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
“Often times people use slang, misspell words, use poor grammar, or write something that violates our guidelines but isn’t easily detectable by automation.”
From Slate ● Mar. 3, 2020
The only exception comes if they misspell back-to-back, in which case the bee continues.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 30, 2019
"Did somebody misspell the word 'tail,' as in a doggy tail?"
From "The Cinderella Ballet Mystery: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #4" by Carolyn Keene
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
A sobering travelogue through the world of maternal health care, yes, but it also misspells “Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
From Slate ● Feb. 17, 2020
In his preface, he misspells the last name of his book editor.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 15, 2019
But the letter misspells the name of one Hall of Famer, listing Carl Eller’s last name as “Ellard.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2018
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
One password-protected website has the creatively misspelled URL poiymarket.com, which is indistinguishable from polymarket.com when the “i” is capitalized.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 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
Except it all kind of devolved into this sinkhole of gossip and bad poetry and misspelled Bible quotes.
From "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli
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
The anthology, in which she consciously leaves words misspelt, stayed on the Amazon best-seller list for weeks after publication.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2019
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
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
He said the misspelling of philosopher's on the back of the copy was among the things that identified it as a first edition.
From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2025
They say her note about “Dr. Trumpet” was a misspelling of Dr. Trombka, Sneed’s psychiatrist.
From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2024
She didn’t mind the misspelling of her name that much, but it bothered her when reporters had a lot to say about her appearance.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
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.
