Examples of Misspellings by Nonnative Writers of English
Misspelling Target Word Position Length Notes
12-13 year old near-beginner German learners of English (James & Klein, 1994)
familie family
habe have
bruder brother
vater father
ist is
wie we
wir near
haus house
geht get
ab up
wen then
Horst first
ei I
fahr far
Bus bus
toun town
sen then
Welsh-dominant Welsh-English bilinguals, 10-11 years old (James et al., 1993)
had hard
byrd bird
blyd blood
dir dear
per pair
pwr poor
usiwal usual
tiws choose
tewes choose
simpal simple
sevan seven
cenal kennel
sgware square
sgip skip
sday stay
glows clothes
pardner partner
padnyr partner
learnd learned
pingck pink
cot got
cet get
pac back
LING480 – Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching, SFU 1
March 16, 2005, Spring Semester 2005, Instructor: Dr. Trude Heift
Misspelling Target Word Position Length Notes
bacwyt backward
shofel shuffle
driping dripping
yelow yellow
hiden hidden
diferent different
midle middle
pasd passed
suposed supposed
pinc pink
loc lock
scwer square
lodj lodge
fan van
ofer over
siop shop
causion caution
complit complete
mit meet
thif thief
bild build
siv sieve
rwf roof
frend friend
bo bore
bwk book
dau die
dai die
dae die
boi boy
boe boy
bou boy
teik take
teyk take
teuk take
wen when
bocs box
ffat fat
odder other
dans dance
wel well
iellow yellow
wnce once
tim team
LING480 – Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching, SFU 2
March 16, 2005, Spring Semester 2005, Instructor: Dr. Trude Heift
Misspelling Target Word Position Length Notes
pantri pantry
ded dead
meni many
coff cough
grwp group
fiw few
pwsh push
taim time
haight height
rein rain
caw cow
trawt trout
ruban ribbon
jymp jump
pol bowl
dis dice
naw now
raes race
misc mix
pictiour picture
thurs theirs
tuse choose
peapoll people
chac shake
uou you
u you
gam game
isi easy
Spanish-speaking adults studying English (Bebout, 1985)
anchase anxious
jurrey jewelry
daneurash dangerous
auturum auditorium
hospile hospital
badorese batteries
battiers batteries
badors batteries
batratys batteries
datrea’s batteries
baterrey’s batteries
loansone lonesome
ornage orange
beginnig beginning
dissapointed disappointed
LING480 – Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching, SFU 3
March 16, 2005, Spring Semester 2005, Instructor: Dr. Trude Heift
Misspelling Target Word Position Length Notes
wase vase
botle bottle
disapointed disappointed
officce office
sut suit
metting meeting
desapointed disappointed
wolked walked
lowyer lawyer
prettyies pretties
desagreat disagreed
encreased increased
nervious nervous
lieying lying
weat wet
pant pants
drogstore drugstore
inverterd inverted
crys cries
beatiful beautiful
sallesman salesman
batle bottle
peaples people
peaple people
hause house
inteligent intelligent
verry very
blu blue
Arab learners of English (Ibrahim, 1978)
administrater administrator
biginner beginner
putato potato
villigers villagers
auther author
husbund husband
custums customs
mannar manner
goverment government
electrisity electricity
blaying playing
bicture picture
Jaban Japan
bombous pompous
covernment government
LING480 – Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching, SFU 4
March 16, 2005, Spring Semester 2005, Instructor: Dr. Trude Heift
Misspelling Target Word Position Length Notes
communisem communism
compination combination
distripution distribution
clup club
hapit habit
hoppy hobby
tought taught
origional original
languidge language
chiep cheap
apostrophy apostrophe
fudal feudal
lownly lonely
sleaping sleeping
maney many
mony money
gether gather
to gather together
cann’t can’t
heared heard
toled told
savety safety
hight height
speach speech
dayly daily
pronounciation pronunciation
faulse false
nin nine
trys tries
indicants incidents
scondl scandal
English misspellings by Bengali children (Vivian Cook’s website)
agaist against
bilding building
bourght bought
chiken chicken
ciggerettes cigarettes
cosins cousins
cuisen cousins
evry every
freind friend
frowed threw
throght threw
throught threw
LING480 – Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching, SFU 5
March 16, 2005, Spring Semester 2005, Instructor: Dr. Trude Heift
Misspelling Target Word Position Length Notes
hade had
haged hugged
herting hurting
hes his
lebeo label
neougbour neighbour
packd packed
qiet quite
qite quite
rases laces
Roben Robin
samoesas samosas
Saterday Saturday
seasaw see-saw
sheeps sheep
sow saw
squeshing squashing
statoin station
televisen television
tern turn
Tuseday Tuesday
undier under
wached watched
wather water
weat wait
wises wishes
Wool Warth Woolworths
woud would
Note. Many more misspellings by nonnative writers of English at Vivian Cook’s website:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/SpellingData.htm
Reference List:
Bebout, L. (1985). An error analysis of misspellings made by learners of English as a
first and as a second language. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 14(6), 569-
593.
Cook, Vivian. Examples of English misspellings by Bengali children:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/SpellingMistakes/MistakesBengali.htm
Ibrahim, M. H. (1978). Patterns in spelling errors. English Language Teaching, 32, 207-
212.
James, C., & Klein, K. (1994). Foreign language learners' spelling and proofreading
strategies. Papers and Studies in Contrastive Linguistics, 29, 31-46.
James, C., Scholfield, P., Garrett, P., & Griffiths, Y. (1993). Welsh bilinguals' English
spelling: An error analysis. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural
Development, 14(4), 287-306.
LING480 – Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching, SFU 6
March 16, 2005, Spring Semester 2005, Instructor: Dr. Trude Heift