5.3 Spelling and Commonly Misspelled Words

5.3 Spelling and Commonly Misspelled Words

Spelling appears explicitly in the PERT's Grammar, Spelling, Capitalization, and Punctuation Skills competency. In a multiple-choice format, a spelling item typically shows one sentence with a single misspelled word and asks you to identify the error, or it lists four spellings of the same word and asks which is correct. You cannot rely on spell-check here, so a short review of the most-tested words and the rules behind them pays off. The good news is that English spelling errors are not random: a limited set of words and a few predictable rule categories generate the vast majority of mistakes, so studying the patterns below covers far more test items than the length of the list suggests.

1. The High-Frequency Misspelling Bank

A small set of words causes most spelling errors. Memorize the correct forms below; the incorrect versions are the traps you will see.

Most of these demons trip writers on a single feature: a doubled letter that is easy to drop (embarrass, accommodate, occurrence) or a silent letter that is easy to add (the phantom d in privilege). When you meet one of these words on the test, focus your attention on that one weak spot rather than the whole word.

2. "I Before E" and Its Limits

The familiar rhyme—i before e, except after c—covers many words: believe, achieve, and (after c) receive, deceive. But the rule has well-known exceptions the PERT can use as traps:

• After c but still ie: ancient, conscience, science
• ei without a c: weird, seize, either, neither, foreign, height
• The 'ay' sound is spelled ei: neighbor, weigh, freight

A compact way to remember several exceptions at once is the mnemonic sentence "Neither foreign sovereign seized the weird height," which strings together six of the most common ei words that break the basic rule. If a word on the test belongs to that exception family, the standard rhyme will point you to the wrong answer, so learn the exceptions as deliberately as the rule itself.

3. Silent-E Suffix Rule

When a word ends in a silent e and you add a suffix:

• Drop the e before a suffix that begins with a vowel: hope + ing = hoping; use + able = usable.
• Keep the e before a suffix that begins with a consonant: hope + ful = hopeful; care + less = careless.

Watch for the meaning-changing pair hoping (from hope) versus hopping (from hop), which the next rule controls. There are a few useful exceptions worth knowing: words ending in a soft -ce or -ge keep the e before -able or -ous to preserve the soft sound, which is why notice becomes noticeable and courage becomes courageous rather than noticable or couragous.

4. Doubling the Final Consonant

Double the final consonant before a vowel suffix only when a one-syllable word ends in a single vowel + single consonant.

• stop -> stopped, stopping (single vowel o, single consonant p)
• rain -> rained, raining (two vowels, do not double)
• For longer words, double only when the stress falls on the last syllable: begin -> beginning, but open -> opening.

This rule explains many pairs the test likes to contrast: refer becomes referring (stress on the last syllable) but offer becomes offering (stress on the first). If you can hear which syllable is stressed, you can predict whether the consonant doubles.

5. Plurals and Words Ending in -Y

One more pattern rounds out the most-tested spelling rules. When a word ends in a consonant + y, change the y to i before most suffixes: carry becomes carried and happy becomes happiness. When a word ends in a vowel + y, keep the y: play becomes played and joy becomes joyful. The same consonant-plus-y words form plurals by changing y to ies (city to cities), while vowel-plus-y words simply add s (key to keys).

Exam Strategy

When a spelling question lists four versions of one word, say the word slowly and test each rule: Is there a double letter (embarrass, accommodate)? Does i-before-e apply, and is this a known exception? Did adding a suffix require dropping an e or doubling a consonant, or changing a y to i? The correct option is the one that survives every applicable rule. If two options look plausible, isolate the exact letters that differ between them and decide which spelling the rules support—the difference is almost always a single doubled letter, a silent letter, or an ie/ei swap.