Most hard word to spell

How confident are you of your spelling skills? We asked top academics and writing experts to give us their top 100 hardest words to spell they’ve seen in students’ writing assignments. Spellings is extremely importnant, not less than grammar. This is what they came up with tips and a list of 100 most difficult words.

Tips on How to Spell Hard Words

So by now, you’ve realized that you have made your share of spelling mistakes and are wondering what you need to do to be a better speller. These tips are the same ones we see young students participating in spelling competitions use when they tackle any of several hard English words to spell. Give them all a try to see which tips work best for you:

• Watch what others do.

  The first thing you may want to consider doing is looking at how others utilize different techniques to spell out difficult words. Start with the kids who compete in national spelling bees to get a sense of all the different things they do spell long or rare words correctly.

• Use your palms to spell.

  If you have scratch paper at hand you can always spell out the word as close as you can and then make corrections when you see what you feel can be wrong. Other than this, you can

• Consider the origins.

  The origin of words is a study known as etymology which traces a word’s lineage and existence to the first known use in written form. It is especially helpful to people wanting to learn how to spell words because you can trace root words and syllables.

Hard Words to Spell for 6th Graders

If you want to challenge yourself with very hard words to spell at the sixth-grade level, then this collection might be just what you’re looking for:

• Noticeable (Correct) / Noticable (Incorrect)
• Vacuum (Correct) / Vacume (Incorrect)
• Recommend (Correct) / Recomend (Incorrect)
• Occasion (Correct) / Ocassion (Incorrect)
• Beginning (Correct) / Begginning (Incorrect)
• Government (Correct) / Goverment (Incorrect)
• Committee (Correct) / Comitee (Incorrect)
• Mississippi (Correct) / Missisipi (Incorrect)
• Ancient (Correct) / Ainshent (Incorrect)
• Culture (Correct) / Culcher (Incorrect)

Hard Words to Spell for 7th Graders

In a time when spellcheck comes with every computer writing program, we may lose sight of terms in this list of hard words to spell:

• Chaos (Correct) / Kaos (Incorrect)
• Accommodation (Correct) / Accomodation (Incorrect)
• Strengthen (Correct) / Strengten (Incorrect)
• Misspelled (Correct) / Mispelled (Incorrect)
• Deceive (Correct) / Deseave (Incorrect)
• Receipt (Correct) / Receit (Incorrect)
• Arithmetic (Correct) / Arithmatic (Incorrect)
• Embarrass (Correct) / Embaras (Incorrect)
• Constitution (Correct) / Constatution (Incorrect)
• Encyclopedia (Correct) / Encyclopaedia (Incorrect)

Hard Words to Spell for 8th Graders

Here are hard to spell words spell for middle-school teenagers, particularly those in the 8th grade. Can you spell them without using spell-check?

• Pneumonia (Correct) / Neumonia (Incorrect)
• Acknowledgment (Correct) / Acknoledgement (Incorrect)
• Accidentally (Correct) / Accidentilly (Incorrect)
• Descendant (Correct) / Desendent (Incorrect)
• Exaggerate (Correct) / Exagerate (Incorrect)
• Courageous (Correct) / Corageous (Incorrect)
• Competent (Correct) / Compitent (Incorrect)
• Patriarch (Correct) / Patrearch (Incorrect)
• Pediatrician (Correct) / Pidiatrision (Incorrect)
• Picturesque (Correct) / Picturesche (Incorrect)

Hard Words to Spell for 9th Graders

In your first year of high school, you will likely encounter some of the hardest words to spell ever. Check out this list for 9th grade:

• Cavalcade (Correct) / Cavacade (Incorrect)
• Conscientious (Correct) / Consciescience (Incorrect)
• Fluorescent (Correct) / Florescent (Incorrect)
• Martyr (Correct) / Marter (Incorrect)
• Olfactory (Correct) / Ofactory (Incorrect)
• Facsimile (Correct) / Faximile (Incorrect)
• Gruesome (Correct) / Grewsome (Incorrect)
• Incessant (Correct) / Incessent (Incorrect)
• Reservoir (Correct) / Resavoire (Incorrect)
• Spasmodic (Correct) / Spasmodick (Incorrect)

