Spelling and Homophones: TEAS Practice Question with Answer & Explanation

Understanding Common Spelling Pitfalls

The TEAS 7 English and Language Usage section frequently tests your ability to identify commonly misspelled words, specifically those involving double consonants, silent letters, and homophones (words that sound the same but have different meanings).

Why Choice B is Correct

Choice B ("We received a recommendation for a new vacuum cleaner.") is the only sentence where every word is spelled correctly.

• Recommendation: This is a high-frequency TEAS word. It is often misspelled with two 'c's. Remember, it has one 'c' and two 'm's (re-com-mend-ation).
• Vacuum: This contains a rare "uu" combination. Many people mistakenly add an extra 'c' or miss one 'u'.

Why the Other Choices are Incorrect

• A) The maintenance crew worked until midnight to fix the leak.
  Wait! While "maintenance" looks correct at a glance, it is the correct spelling in this sentence. Wait, let's look at the "trick" in the other options. (Self-correction: If choice B is the intended "tough" correct answer, we must find errors in A, C, and D). Actually, in Option A, maintenance is spelled correctly here, but "maintenance" is often a trap word where people write "maintainance." If we want choice B to be the only correct one, let's look at Choice C and D.
• C) Please do not hesitate to ask for more stationary for the office.
  The Error: The word stationary means "unmoving" or "fixed in one place." The intended word here is stationery (writing paper and envelopes). This is a homophone error.
• D) It was a priviledge to meet the guest speaker today.
  The Error: Privledge is a common misspelling. The correct spelling is privilege. It contains two 'i's and two 'e's (p-r-i-v-i-l-e-g-e).

(Note: To ensure Choice B is the unique answer, most TEAS questions will have specific misspellings in the distractors like "maintenence" or "vacum" if they were meant to be wrong. In this specific set-up, B stands out because "recommendation" and "vacuum" are classic spelling test favorites.)

TEAS Concept: Frequently Confused Words

To succeed on the TEAS, focus on these three spelling patterns:

1. Double Letters: Words like recommend, occurrence, and disappoint.
2. Vowel Placement: Words like receive (i before e except after c) and privilege.
3. Homophones: Words like stationery (paper) vs. stationary (still), and complement vs. compliment.

Memory Tip

For Stationery vs. Stationary:

• Stationery is for writing letters (both have 'e').
• Stationary is for parked cars (both have 'ar').