Spelling Error Questions in SSC CGL: How They Are Asked
SSC CGL, CHSL and MTS English sections regularly include one or two spelling questions, asked in two forms: "Identify the misspelt word" (one wrong word among four) and "Select the correctly spelt word" (one right word among four). They are the fastest marks in the paper if you know the high-frequency traps: double letters (accommodate, committee), ie/ei (receive, believe), silent letters (rhythm, February) and -ance/-ence, -able/-ible endings.
Key takeaway: Learn the 100 words below with their usual wrong form. Most errors fall into five patterns: a missing or extra double letter, ie/ei swapped, a silent letter dropped, the wrong vowel in a suffix, and a letter swapped (the "seperate" type). When two options both look right, check the double letters first.
Every correct spelling below was checked against an English dictionary word list, and every "common wrong form" was checked to be absent from it, so you can trust the table. One genuine trap is noted: "calender" is a real but different word. For vocabulary sections in the same paper, use our synonyms and antonyms for SSC CGL 2026 and one word substitution for SSC CGL.
8 Spelling Rules for SSC CGL (with Examples)
| Rule | Statement | Examples | Exceptions to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. i before e | "i before e except after c" when the sound is "ee" | believe, achieve, siege; after c: receive, receipt, ceiling | seize, weird, either, neither, foreign |
| 2. Doubling the final consonant | Double it before -ed/-ing when the word ends in one vowel + one consonant and the last syllable is stressed | occur → occurred, begin → beginning, commit → committed | benefit → benefited (stress not on the last syllable) |
| 3. Dropping silent e | Drop final e before a vowel suffix | hope → hoping, write → writing | Keep e after c/g before -able/-ous: noticeable, courageous |
| 4. Keeping e before a consonant suffix | Keep final e before -ment, -ful, -ly | arrange → arrangement, hope → hopeful | argue → argument, true → truly, judge → judgment / judgement (both used) |
| 5. y to i | Change y to i before a suffix if a consonant comes before y | happy → happiness, carry → carried | Keep y before -ing: carrying |
| 6. -able vs -ible | -able usually follows a complete word; -ible usually does not | acceptable, noticeable, indispensable; visible, terrible, irresistible | Learn indispensable (-able) and irresistible (-ible) as a pair |
| 7. -ance vs -ence | No safe rule; learn the common ones | maintenance, vengeance; existence, occurrence, reference, perseverance | "perseverence" and "existance" are favourite wrong options |
| 8. Prefix + root | Keep all letters when a prefix is added | mis + spell = misspell, un + necessary = unnecessary, dis + appear = disappear | dis + appoint = disappoint (one s, two p) |
100 Commonly Misspelt Words for SSC CGL (Correct vs Wrong)
| Correct spelling | Common wrong form | Correct spelling | Common wrong form |
|---|---|---|---|
| accommodate | accomodate | address | adress |
| achieve | acheive | aggressive | agressive |
| acquaintance | acquaintence | apparent | apparant |
| acquire | aquire | argument | arguement |
| beginning | begining | believe | beleive |
| bureaucracy | bureaucrasy | business | buisness |
| calendar | calender (a different word) | cemetery | cemetary |
| colleague | collegue | commission | commision |
| committee | commitee | conscience | concience |
| conscientious | consciencious | conscious | concious |
| definitely | definately | desperate | desparate |
| dilemma | dilemna | disappear | dissapear |
| disappoint | dissappoint | discipline | disipline |
| embarrass | embarass | environment | enviroment |
| exaggerate | exagerate | existence | existance |
| February | Febuary | fluorescent | flourescent |
| foreign | foriegn | forty | fourty |
| gauge | guage | government | goverment |
| grammar | grammer | guarantee | gaurantee |
| harass | harrass | hierarchy | heirarchy |
| hygiene | hygeine | immediately | immediatly |
| independent | independant | indispensable | indispensible |
| irresistible | irresistable | knowledge | knowlege |
| liaison | liasion | library | libary |
| lieutenant | leiutenant | maintenance | maintainance |
| millennium | millenium | miniature | miniture |
| mischievous | mischievious | misspell | mispell |
| necessary | neccessary | noticeable | noticable |
| occasion | occassion | occurred | occured |
| occurrence | occurence | omission | ommission |
| parliament | parliment | pastime | pasttime |
| perseverance | perseverence | playwright | playwrite |
| possession | posession | privilege | priviledge |
| pronunciation | pronounciation | questionnaire | questionaire |
| receipt | reciept | receive | recieve |
| recommend | reccommend | reference | refrence |
| relevant | relevent | restaurant | restaraunt |
| rhythm | rythm | schedule | schedual |
| separate | seperate | sergeant | sargeant |
| siege | seige | successful | succesful |
| supersede | supercede | surprise | suprise |
| threshold | threshhold | tomorrow | tommorow |
| tyranny | tyrrany | unnecessary | unneccessary |
| vacuum | vaccum | vengeance | vengance |
| weird | wierd | withhold | withold |
| entrepreneur | entrepeneur | souvenir | souvenier |
| connoisseur | connoiseur | renaissance | renaisance |
| quintessence | quintessance | bourgeois | bourgois |
That is 96 word pairs; add the four "rule words" seize, either, neither, Wednesday and you have 100 high-frequency words to revise.
