When you’re typing, you need to watch out for those inadvertent slips of the finger that create typos – misspelled words that you might not catch with your computer spellchecker because the misspelling actually creates a new word that’s correctly spelled, but not at all the word you meant to use. For example, if you mistype the word complaint as compliant your computer won’t flag that as a mistake, but your readers certainly will!

You need to also watch out for “audible typos” when you’re speaking, to make sure that you don’t use words with similar appearance and pronunciation incorrectly. Sometimes words that are easy to mistype or misspell don’t cause problems when you’re speaking, because the pronunciation of the words is so different. It’s not likely that you’ll say the word complaint (pronounced kuhm-PLAYNT, “a stated grievance or disapproval of a situation”) instead of the word compliant (pronounced kuhm-PLY-uhnt, “easy-going, agreeable”) because the words are not really alike in pronunciation, even though the spellings are almost identical.

On the other hand, the words credible and creditable are probably easier to misuse when speaking than when writing or typing, because there’s an extra set of letters in the second word. This also creates an extra syllable, but since it’s not emphasized, it’s easy to slur over it and confuse the two words. Credible is pronounced KREH-dih-bull and means “believable, trustworthy.” Creditable is pronounced KREH-dih-tah-bull and means “deserving of praise.”

Keep your eyes open to watch out for spelling mistakes and your ears open to avoid pronunciation mistakes, and you’ll be sure to speak and type typo-free!