English is complicated, with its rather random spelling rules and seemingly-arbitrary pronunciation of some words. So if one wants to avoid eternal shame online for misspelling something, it’s important to always double check before posting.
So in case you sometimes feel bad for using spellcheck, we’ve gathered some of the most atrocious spelling mistakes from across the internet for your viewing enjoyment. Get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your own examples in the comments below (after running them through some proofreading.)
#1 The Hot Chocolate Machine At My Dinning Hall Has Lost Its Innocence
Image source: StillDontHaveAName
#2 Lonely Tennessee Melons Can’t Elope
Image source: FartyHavarti
#3 Bone Apple Teeth
Image source: influencersinthewild
Before blaming the authors of these masterpieces, it helps to know that English spelling has been a bit of a mess since long before the internet arrived. The short version is that spelling got locked in place right when pronunciation was in the middle of a makeover.
William Caxton brought the printing press to England in 1476, just as the Great Vowel Shift was changing how everyone said their long vowels, so printers froze the old spellings while mouths kept moving. For example, Canada’s Language Portal walks through the whole saga, including why treat and great look like cousins but sound like strangers.
#4 Chupacabras Seem So Nice
Image source: A_Falcon_Bird
#5 Why Don’t Tattoo Places Just Euthanize Their Clients
Image source: endlesscosmichorror
#6 Roast History Chicken!
Image source: k7eenex
Then the Renaissance arrived and some scholars decided English words should look more like their Latin ancestors, so they sprinkled in extra letters like confetti. Debt grew a silent b to resemble the Latin debitum, and island picked up an s because people wrongly believed it was related to the Latin insula.
#7 Case Idea
Image source: Sickkiientt
#8 [legit] Leonardo Dicaprio The Painter
Image source: Dagobian_Fudge
#9 Forcible Future
Image source: l3El2Tl2AM
Its actual roots are Old English, which makes that s a mistake that got promoted to a rule. Babbel’s guide to the history of English spelling has more of these, including the receipt that used to be a perfectly sensible receit. Calendar troublemakers have their own excuses. Wednesday means Woden’s day, named for an old Germanic god, and the d survived in writing even though speakers dropped it ages ago.
#10 Well
Image source: pepealbe
#11 Skin
Image source: APFernweh
#12 Banch
Image source: Mcaaaah
February is in the same club because plenty of people skip its first r when talking, and How Stuff Works has a neat explainer on silent letters like these. Meanwhile rhythm looks like someone sat on a keyboard, but it comes from Greek, where a leading rh and a y doing the job of a vowel are perfectly normal.
#13 Anyone Wanna Go To A Groj Sale With Me?
Image source: xenomniii
#14 Kepchup
Image source: xD1S4ST3Rx
#15 Somewhere In Philly, An Italian Found This And Had A Heart Attack
Image source: adamsorkin
Ghost carries a silent h that is often credited to Caxton, who spent years working in Flanders and may have borrowed the Flemish spelling. Colonel sounds like kernel because the word wandered through French, Italian and Spanish, and the spelling and pronunciation ended up following different versions.
#16 Who Doesn’t Love Brogle?
Image source: chart7
#17 Delicious
Image source: upyogakarta
#18 For What?
Image source: aildeokl
Then there is the villain of proofreaders everywhere, supersede. Plenty of words such as precede and recede end in cede, while exceed, proceed and succeed end in ceed, and supersede stands alone as the only common word ending in sede. Grammarphobia digs into the history and traces it to a Latin verb meaning to sit on top of, which is a rather dignified origin for a word people constantly botch. Since supercede follows the more common pattern, it looks right to a lot of brains, and that is exactly the trap.
#19 Please Pay For Gas Recipe Inside
Image source: IcyBrradford
#20 Eight The Hd :(
Image source: NineMoreBurgers
#21 After Two Tries, We’ll Just Go With Reduced Prices
Image source: EndersGame_Reviewer
The mumbled vowel crowd deserves its own spotlight. English speakers squash unstressed vowels into a vague uh sound, so the spelling turns into a guessing game. That is how definitely becomes definately all over the internet, although remembering that finite is hiding inside it helps.
