Identify the misspelt word

Correct — B. The standard spelling is indispensable, with -able. The word is in- plus dispensable, and it keeps dispensable's -able ending.

The printed Indispensible swaps in -ible, which sounds the same in speech. That swap is the error → option (b).

Embarrassment, Camouflage and Rendezvous are all spelt correctly.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Embarrassment — Embarrassment is spelt correctly: double r, double s, then -ment. The slips to check for are a single r or a single s, and the printed word has both pairs.
• (c)
  Camouflage — Camouflage is spelt correctly, with ou after the m and -flage at the end. It is a borrowing from French, which is why it looks unusual.
• (d)
  Rendezvous — Rendezvous is spelt correctly, as one word with a silent z and s. It comes from French rendez-vous, 'present yourselves'.

A misspelt-word item gives three correct spellings and one wrong one, so check each letter cluster that could go either way.

Here the trap is the -able / -ible ending, which the ear cannot separate. Indispensable, meaning absolutely necessary, is the negative of dispensable, and it keeps the same ending.

The other three options look hard, and all three are spelt correctly.

Key facts

• Indispensable, meaning absolutely necessary, is spelt with -able.
• It is the negative of dispensable, which also ends in -able.
• Embarrassment has a double r and a double s.
• Rendezvous is one word, from French rendez-vous, 'present yourselves'.

Common traps

• Trusting the ear: -able and -ible sound the same, so a word can sound right and still be misspelt
• Flagging Rendezvous or Camouflage because they look foreign, when both are standard English spellings

No directly related past PYQ was found.