Hard Words to Spell for 12th Graders

As you advance through educational levels, you will be introduced to more reading assignments and will grow your vocabulary. These are the hardest English words to spell at the 12th-grade level:

• Acquiesce (Correct) / Aquese (Incorrect)
• Ambiguous (Correct) / Ambiguus (Incorrect)
• Stringent (Correct) / Stringint (Incorrect)
• Evanescent (Correct) / Evansent (Incorrect)
• Querulous (Correct) / Quarelous (Incorrect)
• Spontaneity (Correct) / Spontenaity (Incorrect)
• Tenacious (Correct) / Tenashus (Incorrect)
• Divergent (Correct) / Divergeant (Incorrect)
• Resilient (Correct) / Resiliant (Incorrect)
• Renovation (Correct) / Renovashun (Incorrect)

Hard Words to Spell for College Students

Technology has made learning the hardest words to spell a rare activity. This list of 10 terms is considered to be college-level. See if you’re able to spell them without help:

• Pharaoh (Correct) / Farow (Incorrect)
• Intelligence (Correct) / Inteligense (Incorrect)
• Didactic (Correct) / Didachtik (Incorrect)
• Pronunciation (Correct) / Pronounsiation (Incorrect)
• Gobbledegook (Correct) / Gobblydigook (Incorrect)
• Euphemism (Correct) / Yufamism (Incorrect)
• Abrogate (Correct) / Abrohgate (Incorrect)
• Demagogue (Correct) / Demagog (Incorrect)
• Facetious (Correct) / Faseshus (Incorrect)
• Hyperbole (Correct) / Hyperboly (Incorrect)

Common Words that Are Hard to Spell

This list includes common hard words to spell for adults. It’s surprising how so many people struggle but all you have to do is check the web for examples of this happening:

• Thorough (Correct) / Thorogh (Incorrect)
• Rhythm (Correct) / Rythm (Incorrect)
• Peculiar (Correct) / Pechuliar (Incorrect)
• Buffet (Correct) / Bufay (Incorrect)
• Liaison (Correct) / Liason (Incorrect)
• Anecdote (Correct) / Anechdote (Incorrect)
• Anonymous (Correct) / Anonimous (Incorrect)
• Collaborate (Correct) / Colaborate (Incorrect)
• Substantiate (Correct) / Substanchiate (Incorrect)
• Reconciliation (Correct) / Reckonsiliation (Incorrect)

Long Hard Words to Spell

Sometimes multisyllabic words that are hard to spell are difficult because we don’t think about silent letters that may appear anywhere. Check these out below:

• Grammatically (Correct) / Gramatically (Incorrect)
• Magnanimous (Correct) / Magnanimus (Incorrect)
• Metamorphosis (Correct) / Metamofisus (Incorrect)
• Satisfactorily (Correct) / Satisfactory (Incorrect)
• Surveillance (Correct) / Surveylance (Incorrect)
• Unanimous (Correct) / Unianomous (Incorrect)
• Reconciliation (Correct) / Reconsiliation (Incorrect)
• Procrastinate (Correct) / Procrastanate (Incorrect)
• Ostentatious (Correct) / Ostantatious (Incorrect)
• Camaraderie (Correct) / Comraderie (Incorrect)

Super Hard Words to Spell

These are really hard words to spell, even for the best English spellers in the world. As you can see most are words familiar to medical professionals and scientists, so unless you’re familiar with the field you are likely to have trouble with them:

• Syllepsis (Correct) / Sylepsis (Incorrect)
• Antediluvian (Correct) / Antidiluvian (Incorrect)
• Crustaceology (Correct) / Crustaciology (Incorrect)
• Epidemiologist (Correct) / Epidimialogist (Incorrect)
• Ophthalmologist (Correct) / Optamologist (Incorrect)
• Nephrology (Correct) / Nefrology (Incorrect)
• Entomology (Correct) / Entimology (Incorrect)
• Chiaroscurist (Correct) / Chiaraschurist (Incorrect)
• Logorrhea (Correct) / Logoria (Incorrect)
• Sacrilegious (Correct) / Sacriligious (Incorrect)

