The misspelled form is rare in 21st-century published writing because spell check catches it, but it does appear from time to time, even in edited publications-for example:

So while mischievous is certainly the standard spelling and is safer in formal writing and school papers, using mischievious is not a grievous error in informal contexts. The OED lists instances of mischievious going back to the 17th century, and a Google Books search reveals a few thousand instances from before 1920. Some writers are prone to spelling the word mischevious, which is how some speakers mistakenly pronounce the word aloud.The misspelling is not new. Is it mischievous or mischievious? Mischievous, an adjective, means having an affinity for causing trouble. Mischievious has an extra I, like incorrect, so you should find it easy to remember that mischievious is incorrect. Mischievious is widely rejected in writing, though common in spoken English. Trick to Remember the DifferenceĪs a skillful writer, you should only use mischievous, especially in formal writing. This chart obviously doesn’t deal with pronunciation, but the reason mischievous is sometime mispronounced is because it is spelled wrong.

The disparity is in excess of 380:1 in favor of mischievous. Mischievious has barely registered a blip over the last 200 years of use. mischievous across books written since 1800, mischievous greatly outnumbers mischievious in edited words. As you can see from the below graph, which charts mischievious vs. Mischievious rarely appears in edited prose. It’s unclear whether the misspelling or the mispronunciation came first, or if they developed together. Many speakers also pronounce the word with four syllables, like mis-CHEE-vi-ous (so that it rhymes with previous). What does mischievious mean? Mischievious is a misspelling of mischievous. The error is to pronounce mischievous as four syllables (more on that below).

Mischievous pronunciation: Mischievous is pronounced as three syllables: mis-chuh-ves.

Mischievous definition