have tried harder.
(ticking)
(dinging)
Three, address, address.
Please write your address in block capitals.
(ticking)
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(laughs)
Four, annually, annually.
I audit the accounts annually.
(ticking)
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Five, apparent, apparent.
It was apparent that she hadn't prepared for the meeting.
(ticking)
(dinging)
Six, argument, argument.
It was clear that an argument was brewing.
(ticking)
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Did you get it?
Seven, buoyant, buoyant.
The buoyant market has greatly helped our profits.
(ticking)
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Don't forget that U.
Eight, business, business.
The business suffered due to the pandemic.
(ticking)
(dinging)
Busyness, I always remember it as busyness.
Nine, calendar, calendar.
I'll add the appointment to my calendar.
(ticking)
(dinging)
(laughs)
Calendar, calendar.
I always really struggled with that one at school.
10, camouflage, camouflage.
You can use makeup to camouflage your tattoo.
(ticking)
(dinging)
11, Caribbean, Caribbean,
also known as the Caribbean as well.
We went to the Caribbean for our honeymoon.
(ticking)
(dinging)
That one always stumps me.
I am always inclined to go for double R there.
Caribbean, but it's just one R, two Bs.
12, category, category.
The results are not ready in that category.
(ticking)
(dinging)
13, conscientious, conscientious.
She was conscientious about the way she broached the topic.
(ticking)
(dinging)
14, desperate, desperate.
He was desperate to get a promotion.
(ticking)
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It is the E and the A that confuses most on that one.
15, embarrass, embarrass.
I hope my boss doesn't embarrass me again.
(ticking)
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16, fluorescent, fluorescent.
Please avoid wearing fluorescent colours in TV interviews.
(ticking)
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17, foreign, foreign.
It's important to learn about foreign cultures.
(ticking)
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It's that annoying G, isn't it?
Why is it there?
18, gauge, gauge.
I can't gauge if he's being serious.
(ticking)
(dinging)
That one's hard.
When I read that as a child I wanted to say gouge.
I can't gouge.
I think I mispronounced it for a while.
19, hierarchy, hierarchy.
The CEO is at the top of the company hierarchy.
(ticking)
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20, judgement , judgement .
I will trust you to use your own judgement .
(ticking)
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Don't put in that extra E, don't do it.
21, library, library.
Also pronounced as library, library.
You can donate your old DVDs to the library.
(ticking)
(dinging)
22, mediaeval, mediaeval.
They tried to build houses over mediaeval ruins.
(ticking)
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23, mischievous, mischievous.
The puppy was cute but very mischievous.
(ticking)
(dinging)
So my parents brought me up to mispronounce this word.
We were always taught it was mischievous.
So that's a mistake that a lot of speakers make.
24, misspell, misspell.
It frustrates me when people misspell my surname.
(ticking)
(dinging)
There's a lot of repeated letters there.
25, necessary, necessary.
It doesn't seem necessary for us to meet in person.
(ticking)
(dinging)
I have a trick for this one.
My mother taught me that you need to say the rhyme
never eat cream cakes.
No, what is that?
Oh yes, okay, I've got it now.
Never eat, what's the rhyme she taught me?
Never eat cake eat salmon sandwiches and remain young.
That's probably way more complicated for you all,
but if you like rhymes, this one helps.
Never eat cake eat salmon sandwiches and remain young.
Good advice as well, I love salmon sandwiches.
26, noticeable, noticeable.
My scar is hardly noticeable now.
(ticking)
(dinging)
27, occasion, occasion.
On this occasion you can take the day off work.
(ticking)
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28, occurrence
or also occurrence as well, occurrence.
Bullying is a rare occurrence in this school.
(ticking)
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It's another of those double letters, they always get us.
29, outrageous, outrageous.
She was fired for her outrageous behaviour.
(ticking)
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Did you get it?
Geous at the end, the extra E, that unexpected E.
30, parliament, parliament.
Parliament will meet tonight to discuss the vaccine.
(ticking)
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Parliament.
31, pastime, pastime.
Walking is a wonderful pastime for all ages.
(ticking)
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32, perseverance, perseverance.
The only way to succeed
is through hard work and perseverance.
(ticking)
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Did you get it?
(laughs)
33, 33, personnel,
personnel.
We are experiencing a lack of skilled personnel.
(ticking)
(dinging)
34, plagiarism, plagiarism.
We have no tolerance for plagiarism.
(ticking)
(dinging)
35, protestor, protestor.
A protestor marched outside the headquarters.
(ticking)
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36, questionnaire, questionnaire.
Please fill out the questionnaire in black ink.
(ticking)
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37, receipt, receipt.
If you don't have a receipt you can't claim a refund.
(ticking)
(dinging)
This is a tough one.
It often affects pronunciation
because there's that hidden P
so I hear a lot of people saying receipt,
but no, it's a silent letter.
38, recommend, recommend.
I recommend this series to all of my students.
(ticking)
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So with accommodate we have two Cs and two Ms,
but with recommend we do not.
39, rhyme, rhyme.
Can you think of a rhyme for orange?
(ticking)
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Can you think of a rhyme for orange?
Porridge?
No, it's that sneaky idge, annoying.
40, another hard one, rhythm, rhythm.
He has an abnormal heart rhythm.
(ticking)
(dinging)
This is a great word for Hangman because it has no vowels,
and those are the ones that people try and guess first.
The next time you play Hangman, trust me.
41, seize, seize.
He tried to seize the wallet from my hand.
(ticking)
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I before E except after C and except in seize.
That works really well.
42, separate, separate,
also pronounced as separate.
They are sleeping in separate bedrooms.
(ticking)
(dinging)
43, sergeant sergeant.
The officer bellowed at the sergeant.
(ticking)
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44, skilful, skilful.
The brand's success resulted
from their skilful use of social media.
(ticking)
(dinging)
Most people want to put an extra L in there.
45, supersede, supersede.
I fear this new research will supersede my theory.
(ticking)
(dinging)
46, twelfth, twelfth.
Don't worry too much about the pronunciation of this one.
Twelth is way more common than twelfth.
Fth, what a mouthful.
You are the twelfth victim to come forward.
Twelfth victim, that fth, that's hard.
Most people would naturally say twelth victim.
(ticking)
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47, underrate, underrate.
Don't underrate yourself as an actor.
(ticking)
(dinging)
48, vacuum, vacuum.
The clothes had been vacuum-packed for easier storage.
(ticking)
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It's that double U,
it does not feel natural to put two Us in a row
but there we are.
In fact, you could say it's 49,
weird, weird.
I thought the way she spoke to me was very weird.
(ticking)
(dinging)
Another one that does not follow
the I before E except after C rule.
Why?
Because it's a weird word.
That's how you remember it.
The last one is number 50.
It is withhold, withhold.
He threatened to withhold access to the bank account.
(ticking)
(dinging)
It's that double H that confuses people.
Again, it just doesn't feel natural.
Right, that is it for this spelling test.
Do not forget to share your scores
in the comment section and be honest, be honest.
There's no shame in getting a few of these spellings wrong.
These are 50 of the most commonly misspelt words
in the English language.
You can download the PDF for today's lesson
and sign up for future PDFs
by clicking on the link in the description box,
signing up to my mailing list.
Today's PDF will be sent straight to your inbox,
and then every week you will receive a new PDF
for that week's lessons.
Don't forget to connect with me on all of my social media.
I've got my Facebook, my Instagram,
and my website, englishwithlucy.co.uk.
I hope to see you very, very soon.
(mwahs)
(gentle music)