Easy Words that Are Hard to Spell

Finally, this last set includes hard words to spell that is considered easy. Take your time spelling these out because you may find yourself feeling a bit embarrassed if you make a simple mistake:

• Acquire (Correct) / Akwire (Incorrect)
• Argument (Correct) / Arguement (Incorrect)
• Maintenance (Correct) / Maintanence (Incorrect)
• Gauge (Correct) / Ghage (Incorrect)
• Memento (Correct) / Mamento (Incorrect)
• Occurrence (Correct) / Ocurrance (Incorrect)
• Questionnaire (Correct) / Questionaire (Incorrect)
• Sergeant (Correct) / Sargeant (Incorrect)
• Weather (Correct) / Wheather (Incorrect)
• Awkward (Correct) / Awkwerd (Incorrect)

What did you think of our list? Did you manage to spell the majority of them? As you can see, a lot of the mistakes come from simple mispronunciations of the words or syllables. This, of course, can be fixed with time and patience. We’re always available to assist you, so just get a hold of our customer support team and we’ll provide you with more tips and tricks to improve your spelling skills and get better writing jobs.

There are so many words with spellings that just don’t appear to make sense in the English language. Many students have many worries when writing an essay or paper with so many hard words to spell. Although we live in an age where autocorrect is the new fad, the importance of spelling correctly can not be denied. It is always hard to spell words that do not appear the way they sound.

To aid school graders, college students, and adults alike, we have some of the hardest words to spell. This list of hard words to spell spans across words that are hard to spell for all categories of students and adults. Are you ready to go through our list of very hard words to spell? Here’s our list of top 100 hardest words to spell. Let’s explore!

Hardest Words To Spell Ever

The English language could be a real pest, even for native speakers. Sometimes, the spelling of some words seems to slip out of our heads the very times we need them, while sometimes, we just don’t know how to spell some words and make funny typos.

There are many hard English words to spell. A word may be difficult to spell for many reasons. It could be because it is from a language very different from the English language, e.g., Afrikaans, Sanskrit, etc., or because the pronunciation is very different from the spelling. A word can also be difficult if it has a silent letter or more or a peculiar double letter. Here’s a list of some super hard word to spell!

1. Abacaxi
2. Abgesang
3. Aitch
4. Autochthonous
5. Chiaroscurist
6. Coelacanth
7. Kierkegaardian

Long Hard Words To Spell

1. Antidisestablishmentarianism
2. Floccinaucinihilipilification
3. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis
4. Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism
5. Psychoneuroendocrinological
6. Hepaticocholangiogastrostomy
7. Spectrophotofluorometrically

Easy Words That Are Hard To Spell

Surprisingly, some of the easiest words to spell in the English language often get misspelled. The words are usually so common and have been used so commonly that it’s unbelievable to know that many can’t spell it correctly – including you! So here’s a list of common words that are hard to spell.

1. Misspell
2. Pharaoh
3. Weird
4. Intelligence
5. Pronunciation
6. Handkerchief
7. Logorrhea

Hard Words To Spell For 6th Graders

If you are looking for a nice spelling challenge for a 6th grader, you’re in the right place. Take a look at these hardest English words to spell for 6th graders.

1. Noticeable
2. Vacuum
3. Recommend
4. Chaos
5. Accommodation
6. Accidentally
7. Strengthen
8. Pneumonia
9. Acknowledgment
10. Occasion
11. Descendant
12. Liaison

Hard Words To Spell For 7th Graders

Looking for a 7th grade selling challenge, here are some really hard words to spell for 7th graders.

