Commonly Misspelled Words That Have Weird Pronunciation

Did your English teacher ever scold you for misspelling a word? Well, she might even be misspelling it too. Yes, some commonly misspelled words have become a part of our language.

Somebody misspelled or mispronounced it, and the rest followed it, that’s how some words have lost its originality. It usually happens when the words are foreign and you don’t know how do you spell definitely the same word.

Here are some commonly misspelled words that not only misspelled but have weird pronunciation as well.

Common Words We Almost Spelled Differently

Guess The Correct Spelling Of Nickname?

The most commonly misspelled word is a “Nickname.” Back in 1303, the term “ nickname” came in the light as “eke name.” Eke is an English word that means “ in addition.” It also has another meaning, i.e. “also.” So, the original meaning of eke name is an additional name that you give to a person.

But the word “eke name” seems dull and outdated to English speakers. So, they just gave a twist to the word and used nick instead of eke. English speakers found a nickname cooler and less strange than the original name. That’s how we got the nickname.

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Orange Was Not Always Orange

You did not think of getting it in our list of commonly misspelled words, but Yes, we have been misspelling it since childhood. The word came into existence due to a citrus fruit which is orange in color. Initially, the fruit was called “naranga” in northeast India ( its origin place).

The “ga” becomes “nj” by the Arab traders, and now naranga was pronounced as “naranj.” the Europeans spelled it arangia. But it was difficult to pronounce by the English and French speakers. So, they called it by different names like narangia, norange, and un arangia.

By the year 1500, it ultimately got renamed as orange, and the whole world now misspells it.

Apron Or Napron?

One of the common words we almost spelled differently is an apron. If you are not putting “an” before the word, then you are making grammar errors. That serves as a base for its change.
Initially, it was Napron, which is Mappa in Latin. Mappa means napkin, which itself pronounced incorrect by the french as nappe. Later, it became napperon by the french speakers, and finally, it twisted as napron by the English speakers due to their grammar rules.

A “napron” becomes an apron mistakenly by the people during conversation, and now it became an English word.

Omelet Had Weirdest Pronunciation

How do you spell definitely the same word, “la Lemelle”? Well, even french could not spell it correctly, and it became alemette. They switched the places of m and l in the original word. And it’s not the only thing they changed. You would be surprised to know the real meaning of the word la Lemelle.

It came from Lemelle- a little blade that refers to items such as coins and plates. For french, an egg dish looks like a small knife. So, they start saying it, la Lemelle. Later, it became l’omelette and came into the English dictionary as omelette by the year 1600.

So, not only the word misspelled, but the meaning has also got changed as the term refers to the egg dish and not the recipe itself. But, for us, the omelette is a recipe.

Aluminum Or Aluminium?

Have you ever got confused when writing aluminum? Well, both spellings are correct as British English says it is aluminium and American English say it’s aluminum. Both the commonly misspelled words given by Sir Humphry Davy.

He gave us other useful elements such as magnesium, sodium, and potassium. Just because aluminum was not rhyming with these words, he added an extra “i” to it. But Americans prefer the Noah Webster dictionary where I got lost, and they used the word ending with- um. So, if you are writing as per British English use ium or else it’s um at the ending.

These few commonly misspelled words show that despite boundaries, language finds its way. But when foreign words get in use by other countries, errors are obvious to happen, and that’s how we get new words.