Along with loose and definitely, separate is one of the most commonly misspelled words in the English language. Separate can be an adjective or a verb. As an adjective, it means set apart, distinct, or not related. As a verb, it means to to set apart, to distinguish, or to divide. Separate is often misspelled as seperate, a word that has no meaning and is simply a misspelling:
Words related to separate, such as separately, separated, and separation, are often misspelled in the same fashion by turning the first a into an e:
How to remember the correct spelling of separate
There are a couple of ways to remember the correct spelling of separate. You can remember that the order of the vowels in the word is symmetrical: e-a-a-e. It might be easier to remember that there’s a rat in separate (sep-A-RAT-e).
