How to spell secretary
secretary
Not secratary or secretery.
The trap
The word secretary is secret plus -ary, and secratary turns the E of secret into an A. That E is unstressed, so it sounds like nothing in particular and the ear cannot name it.
An unstressed vowel flattens to the same sound whatever letter spells it, so the ear cannot tell them apart. A relative that stresses the syllable gives the letter back.
secret + ary
What it means
noun. A person employed by an individual or in an office to assist with correspondence, keep records, etc.
Other words with this trap
Try it on real words
Five words, read aloud and typed from memory with autocorrect off. About a minute, no signup.
Play today's Daily FiveSpellingIQ is a skill rating for spelling ability, not a clinical or psychometric IQ measure. American English is canonical; common variants are accepted.