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64 Spelling Fails That Changed The Meaning In The Funniest Possible Way

64 Spelling Fails That Changed The Meaning In The Funniest Possible Way

English is complicated, with its rather random spelling rules and seemingly-arbitrary pronunciation of some words. So if one wants to avoid eternal shame online for misspelling something, it’s important to always double check before posting.

So in case you sometimes feel bad for using spellcheck, we’ve gathered some of the most atrocious spelling mistakes from across the internet for your viewing enjoyment. Get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your own examples in the comments below (after running them through some proofreading.)

#1 [legit] Leonardo Dicaprio The Painter

© Photo: Dagobian_Fudge

#2 Lonely Tennessee Melons Can’t Elope

© Photo: FartyHavarti

#3 Chupacabras Seem So Nice

© Photo: A_Falcon_Bird

Before blaming the authors of these masterpieces, it helps to know that English spelling has been a bit of a mess since long before the internet arrived. The short version is that spelling got locked in place right when pronunciation was in the middle of a makeover.

William Caxton brought the printing press to England in 1476, just as the Great Vowel Shift was changing how everyone said their long vowels, so printers froze the old spellings while mouths kept moving. For example, Canada’s Language Portal walks through the whole saga, including why treat and great look like cousins but sound like strangers.

#4 Why Don’t Tattoo Places Just Euthanize Their Clients

© Photo: endlesscosmichorror

#5 Roast History Chicken!

© Photo: k7eenex

#6 The Hot Chocolate Machine At My Dinning Hall Has Lost Its Innocence

© Photo: StillDontHaveAName

Then the Renaissance arrived and some scholars decided English words should look more like their Latin ancestors, so they sprinkled in extra letters like confetti. Debt grew a silent b to resemble the Latin debitum, and island picked up an s because people wrongly believed it was related to the Latin insula.

#7 Ah Yes My Favorite Topping

© Photo: Matthamations

#8 Anyone Wanna Go To A Groj Sale With Me?

© Photo: xenomniii

#9 Kepchup

© Photo: xD1S4ST3Rx

Its actual roots are Old English, which makes that s a mistake that got promoted to a rule. Babbel’s guide to the history of English spelling has more of these, including the receipt that used to be a perfectly sensible receit. Calendar troublemakers have their own excuses. Wednesday means Woden’s day, named for an old Germanic god, and the d survived in writing even though speakers dropped it ages ago.

#10 Somewhere In Philly, An Italian Found This And Had A Heart Attack

© Photo: adamsorkin

#11 Forcible Future

© Photo: l3El2Tl2AM

#12 Worst Typo Ever On My College Diploma

© Photo: AHarrisJDMBA

February is in the same club because plenty of people skip its first r when talking, and How Stuff Works has a neat explainer on silent letters like these. Meanwhile rhythm looks like someone sat on a keyboard, but it comes from Greek, where a leading rh and a y doing the job of a vowel are perfectly normal.

#13 After Two Tries, We'll Just Go With Reduced Prices

© Photo: EndersGame_Reviewer

#14 Exorcising Of Dogs Not Allowed

© Photo: [deleted]

#15 Autistic Guitar

© Photo: MidnightCharisk

Ghost carries a silent h that is often credited to Caxton, who spent years working in Flanders and may have borrowed the Flemish spelling. Colonel sounds like kernel because the word wandered through French, Italian and Spanish, and the spelling and pronunciation ended up following different versions.

#16 Bone Apple Teeth

© Photo: influencersinthewild

#17 Doesn't

© Photo: maykapenasalabi

#18 For What?

© Photo: aildeokl

Then there is the villain of proofreaders everywhere, supersede. Plenty of words such as precede and recede end in cede, while exceed, proceed and succeed end in ceed, and supersede stands alone as the only common word ending in sede. Grammarphobia digs into the history and traces it to a Latin verb meaning to sit on top of, which is a rather dignified origin for a word people constantly botch. Since supercede follows the more common pattern, it looks right to a lot of brains, and that is exactly the trap.

