misspell

M3I1S1S1P3E1L1L1
/mɪsˈspɛl/

verb

To spell incorrectly.

“I think they misspelled "crab" on the menu, because it says "crap soup".”

OriginEnglish spell ← Middle English mys- ← Old English mis- →
UncommonScrabble 12
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

verbmisspell (third-person singular simple present misspells, present participle misspelling, simple past and past participle misspelt or misspelled)

present singular third person misspells · participle present misspelling · participle past misspelt · past misspelt · participle past misspelled · past misspelled · alternative mis-spell

  1. transitiveTo spell incorrectly.

    I think they misspelled "crab" on the menu, because it says "crap soup".

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*mey-?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*meyth₂-
  3. Proto-Germanic*missaz
  4. Proto-Germanic*missa-
  5. Proto-West Germanic*missa-
  6. Old Englishmis-
  7. Middle Englishmys-
  8. Englishmis-
  9. Englishspell
  10. Englishmisspell

From mis- + spell.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic أَخْطَأَ اَلتَّهْجِئَة
  • أَخْطَأَ اَلتَّهْجِئَة (ʔaḵṭaʔa t-tahjiʔa)to spell incorrectly
Bulgarian неправилно пиша
  • неправилно пиша (nepravilno piša)to spell incorrectly
Chinese Mandarin 拼錯 /拼错
  • 拼錯 /拼错 (pīncuò)to spell incorrectly
Danish stave forkert
  • stave forkertto spell incorrectly
Dutch misspellen, verkeerd spellen
  • misspellento spell incorrectly
  • verkeerd spellento spell incorrectly
Esperanto misliterumi
  • misliterumito spell incorrectly
Finnish kirjoittaa väärin
  • kirjoittaa väärinto spell incorrectly
French mal orthographier, mal écrire
  • mal orthographierto spell incorrectly
  • mal écrireto spell incorrectly
German falsch buchstabieren, falsch schreiben
  • falsch buchstabierento spell incorrectly
  • falsch schreibento spell incorrectly
Hebrew שגה באיות
  • שגה באיות (shagá beiyút)to spell incorrectly
Hungarian elír
  • elírto spell incorrectly
Italian scrivere male
  • scrivere maleto spell incorrectly
Japanese つづりを間違う
  • つづりを間違う (tsuzuri o machigau)to spell incorrectly
Māori tuhi hē
  • tuhi hēto spell incorrectly
Persian غلط نوشتن
  • غلط نوشتن (ġalat neveštan)to spell incorrectly
Portuguese escrever errado
  • escrever erradoto spell incorrectly
Russian орфографи́чески непра́вильно писа́ть, де́лать орфографи́ческие оши́бки
  • орфографи́чески непра́вильно писа́ть (orfografíčeski neprávilʹno pisátʹ)to spell incorrectly
  • де́лать орфографи́ческие оши́бки (délatʹ orfografíčeskije ošíbki)to spell incorrectly
Spanish deletrear / escribir mal / malamente, mal / malamente deletrear / escribir
  • deletrear / escribir mal / malamenteto spell incorrectly
  • mal / malamente deletrear / escribirto spell incorrectly
Swedish stava fel, felstava
  • stava felto spell incorrectly
  • felstavato spell incorrectly
Welsh camsillafu
  • camsillafuto spell incorrectly

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with misspell

wellhotellsellcelltelleldelpersonneldellNFLshellfellexcelMichellegeldlmotelspellsmellrebelbellemelmichel
All rhymes →

Anagrams

limplesspsellism
Cite this entry
APA

misspell. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misspell

MLA

“misspell.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misspell. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “misspell,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misspell.

Source: misspell on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.