1. Association
2. Atmosphere
3. Bicycle
4. Corollary
5. Confetti
6. Defalcation
7. Bizarre
8. Braggadocio
9. Echelon
10. Gelatinous
11. Panache
12. Xylem

Hard Words To Spell For 8th Graders

1. Condescend
2. Discernible
3. Concede
4. Assuage
5. Contemptuous
6. Imprudent
7. Conscience
8. Bazaar
9. Ferocious
10. Pistachio
11. Eloquent
12. Lucrative

Hard Words To Spell For 9th Graders

1. Stretch
2. Substantial
3. Superintendent
4. Pageant
5. Pamphlet
6. Parachute
7. Nuisance
8. Omitted
9. Tyranny
10. Unanimous
11. Vengeance
12. Villain

Hard Words To Spell For 12th Graders

1. Absolution
2. Acerbic
3. Adumbrate
4. Dearth
5. Encumber
6. Expunge
7. Insidious
8. Penurious
9. Resplendent
10. Saccharine
11. Scurrilous

Hard Words To Spell For College Students

1. Arctic
2. Australia
3. Caribbean
4. Euclidean
5. Presbyterian
6. Teutonic
7. Abysmal
8. Boulevard
9. Bouillon
10. Bourgeois

Hard Words To Spell For Adults

1. Acquiesce
2. Andragogy
3. Criterion
4. Holistic
5. Incongruous
6. Juxtaposition
7. Malapropism
8. Obfuscate
9. Onomatopoeia
10. Soliloquy

There are many spelling rules in the English language that often, it’s difficult to remember which applies. Learning how to spell hard words is a bane to students and adults alike. But don’t fret, we have some proven techniques that will make you conquer most words and spell them with ease.

It may be considered rather unfortunate that the old-fashioned rote memorization method remains the best way to learn how to spell the hardest words. However, memorization techniques have gotten better, making the learning process much more bearable.

There are several mnemonic training techniques and methods used by champion spellers worldwide, such as kinetic learning. This learning technique is the association of mental concepts with a series of movements which make learning much fun and retentive than mere repetition. So here are some tips for learning how to spell hard words!

1. Trace the Letters

   With one hand, track the letters on your palm as you pronounce them. This method is an easy way to apply kinetic learning. You use three learning pathways that reinforce the words in the memory. These are:

   • The motion of your mouth and lips
   • The movement of the fingers of one hand moving
   • The feeling of the motion on the other palm

   For a more active learning experience, you can engage the larger body. Also, movement makes more blood flow to the brain, making it more active and receptive.

2. Vocalize the Letters

   Another useful tool is to vocalize the letters of the words as you learn them. Repetition words by vocalization give those words a melodic feel, imprinting them more firmly on your mind, just like nursery rhymes. If used appropriately, this leaning method will help you recall words when other methods fail.
3. Design Short Study Sessions

   Short study sessions are usually more effective for long-term memorization. When you take breaks, the brain can refresh itself and get ready to take a new set of words without becoming overwhelmed.

4. Use Repetitive Drills

   It usually takes more than one repetition to get spelling correct consistently. Repeat the words you want to learn many times until it sinks into your mind and becomes melodic.

5. Group The Words

   This is another effective strategy for learning how to spell hard words. Grouping words imply that you put words that follow the same spelling pattern in a group. For example, words with “-ei-“combinations will follow the same pattern. Learning all similar words at the same time will help you build association and reinforce spellings. This method will help you to categorize words, which makes memorization much more manageable.

6. Read, Read, Read

   One of the best methods to learn how to spell words is to increase your reading. By merely reading and consuming a wide variety of books like wildfire, you’ll become a spelling champion without knowing it. Reading simply makes all the above rules much less confusing. You’ll also be able to build your intuition level and know just when a spelling looks wrong.

7. Have Fun

   Learning becomes easier if you can apply fun to it. Take the words you want to memorize and see how you can weave fun into it!

So here we are! 100 hard words to spell and how to learn to spell hard words. Wishing you luck in your spelling bee and life in general! If you need homework help, just contact our English assignment helpers.

Living in the age of auto-correct and Google search, there is less of an emphasis on spelling as there once was. But its importance can’t be denied.

When writing a resume, a proposal or a school assignment, a misspelled word can be the difference between getting a job and missing out or getting the marks needed to pass an assignment or not.

We don’t recommend trying to use any of the words below in your next important document, they are some of the hardest words to spell in the English language.

10. Misspell 

Let the misspelling begin with the misspelled word misspell. While this is number ten in our list of misspelled words, it’s certainly number one in most ironic misspelled words that occur in a spelling bee. Misspelling misspell is like forgetting your phone number, you have seen it all the time and yet when you stop and think about it, it slips your mind.

