Help!

I'm not dyslexic and make those mistakes all the time gg but I don't care, as I assume those reading what I have written have the wit and good manners enough both to understand and not be rude enough to pick me up.

You are old enough to think " stuff it" imo - life's too short

It can be a minefield, can't it!

So many words sound the same, but have different meaning and spellings. Years ago someone at work put up a notice saying "please bare with us while the reception area is being decorated" not realising that he seemed to be asking people to take their clothes off!

Problem is, that spell check doesn't pick those sort of things up because they are proper words.

Perversely whitewave, I find words fascinating. I think I never got over having to write 'nice' because I couldn't spell 'beautiful' ... and then computers came along and do make such a difference - but not, as phoenix says - with real words.

I'm okay with bare and bear phoenix because I know for some reason that bear is the animal. I still have a problem with the 'to carry' version but I do know that 'bears don't like to be bare' so no nude animals but I could easily have made the one you quoted. At least they tend to make people smile

Only one I can think of is stationery and stationary. 'E' for envelope denotes the word for paper items as apposed to not moving

Don't lose your heart to a loose woman.

I taught many dyslexics and often found ways of helping students to remember their own particular difficult spellings.
For you I suggest ‘ loose’ has extra ‘O’s like your loose waist band has extra room.
Where has the word ‘here’ within it, so it refers to a place.
‘Their’ has ‘i’ in it so usually means a person, as in ‘Their home’.
‘There’ has ‘here’ in it, so refers to a place.

The word ‘necessary’ is often miss spelt, but can be easily remembered by thinking of a shirt - one Collar, two Sleeves

Thank you so much. Will now have to remember them so I shall write them down.

I do get there and their wrong but I have a feeling that is just carelessness because I spot them if I check. The others I could look at for hours and would be no better off

I łike those, j52. I have never had much trouble with spelling but I do remember learning to spell necessary. My then teacher (I'd be ten or eleven) told me it would be neckessary if it had two cees. I always say "two cees not neckessary" to myself when I write it ?

My best friend at grammar school was a hopeless speller and our English teacher made up phrases for her in the same way you have above. I'm not sure it helped J much—she could spell a word in three different ways in one piece and not notice. I don't think anyone thought of dyslexia in the late sixties.

You don't have to be dyslexic to have trouble with English spelling - there are so many traps and pitfalls, and exceptions to all the rules. I am pretty good at spelling, but I have my own little ways of remembering the tricky ones, and I have to say I am finding I have to work harder at it now, as I get t older. Things that were once intuitive to me I now find I have to stop and think about.

Sometimes thinking will sort it out: "summery" contains "summer", whereas "summary" does not.
Some groups of related words have the emphasis on a different syllable, helping you to work out the spelling: "invite" tells you that "invitation" has an "i" as its second vowel, while "catastrophic" and "catastrophe" each tell you about how to spell the other.
I always remember that "stationARy" is like a cAR, while a stationer sells stationery.

As for 'where' with an 'h' and 'were' without, you could remind yourself that words which start a question such as what, who and when always start with 'wh' so 'where' meaning 'in what place' is in the same family and therefore also starts with 'wh'.

'Were' is the version of 'was' when it applies to more than one person or thing, so, like 'was' it doesn't have an 'h'.

Ninathenana: Thank you - ever since I discovered that stationary/stationery were two different things, I have struggled to remember which spelling is which. Thanks to your 'e' for envelope' comment, I doubt I will struggle again.
Now I just need help with brocolli/broccoli (though I can see which spelling is wrong once I have written it) and diarrhea??? I have to rely on spellcheck or turn to Google every single time I need to write that one!

Just seen your 'necessary' Bags. I was taught that "the vicar has one collar and two socks

Jacky B I would never be able to remember all that I'm afraid. I will stick with my where/hair so I remember which is which.

My pet hate (see what I did there?) is “lay” instead of “lie”

I have always used the 'e' for envelope one.

One I learnt that you probably all did to is the 'i' before 'e' except after 'c' but I was also taught "and when it says 'a' as in neighbour and weigh".

Our dd2 is dyslexic, she had to write about her dad at school. With great care she wrote that her dad read The Sun, 'you see Mum I can't spell Telegraph'!

MamaCaz - don't get me started on diarrhoea. I worked for the NHS for 40 years and have typed it thousands of times and it has always been spelt diarrhoea. Now it has begun to revert to the American diarrhea which I refuse to use out of principle (not principal).

I know (because I have been told) that I transpose women and woman

Do you transpose 'men' and 'man' as well? Because it's only the singular and plural of 'man' with a 'wo' tacked on the front.

Noooo. Why am I so stupid about these things. I just don't see it in the way I see men and man. I just need to read it without the 'wo' in that case. I have to admit I used to read the syllables backwards (and then forwards) if I really couldn't get something but I didn't think of it with those darn women! Thank you Maizie.

I am still worrying at this. So lose is the oo sound and I have been trying to rhyme it as I do where/hair so I recognise which is which but ... rose, nose and hose are not oo. Mousse, which is oo is not ose and looks like mouse anyway. Perhaps I will just have to try and remember lose mousse so I can differentiate between the sound of the words (and the wriggly red line shows again! - this is so tiresome at times)

I don't know whether this will help or simply cause further confusion, GG: "lose" (as in " lose your temper") rhymes with cruise or booze, while "loose" (= not tight) rhymes with noose or juice.
Maybe "a loose noose" would be a help in remembering, and "Don't lose the booze!"

Our English teacher in our East London School used to say stationery = Envelopes, Staitionary= Ain't moving.

I like loose noose GTT and I think I will remember that one. Who would want a tight one? I will work on it. I only need half if you see what I mean as the other one falls into place. Once I get it logged in my brain it tends to stay there thankfully.