Words you struggle with?

[abarrach]

Are there words for which you struggle with their spelling or proper usage, yet you like to use them regularly?

Here are some of mine :
- "definite", "indefinitely", and several variations thereof; I always want to write them with an "e" instead of an "i" after "f" (e.g. "defenite")
- "apologize"; I tend to add an extra "p"
- "across"; I usually write with double "c" then end up correcting it.
- "taught" (past tense of "to teach"); the word just looks wrong...
- various forms of "to write"; I have to pay close attention to when there is one "t" and when there are two.

I know there are others, but I can't think of any right now.  

[Alexia Angel Holtes]

I struggle with the word Propose, I don't know why because I keep wanting to put a 'u' there where the 'o' is after the R and before the P. Don't know why though.

 

[CristoVII]

1.participate
2. phenomenon
3.serendipity
4.existentialism
5.ambiguous

Those five are the top among spelling error or incorrect usage for me.

Also, propose is sometimes pronounced "pruh-pose" which explains your problem. I think.  

[Londo Mollari]

I have a problem with using words (correctly) but not being able to articulate a definition for someone who doesn't know the word. For instance, I was talking about someone and called them a sycophant, and the person I was talking to asked what that meant.

Try as I might, I could not come up with a definition that made any sense to them. Finally I got home and emailed the definition from m-w to them, and then they agreed with me - the person I was talking about WAS a sycophant.

Does anyone else have this problem of using words but being unable to define them out of context?  

[SilverBellsAbove]

I don't have a problem with individual words (except things like stomach and shoulder, they both just look weird to me) but it's more of a random intelligence lapse type of thing.

I'll just spell things wrong randomly and then suddenly exclaim 'BLARG I BE IDIOT' and start red-penning like a madwoman in a hurricane.

That, and if I stare at any word for long enough it just looks 'wrong' after a while. It's a byproduct of thinking too hard, I guess. But then again, I thank my lucky stars I'm not dyslexic like my friend Eva. She spells everything backward. Poor girl. sweatdrop

It's not so much having 'trouble words' for me, it's 'trouble moments'. AKA- the infamous 'brain fart'.  

[Once Was]

I have a problem with the words just, especially when typing. I always type it like jsut, no idea why! Then the word while, I always spell it out as why and have to go back and change it. I get me and my mized up a lot too and it should be most I put must a lot. And it's not like I purposely do, I know for sure I put the right thing then I go back and look and it's not what I read. (I'm possibly dyslexic though my mom just won't get me tested.)  

[Patron with a Mission]

I don't really have a problem typing words or spelling them, but sometimes I type too fast and I'll misspell a word or temporarily forget how a word is spelled and thus, I look it up. Sometimes, though, I misspell "revolution"...I'm always missing a letter, for some odd reason.  

[MadnessFreak]

Thanks.

Yeah.
Whenever I type it, I always spell it 'thankts' (although I've never posted it without a correction), and it really ticks me off. gonk  

[darkrose_eve]

I mostly misspell words that have two or more repeated words.

Just a random thought:

Doesn't committee look weird? It has 3 repeats in it!!  

[Woodnut]

I often spell exercise "excercise." And then I look at it and think, "Damnit, I stuck that extra c in there again!" >_<

Also, bureaucracy. I sometimes start spelling it "beau..." and then I realize it's not right.  

[Shigures Editor]

I don't really have problems with any of those words, but I'm never sure whether to use the British form (apologise) or the American form (apologize).

You can paint your life a rainbow of colors.

 

[abarrach]

Shigures Editor

I don't really have problems with any of those words, but I'm never sure whether to use the British form (apologise) or the American form (apologize).

LOL! Are you from Canada per chance?  

[The Shoe Pile]

I'm still not sure if this the way to spell "nauseous" because it looks so weird to me.

I used to spell "special" as "speacial" all the time. I don't know how I was taught wrong but I always believed my way was right. confused  

[GirlPuck]

I have a really hard time getting the spelling right for words that differ only slightly between French and English. I have been in French immersion for six years now (I can't imagine what it must be like for someone who started in kindergarden). Words like example/exemple always fool me up. It gets frustrating, and they love to take marks off in exams for a simple slip like that.

Also, I don't know how many of you are American or Canadian, but the differences in spelling between the two countries is confusing at times (I'm Canadian so I add the "u"). Words like colour/color, neighbour/neighbor and favourite/favorite. I tend to look at the American spelling and say "That's wrong." but it isn't necessarily.  

[Praxling]

I guess it depends more on the word. Sometime I'll misspell the most simplest words (probably because I thought too much about the spelling). When I type, some words that are hard to spell at other times are typed correctly the first time. It's like the spelling has been etched into my brain.
I enjoy spelling, probably because of spelling bees I've been in when I was younger. I hate when my keyboard doesn't pick up all the keys I press when I'm typing on the internet. It didn't do that when I had the older version of Internet Explorer. So, if you see some word missing a letter or two, or a sentence missing some type of punctuation, that's probably why.
On a different note, I absolutely love the word "heinous."
It's my favorite word. Either that, or "specificities."
I'm pretty sure it's a word, because I think I looked it up one time in the dictionary.

I used to have a little trouble spelling "ludicrous," but that's probably just because I got it mixed up with the music artist, Ludacris.
I also have trouble with the word "vacuum."
When a word doesn't look right to me, I end up spelling it the two ways I think are possibly correct, and then go to the dictionary or WordPerfect and spell it both ways to see which one is right.
I think I may have OCD with spelling....

Shigures Editor:
Ah! That's why the word apologize/apologise always looks wrong when I spell it either way! It's because they're both right. ><
Okay, that clears some things up for me. :]