The five patterns behind most spelling errors
| Pattern | Correct spellings |
|---|---|
| Double letters | accommodate, committee, embarrass, occurrence, necessary, possession, millennium, questionnaire, harass (one r), parallel |
| ie / ei | achieve, believe, receive, deceive, ceiling, seize, weird, foreign, leisure, conceive |
| Silent letters | subtle, rhythm, receipt, debt, psychology, pneumonia, column, mortgage, colleague, government |
| -ance / -ence | maintenance, existence, perseverance, independence, occurrence, acquaintance, reference, grievance |
| -able / -ible | available, dependable, noticeable, responsible, eligible, permissible, irresistible, indispensable |
More words SSC repeats
| Correct | Common wrong spelling |
|---|---|
| definitely | definately |
| separate | seperate |
| privilege | priviledge |
| guarantee | gaurantee |
| entrepreneur | enterpreneur |
| conscience | concience |
| liaison | liasion |
| bureaucracy | beaurocracy |
| hierarchy | heirarchy |
| maneuver / manoeuvre | manuver |
| exaggerate | exagerate |
| pronunciation | pronounciation |
| occasion | ocassion |
| recommend | reccomend |
| tomorrow | tommorow |
| vacuum | vaccum |
| mischievous | mischievious |
| sacrilegious | sacreligious |
| surveillance | survelance |
| connoisseur | conoisseur |
Memory tricks that work
- Accommodate has room for two c's and two m's.
- Separate — there is "a rat" in sep-a-rat-e.
- Necessary — one collar (c), two sleeves (ss).
- Believe — never believe a lie (l-ie).
- Receive — i before e, except after c.
- Definitely — it is finite: de-finite-ly.
- Embarrass — you go really red (rr) and sweat (ss).
Frequently asked questions
How many spelling questions come in SSC CGL?
Usually about two in Tier 1 English, asking you to find the correctly or incorrectly spelt word among four options.
Which spelling is correct — 'accomodate' or 'accommodate'?
Accommodate — two c's and two m's.