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

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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