How to Improve Your Spelling As an Adult

Both native speakers and language learners find English spelling tough to master. Because English is a language that absorbs new words, it has different spellings to pronounce the same sound.

However, improving your English spelling isn’t impossible: you can see a noticeable improvement in your spelling by using some techniques that good spellers use. As with other things, learning to spell correctly is a lot easier when you are a child.

That’s why we emphasize the fact that learning should be as early as possible; it will help you immensely. However, you can still improve your spelling even as an adult.

In this post, we will take a look at some tips and tricks you can use to improve your spelling as an adult.

Why Do You Need Good Spelling Skills?

Misspelled words make your writing look unprofessional like nothing else. You might be thinking to yourself, “in the age of spelling checkers why would we need to know the correct way to spell?”

Yes, spelling checkers have been a blessing for all sorts of people —writers, academics, students, and even teachers. Although technology can tell us when we’ve made errors by checking things, there are limitations to what technology can do.

For example, it can correct your misspelling for another word, which has nothing to do with what you are talking about. Homophones are especially tricky for spelling checkers. Imagine a scenario where you mistakenly wrote “peik” instead of “peek.” What happens if the software corrects it to “peak?” Now, you have ruined the whole meaning of the sentence! Now imagine you made this mistake on your dissertation thesis: it would be thrown out because of a simple error!

How to Improve Your Spelling As an Adult?

There are many things you can do to make your spelling better as an adult. Here are some of them.

1. Dictionaries Are Your Friend!

Despite the fact that memory aids assist in memorizing difficult-to-spell words, good spellers do not rely solely on memory. They depend on a reliable and up-to-date dictionary to practice. Various types of dictionaries exist, both in print and online.

The important thing here is that you should use a dictionary that is compatible with the dialect you want to learn and use. And this brings us to our next point.

2. Choose Your Dialect

As you may know, English spelling changes significantly depending on the country you are in. American English, for example, removed many of the unspoken “u”s from words such as color (colour in British English), favor (favour), rumor (rumour), and so on. 

These differences are not right or wrong. We can’t say color is wrong, and the correct spelling is colour. They are regional differences that have developed over time.

That’s why you have to be consistent in your writing. You can’t write colour in one sentence and behavior in the next. Consistency is key. 

3. Keep on Reading!

One of the things that most people do is memorize spelling rules. Instead of focusing so much on rules, you should focus on practicing. Of course, if we are talking about how to improve your spelling as an adult, reading is the best answer!

Reading is one of the best ways to familiarize yourself with words and their spelling. The more you see something, the more you will be able to identify it the next time you encounter it. 

Conclusion

Here are a few suggestions on how to improve your spelling: Keep a dictionary nearby, change your dialect as you grow, and best of all pursue your hobbies during your free time!

All of these practices will allow you to improve your spelling skills especially as you age.