A to Z of Medical Misspellings Pulled From My Style Sheets

11/14/2024

As a freelance medical editor, I create a style sheet for each new job. The style sheet is where I keep track of preferred spellings of medical terms and usage notes specific to the field or client.

The “misspellings” I’ve pulled from my style sheets here include easily confused, incorrectly capitalized, and misused words. I recognize that different fields apply different styles. The preferred spelling or usage I've listed is according to the AMA Manual of Style and/or Merriam-Webster’s unabridged dictionary (if these sources diverge, I’ve given the AMA style, which I refer to most).

Here are a few medical misspellings to add to your style sheet. If you use PerfectIt software when editing, you can customize your style sheet by adding the misspelling as a spelling variation or phrase to avoid.

A to Z

Not artefact but artifact (be on the lookout for chiefly British spellings)
Not blood-born disease but blood-borne disease
Not Caesarean section (or c-section) but cesarean delivery
Not doppler ultrasound but Doppler ultrasound
Not EKG but ECG (the preferred abbreviation for electrocardiogram)
Not flow chart but flowchart
Not Guillain-Barre but Guillain-Barré
Not healthcare but health care
Not indigenous people but Indigenous people (AMA style says lowercase is OK when referring to objects, not people)
Not jack knife (as in the statistical test) but jackknife
Not Kruskal Wallace (so many ways to misspell this statistical test) but Kruskal-Wallis
Not long term (as an adjective) but long-term
Not mucus membrane but mucous membrane
Not needle stick but needlestick
Not out-patient but outpatient (same for inpatient)
Not principle investigator but principal investigator
Not qd (QD); this is a "do not use" abbreviation; write instead “every day” (also avoid qod [every other day] and qid [four times a day])
Not regime but regimen (when referring to a treatment plan)
Not subjects (when referring to people in a clinical study); write instead “individuals,” “participants,” or “patients”
Not tenant (in the sense of a belief or principle) but tenet
Not utilize but use (a universal style guide recommendation)
Not very (here’s a challenge from Benjamin Dreyer in Dreyer’s English: go a week without writing very [to which he adds rather, really, quite, and in fact])
Not Web site (or Website) but website
Not X-ray (or Xray) but x-ray
y or Y? Y chromosome but y-axis (see why editors need to keep notes on capitalization?)
Not zika virus but Zika virus

Editor > Spellchecker

Note that I have Grammarly turned on as I write this, and not all the words I've labeled as misspellings are underlined in red. If you write or edit in the medical field, it's important to supplement your spellchecker with medical-specific terms and to know the specifics of AMA style.

If you need a medical editor to give your documents a final read for clarity, consistency, and style, please get in touch.

Communicating science well—for healthy people and a healthy planet