It's "definitely" not "definately"

[CyberGenius]

This is one mistake I see very often among native speakers as well as learners. I've even seen it on here at least once and I must have seen it online more than 100 times. In fact, I once saw it on a television advert, but it didn't really matter until someone made it their last point on some list like that on Forbes.

I'm sure we all know the meaning of definitely but some of us just don't know that its actual spelling is DEFINITELY but not DEFINATELY.

[Rosa]

Definitely, is certainly one word that is quite often miss-spelled by native English speakers, even those who already know the correct spelling of the word.I believe that no matter what the rules are in the English language it takes a lot of reading and coming across words to master spelling grammar.

[FosterTXT]

I always had trouble with this word when I was growing up. I actually use to spell it "definately" until I found out that was the wrong way to spell it. Even to this day when I use the word "Definitely" I double check that I spelled it right.

[Baburra]

I see this a lot too, and I think it has a lot to do with how a person hears the word and therefore they think it's the way it's spelled. I think it's the same case that causes people to use "then" instead of "than".

[Dora M]

I keep seeing this so often, even amongst native speakers. I think it is something that a lot of people acquire in school. It seems to me one of those "ingrained" mistakes that are hard to change, no matter how often you tell the person that s/he is spelling it wrong.

[Kektheman]

Oh yes, the word definitely is a bit problematic until you master it. If you are irritated by the ones that constantly misspell it, send them a link to this website: http://www.d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y.com/

[RicardoRodrigues]

I see this so much on daily basis that I lose count. It's quite annoying because when you tell people how to say it in the correct way you get rude responses such as "I don't care." or "Grammar nazi.".

[Traveler]

I am surprised that a lot of people make the mistake. Funny, because I doubt most people would have trouble spelling ¨definite¨ or ¨finite.¨ And yet when you add an ¨-ly¨ on the end, it becomes difficult for many.

[RealSugar]

I see people write it as "defiantly" a lot. It makes me wonder, what are they defying?

Here's a funny comic about English words that are commonly misspelled (including definitely) http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling

[Onfroi]

I can't spell that word, always forget the right way to do it, the good thing is when typing I can just highlight the word and right-click to get the correct spelling.

DEFINITELY

[Litnax]

I can't spell that word, always forget the right way to do it, the good thing is when typing I can just highlight the word and right-click to get the correct spelling.

DEFINITELY

Thank goodness for spell-checker 

I see / read the word 'definately' so many times on a daily basis, even in some legal documents.

[Kektheman]

Thank goodness for spell-checker 

I see / read the word 'definately' so many times on a daily basis, even in some legal documents.

Oh, is it really that bad? I'm not a native speaker, so I wouldn't know, but I would think that the English in  legal documents would be of a higher quality. That's honestly quite sad, if you ask me.

[takibari]

Really? :amazed:

It's my first time to hear that a lot of native speakers misspell this word. Errors like this, I attribute it to how we acquire language. As a native, you aren't really taught how to spell things as language becomes natural to you. As I'm not a native English speaker, spelling is given prime importance to our classes. But for the love of me, don't ask me to write in my native tongue (Cebuano), chances are I'm definitely going to have a lot of spelling errors!

[Baburra]

Oh yes, the word definitely is a bit problematic until you master it. If you are irritated by the ones that constantly misspell it, send them a link to this website: http://www.d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y.com/

That's actually a pretty amusing site, thanks for sharing. I clicked on their hall of shame section and I was surprised to find that even the big company news sites are subject to these errors. It is still amusing though and I'll now be more on the look out for this particular cliche error and at least now I'd know I can submit it somewhere.