Qwerty and Dvorak Typing "Demons"

Here is Dr. Dvorak's list of the 100 most frequently misspelled words by typists using the standard ("qwerty") keyboard and the Dvorak keyboard. The numbers in parentheses indicate a word's ranking in the now-famous list of the fifty words most frequently used in telephone conversations, which appeared in the Bell System Technical Journal in 1930. Numbers in italics indicate that the word is less frequently used in written English than in spoken English.

Disclaimer: note that on the Dvorak list, several groupings of words (starting around the thirty-second word on the list) occur in alphabetical order, suggesting that these errors all occurred with the same frequency. This observation suggests that Dvorak's list was likely drawn from a small sample set.

Qwerty Keyboard

  1. the (3)
  2. to (6)
  3. of (13)
  4. and (10)
  5. is (9)
  6. which
  7. it (8)
  8. that (7)
  9. when
  10. for (20)
  11. with (28)
  12. have (19)
  13. be (50)
  14. would (40)
  15. will (12)
  16. work
  17. you (2)
  18. but
  19. thank
  20. in (14)
  21. this (34)
  22. are (24)
  23. was (42)
  24. their
  25. do (23)
  26. good
  27. time
  28. write
  29. there
  30. never
  31. they (17)
  32. my
  33. we (16)
  34. your
  35. what (45)
  36. very
  37. been
  38. his
  39. thing (36)
  40. them (41)
  41. he (15)
  42. like
  43. has
  44. turn
  45. as
  46. those
  47. think (33)
  48. more
  49. can (38)
  50. some
  51. great
  52. must
  53. should
  54. could
  55. effort
  56. than
  57. take
  58. if
  59. every
  60. give
  61. well
  62. only
  63. then
  64. one
  65. not
  66. done
  67. these
  68. about (31)
  69. word
  70. ever
  71. say (37)
  72. began
  73. begin
  74. people
  75. away
  76. other
  77. day (35)
  78. over (49)
  79. up
  80. from (44)
  81. look
  82. find
  83. our
  84. by
  85. doubt
  86. because
  87. many
  88. year
  89. two
  90. so
  91. told
  92. heart
  93. eight
  94. same
  95. while
  96. also
  97. most
  98. said
  99. had
  100. I (1)

Dvorak keyboard

  1. new
  2. beautiful
  3. during
  4. everything
  5. help
  6. oblige
  7. certain
  8. company
  9. length
  10. october
  11. possible
  12. result
  13. serve
  14. stamp
  15. never
  16. importance
  17. awful
  18. committee
  19. close
  20. difference
  21. however
  22. most
  23. november
  24. obtain
  25. suggest
  26. their
  27. tonight
  28. various
  29. vacation
  30. work
  31. office
  32. principle
  33. accept
  34. addition
  35. arrangement
  36. behind
  37. build
  38. change
  39. condition
  40. card
  41. desire
  42. enclose
  43. enjoy
  44. family
  45. marriage
  46. husband
  47. half
  48. hold
  49. itself
  50. impossible
  51. january
  52. kind
  53. leave
  54. loss
  55. march
  56. opinion
  57. probably
  58. pleasure
  59. particular
  60. request
  61. rate
  62. rule
  63. south
  64. subject
  65. service
  66. song
  67. though
  68. therefore
  69. watch
  70. name
  71. high
  72. where
  73. home
  74. baby
  75. whose
  76. just (48)
  77. life
  78. public
  79. table
  80. under
  81. women
  82. action
  83. anyway
  84. always
  85. article
  86. against
  87. anything
  88. alone
  89. become
  90. blue
  91. begin
  92. black
  93. charge
  94. children
  95. character
  96. conference
  97. consider
  98. copy
  99. class
  100. cause

Reference

August Dvorak, Nellie L. Merrick, William L. Dealey, and Gertrude Catherine Ford, Typewriting Behavior, American Book Company (New York: 1936), p. 184, 503.

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Last modified: 2001/07/13 17:18:44 by jcb@mit.edu