9. Pharaoh 

This misspelled word falls into the error category of ‘you spell it like it sounds’. This term is used to refer to the ruler of ancient Egypt and like an ancient Egyptian ruler, this word will play a tyrant in your mind as it controls your every thought after you have been eliminated for spelling it “pharoh”.

8. Weird  

Fear the confusing power of the’ I before E’! This literary rule is viewed as an absolute but there are exceptions. Fitting of the many exceptions to the rule that weird is one of them, as that is what is often thought of the word weird when it is misspelled.

7. Intelligence 

The word that can be a shot to the ego when misspelled, intelligence being misspelled often creates the most reflection of intellectual state than any other. Its definition of being a measurement of one’s mental ability tends to relate to the fact that you struggled to use your intelligence to spell intelligence.

6. Pronunciation

A term related to the thing that brings the marriage of words and spelling, pronunciation is the act in which a word is spoken. This is a trap in a spelling bee (both the word itself and its meaning) as the manner in which a word is spoken can be misleading compared to how the word is written out. That’s why the nifty trick of using your finger in the air to write out the word is often used.

5. Handkerchief

Whether used as a decorative pocket accessory or as a tissue you don’t throw out, the handkerchief is useful as a versatile fashion statement and a spelling bee hurdle. Wipe away the emotional highs and lows of spelling competition in style with this handy tool of cleanliness.

4. logorrhea 

Do you have a chatter monster in your class? Next time they participate in a spelling bee, try to slip this word into their spelling bee to see if their babble is up to par. logorrhea is a term used when an individual is excessive and incoherent in talkativeness and wordiness.

3. Chiaroscurist 

A term used to describe an artist who specialises in chiaroscuro (pictorial representation of light and dark and its effect on composition). Much like the term itself, contrast the dark and the light by shedding some light on someone’s literary ability with a word that is so difficult to spell it’s dark.

2. Pochemuchka

A Russian term used when a person asks too many questions. One can’t help but think that maybe if I were more pochemuchka, I would have been informed on how to spell this word.

1. Gobbledegook

Gobbledegook is incoherent babbling in a fashion that makes no sense amounting to random words and noises to your listeners. Gobbledegook is a word that in fact sounds like complete gobbledegook, but in actuality is a word that has deep meaning for anyone who has ever heard an infant speak or watched a TV show in another language.

As any participant in a spelling bee can tell you, correctly spelling words in the English language is not always easy. In most languages, the way words are spelled (graphemes) consistently relate to the way they sound (phonemes). But the English language uses a mix of spellings and pronunciations from Latin, Greek, French, German, and many others. To further confuse matters, words in English have different spellings in different countries. No wonder English is practically the only language spelling competitions are held in!

If you struggle spelling some of these challenging words, just know you are not alone. They are some of the trickiest words to spell in English.

1. necessary

One of the things that makes English hard to spell is that there are letters that can—but don’t always—make the same sounds, such as c and s. This, combined with the use of double consonants that don’t change how the word is pronounced, makes necessary tricky to spell. How do you remember where and how many c or s letters you need? Well, take a look at the word. Do you “c” two s‘s? Ask yourself this to make sure there is first one c and then a double s in necessary.

2. narcissistic

Similar to necessary, narcissistic is challenging to spell because of the c and s letters that make the same sound. It can also be hard to remember where to place the double s. It might help you to know that the word narcissistic ultimately comes from the Greek nárkissos, a plant name associated with narcotics.

3. occasion

The word occasion also features the letters c and s, but here they are not making the same s sound. Part of what makes spelling this word challenging are the hard c (like a k) sounds, spelled with a double c. This double c comes from the Latin origin of the word, the equivalent of the prefix oc- combined with the verb cāsus, meaning roughly “to have befallen.” Also, you may be tempted to add another s, but there is only one in occasion.

4. accommodate

The word accommodate also uses a double c … and throws in a double m for good measure. But what makes spelling this word tricky isn’t the consonants, but rather the vowels. The word accommodate [ uh–kom–uh-deyt ] sounds as if it could be spelled with three o‘s, or maybe there is a u in there? But no, there are no u‘s and the first letter is an a, of all things.

