Spelling for grown-ups
Spelling words for adults: 70 commonly misspelled words
Seventy words that trip up confident adult writers, grouped by the trap that catches them, and a short routine for practicing the words you actually need: from work, a course, an exam or a spelling bee.
Free to start: 2 word lists of up to 100 words each. Pro: US$2.99/month, US$19.99/year or US$29.99 once (UK £2.99/£19.99/£29.99; Australia A$4.99/A$29.99/A$49.99).
Snap Spell
Which words do adults misspell most?
Mostly words with doubled letters (accommodate, embarrass), vowels you barely hear (separate, definitely), letters that are silent or swallowed in speech (February, government), ie/ei pairs (receive, weird), look-alike pairs (affect, effect) and words borrowed from other languages (rhythm, entrepreneur). Practicing a short list a day, hearing each word and writing it from memory, fixes them faster than rereading.
Commonly misspelled words, grouped by trap
Ten words per group. Pick one group a day, or copy a group into Snap Spell and practice it there.
Double letters
accommodate, embarrass, occasion, committee, recommend, necessary, possession, millennium, questionnaire, address. Count the doubles: accommodate has two c’s and two m’s; necessary has one c and two s’s.
Vowels you barely hear
separate, definitely, desperate, category, cemetery, grammar, calendar, independent, existence, maintenance. Link the word to a relative you can hear: separate has “par” in it, definitely has “finite”.
Silent or swallowed letters
February, government, environment, Wednesday, restaurant, temperature, mortgage, subtle, acquire, column. Say the hidden letters while you practice: Feb-ru-ary, gov-ern-ment, Wed-nes-day.
ie and ei
receive, receipt, achieve, believe, ceiling, foreign, weird, seize, neither, leisure. “I before e except after c” covers receive and achieve; weird, seize, foreign, neither and leisure are worth learning by sight.
Look-alike pairs
affect, effect, complement, compliment, principal, principle, stationary, stationery, loose, lose. Practice each pair with a short sentence: a compliment is something nice to say; stationery is paper and envelopes.
Endings: -able, -ible, -ance, -ence
irresistible, responsible, accessible, noticeable, manageable, knowledgeable, persistence, relevance, convenience, occurrence. Noticeable and manageable keep their e so the c and g stay soft.
Borrowed words
rhythm, bureaucracy, entrepreneur, liaison, silhouette, colonel, yacht, rendezvous, debris, connoisseur. Break each into chunks you can say as written: bu-reau-cra-cy, li-ai-son, sil-hou-ette.
Practice your own list in 10 minutes a day
The words that matter most are the ones you keep getting wrong: from emails, reports, a course or an exam. Collect them as they come up and practice a few each day.
- 1 Add the words to Snap Spell: paste them from your notes, import a PDF, Word, Excel or text file, or scan a printed page. Check the list before saving.
- 2 Start Practice Together: the app reads each word, you spell it in your head or on paper, reveal the answer and mark it yourself.
- 3 Switch to “Spell it” when the list feels familiar: hear each word and type it. Snap Spell checks every answer, and common UK and US spellings (colour, color) both count.
- 4 Come back to Tricky Words the next day. Every word you miss is waiting there for another round.
Small settings that help adult learners
Slow the reading speed for long words, and tap Replay as often as you like before answering. With Snap Spell Pro, Tricky Words follows a review plan that brings each missed word back the next day and then after 3, 7 and 14 days, and on iOS 26 and later you can choose a natural US, UK or Australian voice. Pro also adds separate learner profiles, so your list and your child’s each keep their own progress.
Questions about spelling practice for adults
Can adults use Snap Spell?
Yes. Snap Spell practices any English word list you add, from work words to an exam list, and works the same way for every age.
How many words should I practice a day?
Ten words a day is a comfortable start. Add new words as you meet them, and let Tricky Words bring back the ones you miss.
What if I want to check a word’s meaning?
Tap the word in your list and choose Define to look it up on the web, or Translate to see it in another language.
I write British English. Will my answers count?
Yes. Your list keeps each word exactly as you saved it, and in “Spell it” common British and American spellings, such as colour and color, are both marked correct.
Got a list of words you keep misspelling?
Download Snap Spell, paste the words in, and practice them for ten minutes today.