#19 Case Idea

© Photo: Sickkiientt

#20 No Pen No Gain

© Photo: Pinkkeu512

#21 Well

© Photo: pepealbe

The mumbled vowel crowd deserves its own spotlight. English speakers squash unstressed vowels into a vague uh sound, so the spelling turns into a guessing game. That is how definitely becomes definately all over the internet, although remembering that finite is hiding inside it helps.

#22 Damn Those Clouds Look Anonymous

© Photo: putin_on_a_ritz96

#23 Skin

© Photo: APFernweh

#24 Banch

© Photo: Mcaaaah

Separate suffers the same fate because the middle gets said so mushily that seperate feels right, until you remember that separate has a rat hiding in the middle. Accommodate has a different problem, since it demands two Cs and two Ms, which is a lot of letters for one word to accommodate. Embarrass also asks for two Rs and two Ss, which feels fitting for a word about blushing. Dictionary.com’s list of commonly misspelled words covers these with handy memory tricks.

#25 Who Doesn’t Love Brogle?

© Photo: chart7

#26 Delicious

© Photo: upyogakarta

#27 Please Pay For Gas Recipe Inside

© Photo: IcyBrradford

Borrowed words cause their own chaos. Pearson’s roundup of commonly misspelled words includes liaison, which arrived from French with a tangle of vowels, so liasion keeps sneaking in. Espresso comes from an Italian word meaning pressed out, but plenty of people assume it has something to do with speed and write expresso.

#28 Eight The Hd :(

© Photo: NineMoreBurgers

#29 Crab Raccoon

© Photo: aml63491

#30 Shrimps Camping

© Photo: ImplementAgile2945

Add in everyday disasters like alot, which is simply a lot with its space deleted, and the mix ups between your and you’re or loose and lose, and the internet has a steady supply of material. Almost every odd spelling is a fossil of an old pronunciation, a Latin makeover or a typesetter in a hurry, which should make everyone a little more sympathetic.

#31 Human Bean

© Photo: raelaj

#32 Gran Stephen Things

© Photo: tothgera

#33 Do You Lemonade?

© Photo: funtimezallaround

#34 Don’t Lick A Gift Horse In The Mouth

© Photo: anon

#35 Rantch

© Photo: emmdieh

#36 Takin A Bath

© Photo: Mditty129

#37 Salmon With Aspergers

© Photo: adventu_Rena

#38 Frank Incest

© Photo: GMCloudRunner

#39 Cream Delay

© Photo: AlwaysSunny512

#40 A Lip Tickle Machine

© Photo: GMCloudRunner

#41 Genesis Squash

© Photo: danni_el_e

#42 Amber Lamps

© Photo: igobykatenow

#43 No Trucks Be On This Point

© Photo: UberShark12

#44 Limp Nodes

© Photo: PinkLover727

#45 Tumor Rick 🧡

© Photo: EscapePerfect4947

#46 I'm Ready If The Plague Ever Comes Back

© Photo: ExaltHit

#47 Our Server Nicely Boxed And Labeled Our To-Go Food. Here's Our Filet Minion

© Photo: FrozenBr33ze

#48 Lame Man Terms

© Photo: MigJET31

#49 Popcorn In The Kettle Back

© Photo: SplattyFatty_

#50 Phosphorous

© Photo: DaftestPunk301

#51 Thoughts On Oatmeat?

© Photo: LittleKingDragon

#52 I Can't Wait For Spring!

© Photo: WhippetRun

#53 Notre Dame Is In Golfed

© Photo: mcgoogus

#54 Flaming Yawn, It’s What’s For Dinner

© Photo: OzManCumeth

#55 Al Gore Rhythm

© Photo: CantEverSpell

#56 Ease Dropper

© Photo: AgentOfMediocrity

#57 Spelling Fails

© Photo: antithero

#58 Spelling Error That Took Me Way Too Long To Notice

© Photo: Theonlyafrosamurai

#59 Spell Check!

© Photo: AccomplishedPapaya

#60 Fun In The Un (The Success Plaque In The Background Was A Happy Accident Too)

© Photo: maouprier

#61 Allah Cart

© Photo: gordoncrisp

#62 Perfect!

© Photo: Thesteelman86

#63 Msaeachubaets

© Photo: notsciguy

#64 Sorry For Incontinence

© Photo: The_Virus360

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