5. vacuum

Speaking of words with double c, one word you might expect to have such a spelling but does not is vacuum. Instead of a double c, vacuum features the rare double u (continuum and muumuu are others with this strange combination). The word comes from the Latin vacuus, meaning “empty.”

6. accessory

The word accessory breaks the pattern we have seen so far (remember what we said about the rules of English spelling being inconsistent?). Unlike accommodate, where the double c makes a single k sound, in accessory, the first c makes a k sound, and the second c makes an s sound. Throw in a double s, and accessory is a real challenge to spell correctly.

7. broccoli

Broccoli also features a double c to make a k sound. Besides this complication, you may be tempted to spell the ending with a y or ee to make the lee sound. However, broccoli is a word that comes from Italian, where the ee sound is represented with the letter i.

8. zucchini

Similar to broccoli, zucchini is a word from Italian that uses an i at the end to make an ee sound and has a double c that makes a k sound. If this spelling trips you up too much, you could try the British English word for zucchini instead, which comes from French: courgette [ koor-zhet ].

9. spaghetti

Another word with Italian origins that is a challenge to spell is spaghetti. The letter i at the end of a word in Italian indicates that it is plural. (Technically, a single spaghetti is a spaghetto.) The nearly-silent h might also throw you off when spelling this word.

Bite into more funny tidbits about words with uncommon singular forms here.

10. embarrass

Another word we aren’t embarrassed to admit can be hard to spell is, well, embarrass. One thing that might trip you up is the ending—it sounds like uhs, but is spelled, well, ass. Another thing that makes spelling embarrass difficult is the double r and double s. What explains both of these tricky elements is that embarrass was adopted into English from the Portuguese embaraçar via the French verb embarrasser.

11. bourbon

Speaking of words that come from French throwing us curveballs, another tricky one is bourbon. In English, we use an anglicized pronunciation of this word: [ bur-buhn ], but we have kept the French spelling. The difference between these two is what makes spelling this word hard—just try to remember there are two o‘s, not just one.

12. charcuterie

The French have a very different system of spelling, which can make it confusing when we adopt their words into English. One example of this is charcuterie. In French, the letters char are pronounced  shahr. That’s why this fancy word for “cooked, processed, or cured cold meats” (like sausage and pâté) is spelled with a ch instead of the sh you might expect.

13. entrepreneur

Yet another word whose French spelling makes it a challenge for English speakers is entrepreneur [ ahn-truh-pruh–nur ]. Because it starts with an ah sound, you may think it includes an a, but that’s not the case. Next time you write this word, remind yourself that most of the vowel sounds are e‘s, except for the eu at the very end for the oor sound. 

14. liaison

The word liaison also has French origins. You may be tempted to spell it phonetically: lee-ay-zon. However, much like the i at the end of Italian words, the i in French can make an ee sound. That might help you remember that liaison has two i‘s.

15. Connecticut

Of course, French and Italian are not the only foreign languages whose words have been adopted into English. Many place names in the United States come from the Indigenous languages of those areas, and these spellings can be difficult. One example is Connecticut, which is pronounced [ kuh–net-i-kuht ], but is spelled “Connect I Cut.” The word comes from the Mohegan-Pequot language and means “upon the long river.”

16. Massachusetts

Another example of this is Massachusetts, named for the tribe of Algonquin people who lived there, whose name means “at the large hill.” This word is particularly challenging to spell because you may be tempted to double the second s … especially because there is a double t at the end.

Did you know Massachusetts is a commonwealth? Learn the difference between commonwealth and state here.

17. epitome

Words that come originally from Greek are also challenging to spell. One example is epitome [ ih-pit–uh-mee ]. The word sounds like it ends in a y or ee, but it doesn’t. One reason for this is because, similar to Italian, all of the vowels from Greek words are pronounced—no silent e here.

18. asthma

Speaking of silent letters, English has a remarkable number of them we use when spelling. There is no way to know these letters ought to be there unless you are familiar with the word. One example of this is asthma, which has a silent th. That’s right, English sometimes will throw in a silent th, just to keep you on your toes.