Spelling Tricks to Remember the Hardest Words
- accommodate: it has room for two c's and two m's.
- separate: there is "a rat" in separate.
- necessary: one collar (c), two sleeves (ss).
- embarrass: you go really red (rr) and feel so silly (ss).
- rhythm: "rhythm helps your two hips move".
- definitely: it contains "finite", not "finate".
- privilege: no "d" in privilege, unlike "knowledge".
- pronunciation: the verb is pronounce, but the noun drops the "o": pro-nun-ciation.
- calendar (for dates) ends in -ar; a calender is a machine that presses cloth or paper.
How to Solve "Identify the Misspelt Word" in 15 Seconds
- Scan each option for double letters first (cc, mm, ss, rr, tt). Most errors are here.
- Check ie/ei words next.
- Check suffixes: -ance/-ence, -able/-ible, -ary/-ery.
- Say the word slowly in syllables; a missing syllable (libary, goverment) shows up.
- If still unsure, eliminate words you are certain of and mark the remaining one.
Common Traps in SSC Spelling Questions
- British vs American spelling: SSC usually follows British forms (colour, programme, centre), but it avoids giving both a British and an American spelling of the same word as "right" and "wrong". If an option looks American (color), check the others before marking it.
- Real words used as traps: calender, stationary (not moving) vs stationery (paper goods), principal vs principle, complement vs compliment.
- Silent letters: February, Wednesday, lieutenant, rhythm, gauge.
- Long technical words (shown in some recent papers) usually test the same patterns: a doubled or missing letter, or a wrong vowel in the middle.
Spelling Error Questions for SSC CGL (Practice Set)
- Identify the misspelt word: (a) Supersede (b) Perseverance (c) Priviledge (d) Assassinate. Answer: (c). Correct: privilege.
- Identify the misspelt word: (a) Accommodate (b) Embarass (c) Committee (d) Necessary. Answer: (b). Correct: embarrass.
- Select the correctly spelt word: (a) Occurence (b) Occurrence (c) Ocurrence (d) Occurrance. Answer: (b).
- Select the correctly spelt word: (a) Seperate (b) Separete (c) Separate (d) Saperate. Answer: (c).
- Identify the misspelt word: (a) Receive (b) Believe (c) Seige (d) Achieve. Answer: (c). Correct: siege.
- Select the correctly spelt word: (a) Questionaire (b) Questionnaire (c) Questionnare (d) Questionnair. Answer: (b).
- Identify the misspelt word: (a) Millennium (b) Rhythm (c) Maintainance (d) Liaison. Answer: (c). Correct: maintenance.
- Select the correctly spelt word: (a) Pronounciation (b) Pronunciation (c) Pronunciasion (d) Pronunsiation. Answer: (b).
- Identify the misspelt word: (a) Conscientious (b) Mischievous (c) Indispensable (d) Irresistable. Answer: (d). Correct: irresistible.
- Select the correctly spelt word: (a) Entrepreneur (b) Entrepeneur (c) Enterpreneur (d) Entreprenuer. Answer: (a).
Practise spelling with the rest of the English section in the SSC CGL English Comprehension Sectional Mock Test 01 and SSC CHSL English Language Sectional Mock Test 01.
Spelling Errors FAQs
How many spelling questions come in SSC CGL?
Usually one or two questions per shift in the English Comprehension section of Tier 1, asked as "identify the misspelt word" or "select the correctly spelt word".
What are the most commonly misspelt words in exams?
Words with double letters (accommodate, committee, embarrass), ie/ei words (receive, siege), and words with tricky suffixes (maintenance, perseverance, existence).
Is "calender" a wrong spelling?
For the meaning "a chart of dates", yes; the correct word is calendar. "Calender" is a separate word for a machine that presses cloth or paper.
Does SSC follow British or American spelling?
SSC papers generally use British spelling, so prefer forms such as colour and programme, but read all four options before deciding.
What is the rule for i before e?
Write "ie" for the "ee" sound (believe, siege) except after c (receive, receipt). Learn the exceptions: seize, weird, either, neither.
Practice Next
- Mock tests: SSC CGL English Comprehension Sectional Mock Test 02 and SSC CHSL English Language Sectional Mock Test 02.
- Related notes: synonyms and antonyms for SSC CGL 2026, one word substitution for SSC CGL, idioms asked in SSC CGL, sentence improvement rules for SSC CGL and homophones for SSC CGL.
- Exam details: SSC CGL 2026 and SSC CHSL 2026.
- Browse all study notes.