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Top Misspelled Words By State: Google’s List Reveals The Most Commonly Misspelled Words

By Skinner Bachs

From the archive: published May 29, 2016, 10 years ago. Details may have changed since.

The top misspelled words by state might come as a surprise, especially as America’s best and brightest grammar school word champs are battling it out in Washington D.C. at the Scripps US National Spelling Bee in a quest to determine whose phonetic skills reign supreme. To celebrate that event, the people who do all the ciphering over at Google have compiled a list of the top misspelled words by state. Think those lists contain five to seven syllable monstrosities with letter counts in the teens? Think again.

There were a few commonly abused spelling demons on the list. “Pneumonia” made the list three times, stumping writers in Missouri, North Carolina, and Washington. Another ailment seemed to stymie residents of Arizona and New Hampshire: “diarrhea.”

Meanwhile, denizens of California, Connecticut, Idaho, and Indiana must have found themselves at a loss for how to describe dry spells as “desert” was the most commonly searched spelling on Google for those states.

The most surprising misspelled word on the list was “gray.” Google revealed it was the most commonly misspelled word in Michigan, Oklahoma, and South Dakota. The most misspelled word in Alaska is “Hawaii.” Hawaii did not return the compliment, as their most commonly misspelled search word is “boutineer.”

Colorado and New York are both “beautiful” in their own ways, just don’t ask them to spell it. Utah and Arkansas have their own issues with “leprechauns.” Folks in Maine, Montana, and Wisconsin must feel that their spelling prowess has disappeared into a “vacuum.”

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People from Massachusetts might prefer to be called Bay Staters. A quick search revealed a number of different monikers for people who hail from the place referred to by the Algonquin as “near the great little mountain.” Unfortunately, even the official website of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts sidestepped using a state-specific term. Maybe it’s for the best. After all, the most commonly misspelled word searched in that state is “Massachusetts.”

Speaking of knowing how to spell what you call the people around you, Google searches in Delaware and New Mexico revealed the most misspelled word in those states was “neighbor.”

Minnesotans aren’t too keen on broccoli, at least according to Google.

Alabamans struggle with “tong.”

Want To See Which Word Vexes People Where You Live? Here Is The List Of The Top Misspelled Words By State.

Alabama – Tong Alaska – Hawaii Arizona – Diarrhea Arkansas – Leprechaun California – Desert Colorado – Beautiful Connecticut – Desert Delaware – Neighbor Florida – Tomorrow Georgia – Appreciate Hawaii – Boutineer Idaho – Desert Illinois – Appreciate Indiana – Desert Iowa – Maintenance Kansas – Schedule Kentucky – Maintenance Louisiana – Definitely Maine – Vacuum Maryland – Cancelled Massachusetts – Massachusetts Michigan – Gray Minnesota – Broccoli Mississippi – Sergeant Missouri – Pneumonia Montana – Vacuum Nebraska – Guarantee Nevada – Cousin New Hampshire – Diarrhea New Jersey – February New Mexico – Neighbor New York – Beautiful North Carolina – Pneumonia North Dakota – Attitude Ohio – Banana Oklahoma – Gray Oregon – Definitely Pennsylvania – Cancelled Rhode Island – Cancelled South Carolina – Convenience South Dakota – Gray Tennessee – Courtesy Texas – Niece Utah – Leprechaun Vermont – Possible Virginia – Cancelled Washington – Pneumonia West Virginia – Giraffe Wisconsin – Vacuum Wyoming – Ornery

Why are so many of these words so common? Commenters on Twitter suggested that our dependence on auto-correct features may have weaned us away from learning basic spelling rules. Another possibility that was considered was our tendency to shorten everything. As one elementary school teacher put it, there is a distinct possibility that many people are now so used to typing things out with two thumbs that we have lost muscle memory for typing out words on a QUERTY keyboard. Maybe those commonly misspelled words simply look wrong to us.

So why does the commonly misspelled word vary from state to state? Maybe it’s a function of regional sensibility in action. Maybe we’re just being “ornery,” but don’t ask the people of Wyoming about that. They’re still trying to spell it.

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