List of 37 Words That Sound Easy But Are Hard to Spell


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Want some examples of words that are trickier to spell than you might think? Here's a list of words that sound easy but are hard to spell. You'll find the vocabulary you're looking for here.
accommodate It is difficult to remember which consonants are doubled; also, the second o is not spelled phonetically.
acquiesce The first c can seem unnecessary; the sc sounds like a double s.
antediluvian The e and the first i are not spelled phonetically.
chauffeur As the word comes from French, the vowels are not phonetic.
chrysanthemum Substituting the y with an i is an easy mistake to make.
conscientious Pronounced differently from "conscious" and "conscience"; the nt is pronounced more like sh.
dilate Often (wrongly) pronounced "di-a-late," causing confusion when it comes to writing.
fuchsia The middle consonant sound has a non-standard spelling.
gobbledegook The second e can sound like an i.
handkerchief Contains a silent d.
idiosyncrasy The placement of i's and y's in the word can get confusing.
indict Contains a silent c.
ingenious The second and third syllables sound like "genius" but are spelled differently.
irascible The sc can easily be mistaken for a double s.
liquefy The e is easily mistaken for an i, especially given the spelling of "liquid."
logorrhea Contains a silent h, and the second r is essentially silent too.
malfeasance The ea sounds like a double e.
milquetoast The que in the word sounds like a k so it feels natural for an English speaker to spell it "milktoast."
minuscule Because of the word "mini," it feels natural to substitute the first u with an i.
misspell It is very easy to misspell this word by giving it only one s.
mischievous The mistaken pronunciation "mis-chee-vee-ous" leads people to spell this word incorrectly, placing vowels in the wrong location.
nauseous This word has a vowel order that is hard to remember, and the middle consonant has a non-standard pronunciation.
onomatopoeia The fourth o in the word is silent.
orangutan Many people add a g to the end of this word when saying it, leading to spelling errors.
paraphernalia People often drop the second r when pronouncing this word, which causes it to be misspelled.
pharaoh It is easy to mistake ao in the word for oa.
playwright A playwright is someone who writes a play, so it is natural to spell the second syllable the same way.
precocious Some people may substitute the second c with a t.
pronunciation The spelling of the word "pronounce" leads many people to insert an extra o into this word.
pterodactyl The p in this word is silent.
questionnaire The second i of this word is silent and people sometimes forget the double n.
sacrilegious The pronunciation of this word, and its similarity to "religious," leads people to replace the e with an i.
sherbet Many people pronounce it "sherbert," which leads to a corresponding spelling error.
surveillance It is easy to forget the double l.
vengeance The soft g in this word sounds like a j and the second e is silent.
Wednesday This word is pronounced "wensday," leading to confusion when it comes to the spelling.
weird It is easy to mix up the order of the vowels in this word.



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