Nine Commonly Misspelled or Misused Words for Elementary Students

A Lot

It’s two words. Although young children may write “I love you a lot" on cards to their grandparents, they should learn the correct way to write it. A lot.

Compliment

This word is often spelled “complement.” Surprisingly, this is a word as well. Cookies and milk complement each other; they each make the other one taste better. If a cookie tried to compliment milk, on the other hand, it would only be in a fantasy story.

Desert

If you ate a desert at the end of a meal, you would have a lot of sand in your mouth. A desert is an area that doesn’t get much rain. A dessert is a sweet treat at the end of a meal.

Lead

This is what goes inside of a pencil, not the past tense of “lead.” If you lead your mule to the well today, you led it yesterday. Led, not lead.

Noone

This is not a word. No one uses it. Instead, they use “no one.”

Past

If you think you past someone a pitcher of water, you’re living in the past. Yesterday is in the past. But the past tense form of “pass” is “passed.”

Peace

Want a peace of pie? I hope not. A “piece” of pie would be more likely. Instead, help to achieve world peace.

Then

Tim is not taller then Chu. Tim is taller “than” Chu. The word “than” compares two things. The word “then” shows time sequence.

There

When people don’t read over there work, there is no end to the number of misspelled words there using. So get it straight. “They’re” is a contract made up of the words “they” and “are.” “Their” is a possessive that shows that something belongs to “them.” And “there” – well, it goes in every other place that the word “there” would make sense.

Use this list as a reference and catch mistakes before they happen!