3 Spelling Tips That Actually Help You Spell Better

Even in our current world of electronics and spell checkers, the reality is that spelling still matters.   Poor spelling can get your resume tossed in the trash and it can mean you instantly lose credibility, regardless of what you’re writing. If you’re not a good speller,

you need to find some great spelling tips so you can easily improve your spelling.

 

Spelling is one of those things that is either really difficult or really easy, depending on whether or not you do it well. For those with good spelling it seems to come naturally, but for those who don’t spell very well, it seems nearly impossible.

 

However, knowing you’re a bad speller and improving your spelling skills are two very different things. How do you improve your spelling when you’re no longer a student who has to take a spelling quiz once a week? You can try using a dictionary, but that quickly becomes too cumbersome. Besides, you have to know how to spell a word before you can look it up, right?

 

Here are some spelling tips that can help.

 

Read a Lot

 

Any list of spelling tips should start with this one. There is simply no substitute for reading when you want to become a better speller. Reading does two different things for you.

 

• It exposes you to new words
• It reinforces the correct spelling of words you already know

Knowing how to spell something isn’t about how the word sounds or even about memorizing it. It’s about how it looks on the page. When you ask someone else how to spell a word, how often do they need to reach for paper and a pencil to write it down to see if it looks right? Probably pretty often.

 

Seeing words spelled correctly over and over and over help imprint them on your brain and allow you to see them correctly. Over time, you will become a better speller.

 

Keep Your List

 

There are some words that a lot of people have trouble spelling correctly and there are some words that seem to just be on your own list for some reason. Regardless, one of the most popular spelling tips is to keep a list of the words you seem to struggle with. This can be as simple as adding a word to your list every time you spell one incorrectly, have to look it up in the dictionary or find that it needs to be corrected after you used an online spell checker.

 

This spelling tip can help you two ways:

• You will have a handy reference when you’re writing something and you come across one of “your” words
• If you keep your list somewhere that you can see if frequently, you will get used to seeing it spelled correctly

Mnemonics

 

Using mnemonic devices is also a popular item when people look for spelling tips. These are little sentences that can make it easier to remember things. For example, a lot of people have trouble spelling the word “piece”, but it’s much easier to remember the sentence “A piece of pie.” Notice how the word “pie” is part of “piece”.

 

Here are a few others:

• “Definite” has 2 I’s in it.
• There is no place like here.
• “Cemetery” has three e’s.   Eee! Like a scream.

 

There are dozens of these sentences that you can add to your list of spelling tips. If you need one for any words that are problems for you, just do a search for the word, and add “mnemonic” behind it. You’re likely to come up with all kinds of spelling tips to help you remember how to spell it.