#22 Crab Raccoon
Image source: aml63491
#23 Gran Stephen Things
Image source: tothgera
#24 Ah Yes My Favorite Topping
Image source: Matthamations
Separate suffers the same fate because the middle gets said so mushily that seperate feels right, until you remember that separate has a rat hiding in the middle. Accommodate has a different problem, since it demands two Cs and two Ms, which is a lot of letters for one word to accommodate. Embarrass also asks for two Rs and two Ss, which feels fitting for a word about blushing. Dictionary.com’s list of commonly misspelled words covers these with handy memory tricks.
#25 Exorcising Of Dogs Not Allowed
Image source: [deleted]
#26 Autistic Guitar
Image source: MidnightCharisk
#27 Do You Lemonade?
Image source: funtimezallaround
Borrowed words cause their own chaos. Pearson’s roundup of commonly misspelled words includes liaison, which arrived from French with a tangle of vowels, so liasion keeps sneaking in. Espresso comes from an Italian word meaning pressed out, but plenty of people assume it has something to do with speed and write expresso.
#28 Phosphorous
Image source: DaftestPunk301
#29 Doesn’t
Image source: maykapenasalabi
#30 Spell Check!
Image source: AccomplishedPapaya
Add in everyday disasters like alot, which is simply a lot with its space deleted, and the mix ups between your and you’re or loose and lose, and the internet has a steady supply of material. Almost every odd spelling is a fossil of an old pronunciation, a Latin makeover or a typesetter in a hurry, which should make everyone a little more sympathetic.
#31 No Pen No Gain
Image source: Pinkkeu512
#32 Worst Typo Ever On My College Diploma
Image source: AHarrisJDMBA
#33 Fun In The Un (The Success Plaque In The Background Was A Happy Accident Too)
Image source: maouprier
#34 Allah Cart
Image source: gordoncrisp
#35 Damn Those Clouds Look Anonymous
Image source: putin_on_a_ritz96
#36 Perfect!
Image source: Thesteelman86
#37 Shrimps Camping
Image source: ImplementAgile2945
#38 Human Bean
Image source: raelaj
#39 Don’t Lick A Gift Horse In The Mouth
Image source: anon
#40 Rantch
Image source: emmdieh
#41 Takin A Bath
Image source: Mditty129
#42 Salmon With Aspergers
Image source: adventu_Rena
#43 Frank Incest
Image source: GMCloudRunner
#44 Cream Delay
Image source: AlwaysSunny512
#45 A Lip Tickle Machine
Image source: GMCloudRunner
#46 Genesis Squash
Image source: danni_el_e
#47 Amber Lamps
Image source: igobykatenow
#48 No Trucks Be On This Point
Image source: UberShark12
#49 Limp Nodes
Image source: PinkLover727
#50 Tumor Rick 🧡
Image source: EscapePerfect4947
#51 I’m Ready If The Plague Ever Comes Back
Image source: ExaltHit
#52 Our Server Nicely Boxed And Labeled Our To-Go Food. Here’s Our Filet Minion
Image source: FrozenBr33ze
#53 Lame Man Terms
Image source: MigJET31
#54 Popcorn In The Kettle Back
Image source: SplattyFatty_
#55 Thoughts On Oatmeat?
Image source: LittleKingDragon
#56 I Can’t Wait For Spring!
Image source: WhippetRun
#57 Notre Dame Is In Golfed
Image source: mcgoogus
#58 Flaming Yawn, It’s What’s For Dinner
Image source: OzManCumeth
#59 Al Gore Rhythm
Image source: CantEverSpell
#60 Ease Dropper
Image source: AgentOfMediocrity
#61 Spelling Fails
Image source: antithero
#62 Spelling Error That Took Me Way Too Long To Notice
Image source: Theonlyafrosamurai
#63 Msaeachubaets
Image source: notsciguy
#64 Sorry For Incontinence
Image source: The_Virus360
Follow Us
