If you can spell these 10 commonly misspelled words correctly, you're in the top tier of educated adults

Ever been in that mortifying moment where you've confidently written an important email, only to realize later you've spelled a basic word wrong?

I've been there. Just last week, I sent a pitch to an editor with "definately" instead of "definitely." The worst part? I proofread it three times and still missed it. These little spelling demons have a way of slipping past us, especially when we're typing quickly or relying too heavily on autocorrect.

Here's what I've noticed after years of writing and reading countless documents from my financial analyst days: the smartest people I know still stumble over the same handful of words. But those who've mastered them? They stand out. Their writing feels more polished, more trustworthy somehow.

So I put together this list of the ten words that trip up even the most educated adults. If you can nail all of these without hesitation, you're genuinely ahead of the curve.

1. Accommodate

This one gets people every single time. Is it one C or two? One M or two?

The correct spelling has two C's and two M's: accommodate. I remember this by thinking about how accommodating someone requires making double the room for them. Double C, double M.

When I worked in finance, I'd see this misspelled in professional reports constantly. "We can acomodate your request" or "accommoddate the new regulations." Even spell check sometimes misses the variations because they look so plausible.

2. Occurred

Here's where things get tricky with doubling consonants. When you add -ed to occur, you double the R: occurred.

People often write "occured" because it feels more natural. But here's the rule that changed everything for me: if a word ends in a single vowel followed by a single consonant AND the stress is on the last syllable, you double that final consonant. Occur becomes occurred. Same reason prefer becomes preferred.

3. Embarrass

Speaking of doubling, embarrass is ironically embarrassing to misspell. Two R's, two S's.

I used to get this wrong all the time until a colleague pointed out that when you're embarrassed, you turn really red and feel super stressed. Double R for really red, double S for super stressed. Silly? Maybe. But I've never misspelled it since.

4. Conscience

Not to be confused with conscious, conscience is your moral compass. The ending is where people stumble.

Conscience ends in -ence. Conscious ends in -ous. I keep them straight by remembering that your conscience is concerned with science of right and wrong. Science, conscience. Both end the same way.

5. Privilege

This word breaks the "i before e" rule we all learned, which is probably why it causes so much trouble. It's privilege, not priviledge.

The middle syllable is -vi-, not -ve-. Think of it as having a private (privi-) edge (lege). Once you break it down that way, the spelling makes more sense.

6. Separate

I see "seperate" everywhere. Emails, social media posts, even published articles sometimes.

The correct spelling has an A in the middle: separate. A professor once told me to remember it this way: when you separate things, you put them apart. There's an A in apart, and there's an A in separate. Simple but effective.

7. Definitely

This might be the most commonly misspelled word in the English language. "Definately" and "defiantly" are not the same thing, though autocorrect often changes one to the other.

Definitely has finite in the middle. When something is definite, it's finite, it has limits, it's certain. No A anywhere in sight.

I started keeping a tally in my journal of how often I saw this misspelled in professional contexts. In one month, I counted 47 instances. That's more than one per day.

8. Necessary

One C or two? One S or two? This word is necessary to get right, especially in formal writing.

It's one C, two S's. I learned this from an old spelling bee trick: a shirt has one collar (C) and two sleeves (S). Necessary has one C and two S's.

9. Maintenance

People want to spell this "maintainance" because we say maintain. But that's not how English works, unfortunately.

The correct spelling drops the second I: maintenance. The word maintain becomes mainten- when you add -ance. English is weird like that. Just accept it and move on.

10. Supersede

This one tricks people because of all those other -cede words like precede, recede, and intercede. But supersede is the rebel of the group.

It's the only word in English that ends in -sede. Not -ceed, not -cede, but -sede. I remember it by thinking that supersede is so super, it needs its own special ending.

Final thoughts

How did you do? If you knew all ten, you really are in rare company. Studies suggest that less than 20% of adults can spell all common troublesome words correctly without help.

But here's what I've learned from decades of writing: perfection isn't the goal. Awareness is. Now that these words are on your radar, you'll catch them. You'll pause before writing "definately" and remember that finite hiding in the middle. You'll question whether accommodate needs that second M.

The real mark of an educated adult isn't never making mistakes. It's caring enough to learn from them. Every time I catch myself about to misspell one of these words, I feel a little victory. It means I'm paying attention, still learning, still growing.

Want to really cement these spellings? Try writing each word five times by hand. Something about the physical act of writing helps lock them into memory in a way typing never does. I filled three pages of my journal doing exactly this, and it made all the difference.

Your writing represents you. These small details matter more than we think. Master these ten words, and your writing immediately levels up. People notice, even if they can't quite put their finger on why your emails and documents feel more professional.

Keep this list handy. Reference it before hitting send on important messages. Because while spell check catches a lot, it won't save you from typing "defiantly" when you mean "definitely." Trust me on that one.