What Are the Hardest Words to Spell in the English Language?

Many people struggle with learning the English language because there are so many nuanced spellings and usages for different words that don't conform to logical patterns. The hardest words to spell don't always have to be the longest but often contain minor differences from common speech patterns.

Much of that smorgasbord of letter soup has evolved from borrowing words from different languages and changing spellings through history.

20 Hardest English Words to Spell

There are hundreds of hard English words that are challenging to spell correctly. The following is just a small sample of some of the most commonly misspelled ones that people use regularly.

1. Antipathy

If you strongly dislike someone, you may feel antipathy toward them. An easy way to remember this word is to connect it with empathy. Anti-empathy becomes antipathy.

2. Bologna

Pronunciation is the biggest hurdle with this common brainteaser. It is pronounced "buh-low-knee," so where on Earth do the silent "g" and unusual double-e-sounding "a" come in? You'll have to ask your Italian friends about that one.

3. Colonel

You pronounce colonel the same way you would a "kernel" of popcorn. This change is a French alteration from the mid-1500s.

4. Consonants

This is one of those words where the syllables mold together to create sounds where they shouldn't be. People often say "cons-ton-ants" and spell it incorrectly based on that mispronunciation.

5. Diphthong

It would be difficult to find the perfect occasion to use this word outside of grammar lessons, but it's a challenge to spell regardless.

6. Entrepreneur

This is one of the most common examples of words borrowed from other languages. This French word describes someone who engages in diverse business ventures.

7. Euphemism

Euphemisms are English words that people choose to smooth some of the sharpness out of a stabbing remark. However, as a vocabulary word, it can be daunting to ensure it's spelled correctly, due to the strong "U" and "F" sounds that use "eu" and "ph."

8. Embarrass

Don't feel too embarrassed when you misspell this verb. The double "R" followed by the double "S" can cause double trouble for spelling bee hopefuls.

9. Hyperbole

Hyperbole is another example of a word you won't likely find outside of the English classroom. However, it is one of the most common tools of everyday speech.

10. Idiosyncrasy

This tricky word is spelled with an "S" where there would generally be a "c." To make things more difficult, the ending creates a strong "see" sound, which often leads to it being misspelled with other combinations.

11. Misspelled

Misspelled is likely the most ironic downfall of any would-be spelling champ, with the double "S" often overlooked.

12. Nauseous

Any medical term can pose a challenge, but this adjective of the sickly feeling known as nausea is one of the most common misspelled words.

13. Onomatopoeia

This word describes the sense of sounds such as boom, crunch and pow. However, the ending sound of onomatopoeia is confusing. Onomatopoeia seems like it should be spelled with a "peah" or "pia," but the creator of the word must've thought it funny to slip a silent "o" where no one would expect it.

14. Phlegmatic

This vocabulary word is an adjective that describes someone who exhibits unemotional or stoic qualities.

15. Pneumonia

Anyone who has ever taken a course of antibiotics to cure this common ailment has likely seen the word spelled out on the prescription and quickly forgotten that there is a silent "P" at the beginning of the word.

16. Queue

If you've ever taken a number and stood in line at the DMV, you've participated in a queue. However, the repeating vowels can cause confusion when writing it out.

17. Rhythm

It's tricky to develop a sense of rhythm, but arguably just as challenging to spell the word.

18. Vacuum

It's ironic how such a common household object could have such a challenging spelling. This noun or verb contains fewer vowels than you would guess, while also containing a rare double "U" to form an "oo" sound.

19. Wednesday

This weekday is often spoken as "wenz-day," where the pronunciation emits the "d" that seems to appear out of left field every time you look at a calendar. You may be able to remember the "d" by tracing Wednesday back historically to its original name: Woden's (an alias of the Norse god Odin) day.

20. Worcestershire

Some challenging words seem to be created just to make readers struggle, and there's probably no other sauce in the world that is as difficult to sound out or spell than "woo-stu-sure."

Why Are Some Words Difficult to Spell?

Several tricky factors can make a familiar word challenging to spell, even when we use it in our daily speech. This disconnect often concerns silent letters, foreign word sounds and an increasing reliance on spell-check technologies.

1. Silent Letters

One of the most common tricks English will throw at you is silent letters. Words like "debt" or "muscle" contain letters that are not sounded out. This makes learning difficult for new readers since they start with the sounds of the alphabet and are then told to avoid those sounds in certain words.

2. Foreign Word Sounds

English is technically a Germanic language, but the origins of many common words incorporated into the language are from all over the world. English spelling can even change by region or time period in history. This is yet another tricky curveball when you come across old English novels in your early schooling years.

3. Technology Reducing the Need for Spelling Skills

Bright screens and smart computers can be to blame for many students not having the patience to memorize spellings and perfect their writing down to the letter. Word processing software will likely polish the rest as long as you can get somewhere in the ballpark with your spelling.

4 Words for an Extra-long Spelling Challenge

The longest words aren't necessarily the hardest to spell, but it sure is easy to get lost 15 letters or so into recitation.

1. Antidisestablishmentarianism: This refers to opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England.

2. Euouae: While it only comes in at six letters, this is the longest word that uses only vowels.

3. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis: According to Merriam-Webster, this is "a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silicate or quartz dust and occurring especially in miners."

4. Sesquipedalian: Appropriately enough, this is someone who tends to use long words.

Original article: What Are the Hardest Words to Spell in the English Language?

Copyright © 2024 HowStuffWorks, a division of InfoSpace Holdings, LLC, a System1 Company