The Most Commonly Misspelled Word in Each State

From ‘beautiful’ to ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,’ find out which words America struggles to spell the most, broken down by state.
It‘s way too easy to misspell words.
It‘s way too easy to misspell words. | Catherine Falls Commercial/GettyImages

The English language is complicated. In addition to its complex grammar rules and commonly confused terms, many words are straight up impossible to spell if you’re not familiar with them already. Even prominent authors like Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, and F. Scott Fitzgerald were known to struggle with spelling. If you’re curious which tricky word has your home state stumped, check out the list below.

WordUnscrambler found the most commonly misspelled word in each state using search data from Google Trends. Researchers looked at inquiries like “how do you spell,” “how do I spell,” and “how to spell,” considering up to 120 variations of top spelling searches.    

According to the data, words with double consonants, silent letters, and irregular pronunciations are the most difficult for Americans. Many states—West Virginia, Wyoming, and five others—struggle with the word beautiful. Different puzzled searchers in four states, as did the word people. Vermont’s obsession with Mary Poppins (1964) is evident, as the state is most curious about how to spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, according to the data.

You can find the complete list of each state’s most misspelled word below:

  • Alabama - Different
  • Alaska - Tomorrow
  • Arizona - People
  • Arkansas - Quesadilla
  • California - Appreciation
  • Colorado - Sergeant
  • Connecticut - Schedule
  • Delaware - Beautiful
  • Florida - Compliment
  • Georgia - Necessary
  • Hawaii - Luau
  • Idaho - Definitely
  • Illinois - Congratulations
  • Indiana - Taught
  • Iowa - Through
  • Kansas - Different
  • Kentucky - People
  • Louisiana - Through
  • Maine - Pneumonia
  • Maryland - Character
  • Massachusetts - Beautiful
  • Michigan - Scratch
  • Minnesota - Successful
  • Mississippi - Beautiful
  • Missouri - Temperature
  • Montana - Appreciate
  • Nebraska - Beautiful
  • Nevada - School
  • New Hampshire - Protective
  • New Jersey - Congratulations
  • New Mexico - Appreciate
  • New York - Different
  • North Carolina - Secret
  • North Dakota - Daughter
  • Ohio - Crochet
  • Oklahoma - Patience
  • Oregon - Business
  • Pennsylvania - Scissors
  • Rhode Island - Cancelled
  • South Carolina - People
  • South Dakota - Beautiful
  • Tennessee - Broccoli
  • Texas - Protect
  • Utah - Definitely
  • Vermont - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
  • Virginia - People
  • Washington - Appreciation
  • West Virginia - Beautiful
  • Wisconsin - Different
  • Wyoming - Beautiful

Want to put your spelling skills to the test? See if you can ace this quiz of the most commonly misspelled words in the English language. 

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