If you’re preparing for the PTE Academic exam, you’ve likely focused on essay structure, grammar, and vocabulary. But there’s one skill that’s often overlooked: spelling. Yes, spelling errors can significantly impact your PTE score, especially in the writing and listening sections. Even a small typo can lead to a loss of marks. In this blog, we’ll explore why spelling is so important in the PTE exam, which tasks are affected the most, the most common spelling errors, and how you can avoid them.

Why Spelling Matters in the PTE Exam

Spelling isn’t just a minor detail. In PTE, spelling affects your grammar, vocabulary, and enabling skills scores. Both human assessors and the automated scoring system rely on accurate spelling to judge your response. If a word is misspelled, it might not be recognized by the system even if the rest of your answer is perfect.

For instance:

• Writing accommodation instead of acommodation may cost you the entire mark for that blank.
• Typing recieve instead of receive can affect grammar and readability scores in writing tasks.

PTE Tasks Where Spelling Mistakes Hurt the Most

1. Write Essay

In this task, clarity, grammar, and spelling all influence your score. Spelling errors reduce readability, even if your ideas are good. Frequent mistakes can make your essay seem unpolished.

2. Summarize Written Text

You only get one sentence to summarize a passage. Spelling mistakes here can confuse the reader or change the meaning, lowering your score for written discourse and grammar.

3. Summarize Spoken Text

This listening and writing task tests how well you capture and write spoken information. Spelling mistakes reduce your grammar and vocabulary scores, especially if they change word meaning or affect sentence clarity.

4. Fill in the Blanks – Listening

In this task, you hear a recording and type the missing words. If you hear the correct word but spell it wrong, you’ll get no points for it. For example, environment spelled as enviroment is counted as incorrect.

5. Write from Dictation

This is one of the most scoring tasks if your spelling is accurate. A single mistake in spelling can cost you the full mark for that sentence. For example, writing there instead of their is incorrect.

Common Spelling Mistakes in PTE

Here are the most frequent spelling problems that affect test-takers:

1. Words with Double Letters

• Accommodation, recommendation, occurred, necessary These often lose marks due to one missing letter.

2. Silent Letters

• Psychology, honest, subtle, knight

Silent letters are often left out, especially in listening tasks.

3.  Homophones (Sound-Alike Words)

• Affect vs. Effect
• Their vs. There
• Compliment vs. Complement

Mixing these up confuses meaning and leads to errors.

5. Commonly Misspelled Academic Words

• Entrepreneurship, implementation, participation, maintenance, analysis
• These are often misspelled due to length or unfamiliarity.

Word Pairs That Confuse Many Test-Takers

Word 1	Word 2	Difference
Accept	Except	Accept = receive, Except = exclude
Advise	Advice	Advise = verb, Advice = noun
Principal	Principle	Principal = head or main, Principle = rule
Stationary	Stationery	Stationary = not moving, Stationery = paper goods
Lose	Loose	Lose = misplace, Loose = not tight

Tips to Improve Your Spelling for PTE

1. Make Your Spelling List

Create a personal list of commonly misspelled or tricky words and review it daily.

2. Break Words into Syllables

Dividing long words helps you spell them correctly.

• Ac-com-mo-da-tion
• Re-com-men-da-tion

3. Practice with Dictation

Listening and writing exercises help with both spelling and memory. Try writing full sentences from recordings.

4. Use Words in Sentences

Don’t just memorize spellings, practice using them. This reinforces correct usage.

Example:

• I will advise you on your next steps.
• Her advice was beneficial.

5. Review Your Work

Always leave 30 – 60 seconds to check your writing. Proofread for spelling and grammar errors. Spelling is not just about avoiding typos. It’s about communicating clearly and scoring well. In the PTE

Academic exam, small spelling mistakes can lead to lost marks, especially in writing and listening tasks like Summarize Spoken Text, Write Essay, Write from Dictation, and Fill in the Blanks.