50 MOST DIFFICULT WORDS TO SPELL
Table of Contents
What are the top 50 hardest words to spell?
So, isn’t this a fun thing to think about? What makes a word in English difficult to spell? Most words are difficult to spell because they arrived in our English vocabularies from a language very much different from our own, like the Afrikaans, Sanskrit, Welsh, etc. also, they can be difficult because most word pronunciation don’t obviate their spelling. It can also be difficult because the word or phrase has one, or two, or three silent letters. Maybe you will find useful having this list in pdf or using it with our training application.
Most Difficult words – Part one
| 2011: Cymotrichous | An adjective: Meaning — Having wavy hair. Spelled by Sukanya Roy. |
| 2009: Laodicean | An adjective: Meaning — Indifferent or lukewarm in religion or politics. Spelled by Kavya Shivashankar. |
| 2004: Autochthonous | An adjective: Meaning— Originating or formed in the place where found, native. Spelled by David Tidmarsh. |
| 2002: Prospicience | A noun: Meaning — Foresight, the act of looking forward. Spelled by Pratyush Buddiga. |
| 1999: Logorrhea | An adjective: Meaning — A state of excessive and often incoherent wordiness or talkativeness. Spelled by Nupur Lala. |
| 1997: Euonym | A noun: Meaning — A name well suited to a place, person or thing Named. Spelled by Rebecca Sealfon. |
| 1996: Vivisepulture | A noun: Meaning — The practice or act of burying alive. Spelled by Wendy Guey. |
| 1986: Odontalgia | A noun: Meaning — Toothache. Spelled by Jon Pennington. |
| 1980: Elucubrate | A verb: Meaning — Compose or write by working studiously at night. Spelled by Jacques Bailly. |
| 1961: Smaragdine | An adjective: Meaning — Having the color of emeralds, of or relating to emeralds. Spelled by John Capehart. |
| 1960: Eudaemonic | An adjective: Meaning — Producing happiness. Spelledby Henry Feldman. |
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A word can be difficult to spell because it has a unique double letter, such as kk or aa or ii, etc.
So, in other to pick a list of “the 50 hardest words,” we started with a long list of some very difficult words and we threw-out words that had same elements of difficulty.
We continued to review and cull words until we’ve selected what we perceive to be a list of the hardest and most difficult words to spell. However, if these are not the most difficult words to spell, they are, nevertheless a very difficult list of 50 words.
This list of 50 difficult words features many words with confusion about doubling consonants when word endings are added.
So, don’t cry out in frustration over these words! Instead, try to improve and learn more about spelling these words correctly. Let’s see how many you’re able to recognize.
Click on each word to get Spelling Bee analytics.
At the end of this article will also find links to the downloadable PDF and to the interactive Spelling Bee Ninja version.
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Most Difficult words – Part two
| Antediluvian (an-ti-də-ˈlü-vē-ən) | Relating to the period before the flood as described in the Bible. |
| Xanthosis (zān-thō’sĭs) | A yellowish dis-coloration of degenerating tissues. |
| Chiaroscurist (kē-ˌär-ə-ˈskyu̇r-ist) | An artist specializing in chiaroscuro. |
| Succedaneum (sək-sə-ˈdā-nē-əm) | A substitute |
| Pococurante (pō-kō-kyu̇-ˈran-tē) | Indifferent, nonchalant. |
| Appoggiatura (ə-ˌpä-jə-ˈtu̇r-ə) | A tone preceding an essential melodic note. |
| Ursprache (oor-shprah-khuh) | A hypothetically reconstructed parent-language, as Proto Germanic. |
| Questionnaire | A noun: Meaning – a list of questions; survey. |
| Unconscious | An adjective: Meaning – without awareness; not conscious. |
| Precocious | An adjective: Meaning – unusually mature, most especially in mental development. |
| Liaison | A noun: Meaning – a person who maintains connections between people or groups. |
| Surveillance | A noun: Meaning – continuous observation of a place, person or activity in order to gather information. |
| Chrysanthemum | A noun: Meaning – a widely-cultivated plant with brightly colored flower heads. |
| Idiosyncrasy | A noun: Meaning – a mannerism or habit peculiar to an individual. |
| Chauffeur | A noun: Meaning – a person hired to drive a private automobile. |
| Onomatopoeia | A noun: Meaning – the formation of words by imitating a sound of action or noise described such as, honk, or meow. |
| Conscientious | An adjective: Means – careful, particular, taking great care. |
| Demitasse | A noun: Meaning – small coffee cup. |
| Vengeance | A noun: Meaning – punishment inflicted for wrong done. |
| Acquiesce | A verb: Meaning – to accept as inevitable; to comply passively. |
| Malfeasance | A noun: Meaning – conduct by a public-official which violates public trust or is against the law. |
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Most Difficult words – Part three
| Irascible | An adjective: Meaning – irritable, quick-tempered. |
| Foudroyant | An adjective: Meaning – stunning; sudden and overwhelming. |
| Pterodactyl | A noun: Meaning – extinct flying reptiles, having no feathers. |
| Stichomythia | A noun: Meaning – dialogue, especially a dispute, addressed in alternating lines. |
| Feuilleton | A noun: Meaning – part of a European magazine or newspaper with content designed to entertain the reader. |
| Milquetoast | A noun: Meaning – an unassertive, timid, or apologetic person. |
| Chrematistic | An adjective: Meaning – of or relating to making money. |
| Sacrilegious | An adjective: Meaning – committing excessive irreverence towards a hallowed place, thing, or thing |
| Semaphore | A noun: Meaning – system of sending signals by using two flags that are hand-held. |
| Transept | A noun: Meaning – the short area that trans-versing the long-side of a church and giving the church the shape of a cross when viewed from above. |
| Psoriasis | A noun: Meaning – a chronic skin-disease characterized by circumscribed red-patches covered with white scales. |
| Stromuhr | A noun: Meaning – a rheometer designed to measure the speed of the blood-flow through an artery. |
| Scherenschnitte | A noun: Meaning – the art of cutting paper into a decorative design. |
| Courtoisie | Courtliness, the code of courtly love |
| Weltanschauung | A particular philosophy or view of life; the world view of an individual or group. |
| Zwetschenwasser | A colorless plum brandy with a bitter almond taste. |
| Mlechchha | People of foreign extraction in ancient India. A Sanskrit term, mlechchha was used by the Vedic peoples much as the ancient Greeks used barbaros, originally to indicate the uncouth and incomprehensible speech of foreigners and then extended to their unfamiliar behaviour. |
| Kierkegaardian | Relating to or characteristic of the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard or his works. |
| Cnemidocoptes | A genus of microscopic burrowing sarcoptid mites that infects fowl and caged birds. |
| Pfeffernuss | A small, usually ball-shaped cookie flavored with cinnamon, allspice, anise, etc. and with black pepper |
| Ytterbium | A rare element of the boron group, sometimes associated with yttrium or other related elements, as in euxenite and gadolinite. Symbol Yb; provisional atomic weight 173.2. Cf. Yttrium. |
| Taaffeite | A type of mauve gemstone with a hexagonal crystal structure. |
| Psittaceous | Of or pertaining to the parrots, or the Psittaci. |
PDF, Flashcards and SBN formats
Hera are links to the 2nd graders words list in different formats, feel free to download it and use for your preparation or lessons, also there is a link to use the list with our spelling bee preparation app, where you can take Spelling Test with this list, embed into your website, edit it, listen to pronunciation and a lot more.
 | > Most difficult words in PDF Format |
 | > FLASHCARDS in PDF Format |
 | > Most difficult spelling words with our SBN APP |
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