>>How about the most universally misused word on the internet (number 1 for the last 20 years, I'd say, if you include the days of the BBS) - Loose to mean Lose. My favourite with this is being insulted by an illiterate who calls you a looser. How can you not laugh?
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>I've noticed! That one comes pretty high. (I think I've noticed one of the illiterates to whom you refer! :-)
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>A spelling mistake that can be forgiven is "seperate" for "separate". It SOUNDS like the 1st rather than the 2nd. It's possible I would have been one of the misusers if it hadn't been in our weekly "Common Mistakes" sessions in English, at school. :-)

One of the worst spelled word in the English language (depending on where you live) has to be 'Colonel'. Where the heck's the 'R'?

Or how about 'cough' vs 'tough' or 'couch' vs 'touch'. How is a person new to English supposed to deal with this nonsense?