misspell
Americanverb (used with or without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
misspellsimple
-
misspellssimple
-
have misspelledperfect
-
have misspeltperfect
-
has misspelledperfect
-
has misspeltperfect
-
am misspellingprogressive
-
are misspellingprogressive
-
is misspellingprogressive
-
have been misspellingperfect progressive
-
has been misspellingperfect progressive
Past
-
misspelledsimple
-
misspeltsimple
-
had misspelledperfect
-
had misspeltperfect
-
was misspellingprogressive
-
were misspellingprogressive
-
had been misspellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of misspell
Explanation
When you misspell something, you spell it worng. Whoops. Sorry about that — When you misspell something, you spell it wrong. When you have the letters in the wrong order or you don't have the right letters, you misspell. How humiliating it would be to misspell this word! Just remember that you need two s's — the one in mis- (as in mistake or mishandle), meaning to do something the wrong way, and the s in spell.
Vocabulary lists containing misspell
Commonly Misspelled Words, List 6
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mis-
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocabulary for January 7–January 13, 2023
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Toczylowski said federal agents sometimes misspell the name of the person they are booking into custody.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2025
He added that "typo-squatting" - a type of cyber-crime that targets users who incorrectly misspell an internet domain - is common.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2023
In a group called Healthcare Heroes for Personal Choice, an administrator instructed people to remove or misspell buzzwords and to avoid using the syringe emoji.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 28, 2021
And they misspell the name of one of the Ukrainian prosecutors.
From New York Times ● Nov. 23, 2019
I google it so fast, I almost misspell the word “bean.”
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
He accidentally misspells Orlando as "Ornaldo", before apologising to all the "perfect brothers and sisters out there" for his mistake – all while staring blankly into the camera.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Epstein doesn’t appear to correct Nikolic when he misspells his first name.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026
For example, he couldn’t tell you my current job and still misspells my primary school age kid’s name, and my kid’s name has four letters.
From Slate ● Mar. 21, 2021
In his preface, he misspells the last name of his book editor.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 15, 2019
Some boat owner in Florida misspells “Grandma” and look what happens: a myth is bom, a province is renamed, a Communist party newspaper is launched.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
Corrections & Amplifications: The name of Venu Krishna, U.S. equity strategist at Barclays, was misspelled in an earlier version of this article.
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026
Think of the number of times you have misspelled something, or said the wrong word, and still been understood.
From Science Daily ● May 22, 2026
The name of an Arkansas coal plant receiving an exemption was misspelled, for instance, as was the name of the company Phillips 66, which was granted exemptions at its oil refineries in Illinois and Texas.
From Salon ● May 10, 2026
May 4, 2026An earlier version of this article misspelled Alanna O’Reilly’s name as Illana O’Reiley.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2026
The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I’d misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.
From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan
She forged a degree certificate and a letter of verification in 1995, with the word verify misspelt, the court heard.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2025
Red-faced highways officials have apologised after misspelt road signs directing motorists to non-existent villages were installed on a bypass.
From BBC ● Apr. 7, 2021
Skipping past Christian Fuchs, whose name was rather unfortunately misspelt on the teamsheet, Willmott delivered a terrific cross on the run that exposed Wes Morgan’s poor positioning.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 6, 2019
In some places, words are redacted or misspelt.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 13, 2018
There were, as I recall, many misspelt, ill- formed sentences about how much in love the couple were, how wonderful the second footman was, and how marvellous the future was that awaited them both.
From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro
But in another instance, Epstein was critical of misspelling.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026
Above him hung a “Moore’s Refishing” sign, a friend’s comical misspelling of the shop’s name.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2025
They say her note about “Dr. Trumpet” was a misspelling of Dr. Trombka, Sneed’s psychiatrist.
From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2024
In 2019, after the mayor publicly opposed his state visit to Britain, the former president accused Mr. Khan of being “nasty” to him, while misspelling his name and mocking his stature.
From New York Times ● May 4, 2024
She found another typo in Griswold’s: exsessively—a misspelling she had missed all the previous times she’d pored over this story.
From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
