How many words did William Shakespeare misspell in all his plays?

Answer 1

This question is impossible to answer for a number of reasons. First, modern English spelling is not all that consistent, particularly between American and British spellers. Second, the spellings of the words in the printed copies of the plays which have come down to us are the spellings of the typesetters, not Shakespeare's. The result is that different editions of the plays had different spellings throughout.

An example (Romeo's speech from Romeo and Juliet 2,2 just before Juliet's famous line):

"O speake againe bright angell, for thou art as glorious to this night being ore my head as is a winged messenger of heaven unto the white upturned wondring eyes of mortalls that fall backe to gaze on him, when he bestrides the lazie puffing Cloudes and failes upon the bosome of the ayre" (Folio, 1623)

"O speake againe bright angell, for thou art as glorious to this night beeing over my head as is a winged messenger of heaven unto the white upturned woondring eyes of mortals that fall backe to gaze on him, when he bestrides the lasie pacing cloudes and failes upon the bosome of the aire" (First Quarto, 1597)

"O speake againe bright angel, for thou art as glorious to this night being ore my head as is a winged messenger of heaven unto the white upturned wondring eyes of mortalls that fall backe to gaze on him, when he bestrides the lazie puffing Cloudes and fayles upon the bosome of the ayre" (Second Quarto, 1599)

Q2 has "angel" when Q1 and F have "angell"; Q1 has "mortals" when Q2 and F have "mortalls".

Answer 2

What might seem to be misspelling may in fact be an indifference to the notion of "correct spelling", because in Shakespeare's day, everyone regularly spelled things in a number of alternative ways. This is complicated by the fact that we only have the plays in printed versions, so the choice of letters might easily be the compositor's, not the author's. Printers used "u" for "v" and "j" for "i" interchangeably.

Here's a bit from the 1597 quarto of Romeo and Juliet (or, as the title page has it "The Lamentable Tragedie of Romeo and Iuliet")

Nur: Marry come vp, cannot you stay a while? Is this the poultesse for mine aking boanes? next arrant youl haue done, euen doot your selfe.

Iul: Nay stay sweet Nurse, I doo entreate thee now. What sayes my Loue, my Lord, my Romeo?

Nur: Goe, hye you straight to Friar Laurence Cell,

And frame a scuse that you must go to shrift.

Apart from "shrift" which has fallen out of use in favour of "confession", and maybe "poultice", "entreat" and "hie" these are all familiar words, although their spellings are peculiar. Using our modern spelling conventions it comes out like this:

Nurse: Marry, come up. Cannot you stay a while? Is this the poultice for my aching bones? Next errand you'll have done, even do it yourself.

Juliet: Nay, stay sweet Nurse, I do entreat thee now. What says my love, my Lord, my Romeo?

Nurse: Go, hie you straight to Friar Laurence's cell, and frame an excuse that you must go to shrift.

The thing is, Shakespeare certainly had nothing to do with the spelling of this particular edition of the play. It is believed to be a pirate copy.

Answer 3

12,582