19. indict

Another word with a deceptive silent letter is indict [ in-dahyt ]. You don’t pronounce the letter c in this word, so you may forget to include it when spelling. The c is a holdover from its late Latin origins, indictāre, related to the English verb dictate.

20. gnaw

We have seen silent th and silent c, but we would be remiss not to mention the silent g that pops up from time-to-time in English. One example of a word with a silent g is gnaw [ naw ].

21. phlegm

Silent g‘s do not only appear at the beginning of words; they can show up in endings as well. One example of this is phlegm [ flem ]. This word is also tricky because it uses the letters ph to make a ff sound. This way of writing the ff sound can be found in words from Greek, such as phlegm and phone.

22. paradigm

Another example of a word from Greek with a silent g is paradigm, from the Greek parádeigma. Based on the way this word is pronounced, you would expect the ending to be spelled dime, not digm.

23. pneumonia

Another silent letter you may come across sometimes is a silent p, as in pneumonia [ noo–mohn-yuh ]. Even if you remember that silent p, the word pneumonia is still tricky because of the oo sound, spelled with an eu.

24. island

The letter s is also occasionally silent in English. One word you have likely come across that uses a silent s is island. The s was added to the word via isle, a word ultimately derived from Latin and meaning “a small island.”

25. rhythm

The word rhythm is particularly challenging to spell. It has two h‘s, but one is silent and the other is used in the diphthong th. It also sounds as if it should have a u [ rith–uhm ], but it doesn’t. Rhythm comes from the Greek rhythmós, a clue that might help you remember its spelling in English.

26. Wednesday

The word Wednesday [ wenz-dey ] is particularly challenging to spell because the d is silent. Wednesday comes from the Old English for “Woden’s day”; Woden is what the pagan Anglo-Saxons called the Norse god Odin. Keeping Woden—or Odin—in mind is a good way to remember that pesky d.

27. eight

The word eight is a homophone of the past participle of “to eat,” ate. That’s not the only thing confusing about this old word. The ending is spelled ight which we associate with words like bright and tight. Here, however, this combination of letters is pronounced [ eyt ] instead.

English is full of homophones galore! Read about some of familiar pairs here.

28. acquiesce

Another word that contains some confusing letter combinations related to how it is pronounced is acquiesce [ ak-wee-es ], a verb meaning “to assent tacitly; agree.” The word comes from the Latin acquiēscere, meaning “to find rest in.” One thing to keep in mind when spelling this word is that ac- is a prefix meaning “toward” or “to.” That means the word breaks down as ac-qui-esce, which may help you spell it correctly.

29. nauseous

The word nauseous [ naw-shuhs ] appears to have just way too many vowels. Like the tricky acquiesce, nauseous comes from Latin. Nauseous means you suffer from nausea, a word that looks practically nautical (nau and sea). If you take the a off of nausea and add the common adjectival ending -ous, you have the correct spelling of nauseous.

30. conscious

A word with the same ending as nauseous that is also tricky to spell is conscious [ kon-shuhs ]. It may help you to spell it if you remember that it comes from the Latin conscius, meaning “sharing knowledge with,” equivalent to con-(with) + sci- (know) + -us (-ous, indicating an adjective).

31. grateful

One of the biggest challenges when it comes to spelling words in English are the number of homophones, or words that sound the same but are spelled differently. That’s why you may be tempted to spell the word grateful with an ea, as in great. However, grateful comes from the obsolete grate, meaning “pleasing,” not the word great, as in “large.”

32. separate

The word separate is tricky because the second vowel sound is spelled with an a and not a u or e, even though in many accents it sounds as if it should be.

33. lightning

Finally, there are some words in English that seem as if they should have more letters than they do. One example of this is lightning [ lahyt-ning ]. The unusual combination of tn may throw you off here. However, adding an e would make the word lightening, which has another meaning altogether.

If you ever get stuck on one of these words, or any others, you can always look up how to spell them here. Do your best to sound it out, and our algorithm will suggest the words you might be looking for. You can also use this handy word list to test yourself on these words. Whether you struggle to spell these words or others, keep in mind that the English language is a real challenge to spell!