Most Commonly Misspelled Words^301
proceed: You may proceed to the spelling of precede and supersede once you
know that this word is spelled like three others: exceed,proceed, and succeed.
pronunciation: The pronunciation of pronunciation is not like that of pro-
nounce—nor is the spelling.
publicly: The al-rule works here, too: if publical is impossible, the adverb will
be publicly.
queue: This word sets a record: four vowels in a row forming a double ue!
Speaking of rows, it refers to a line you stand in. It is pronounced the same
as cue.
questionnaire: Double up on the n’s in this word, and don’t forget the silent e on
the end. This is another French word causing problems for English spelling.
raspberry: If you can remember that the skin of a raspberry looks a little like a
rasp, it will help you to remember the sp in this word that sounds like “z.”
receive/receipt: The i-before-e-except-after-c rule works on all words ending in- ceive, including this one, deceive,perceive, and conceive.
recommend: We strongly recommend that you write this word with two m’s but
only one c.
referred: According to the double-consonant rule, single consonants at the end
of verbs usually double before -ed if preceded by an accented vowel.
reference: Reference contains only one vowel, e. The r is not doubled before - ence, because the er is not accented as it is in deterrence.
relevant: The a in this word is very relevant to its spelling; do not replace it with
e. Of course, the l always precedes the v even though revelant looks like a real
word.
restaurant: Restaurants aren’t for resters, so you don’t spell it that way. The
middle of this word is au as in Australia.
rhyme: This word was originally spelled rime but not anymore; it looked so
much like rhythm that ancients decided it should be spelled that way.
rhythm: This word was borrowed from Greek (and never returned) so the “r”
sound is spelled the Greek way, rh.
sandal: Sandals won’t keep out the sand, Al, but if you spell the word with two
a’s, you will at least spell it correctly.
schedule: School should schedule a time to learn how to spell this word since
school and schedule start with the same letters. Outside the United States, this
word is pronounced “shedjule,” not “skedjule.”
scissors: See the c in scissors? You can’t snip it out when you spell this word.
seize: Pronounced like two c’s, this word roundly breaks the i-before-e rule.
separate: Never forget that two a’s separate the e’s when spelling separate.
sergeant: The sergeant’s nickname is Sarge but his full name is sergeant. (Don’t
ask why.)