London: It's official. The 10-letter word 'definitely' is the most commonly misspelt word in English.
A new study by market research company www.OnePoll.com has found that most Britons struggle to spell 'definitely' correctly, mixing up the second 'I' with an 'A' on a regular basis.
According to the study, the second most commonly misspelt word is 'sacrilegious', which leaves people confused over whether it has an 'E' or 'I' in the middle, followed by 'indict', which is often misspelt as 'indite'.
The fourth most difficult word is 'manoeuvre' which causes problems due to the proximity of 'O' and 'E' to each other. 'Bureaucracy', which is awkward as the inclusion of so many vowels, is in the fifth position.
The vegetable 'broccoli' has been rated the sixth most difficult word, followed by 'phlegm' at seven and 'prejudice' at eight. 'Consensus' and 'unnecessary' have completed the top ten, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.
Other difficult words to feature in the study, based on a survey of 5000 people, include 'supersede', 'connoisseur' and 'particularly'. And, confusion over the number of Ns in 'questionnaire' means it is 12th, with 'entrepreneur' 14th and 'parallel' at 19.
"So many of us can't seem to spell. Whether it is down to the structure of the word, or the frequency of use, there is no excuse not to learn how they are formed.
"And considering people judge others, yet don't like their intelligence to be judged by how well they spell, they should up their game and pick up a dictionary," a spokesperson for www.OnePoll.com said.