# Hard-to-spell words
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [August 3, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703 "2008-08-03T14:56:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703/1 "2008-08-03T14:56:05Z")
I’m playing around with some twicky wordplay stuff, and need words where the correct spelling looks wrong:
Judgment
Newsstand
Mayonnaise
Plus, there’s the ones where I always have to stop and think (and I consider myself a damn fine speller):
Accommodate
Recommend
Embarrass
Whatcha got
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703/2 "2008-08-03T16:19:19Z")
Liquefy
Rarefy
Sacrilegious
I’ll probably think of more as the day goes on.
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### Author:  [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703/3 "2008-08-03T16:36:46Z")
Restaurateur
(You want to cram an ‘n’ into there, admit it)
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703/4 "2008-08-03T16:39:54Z")
These are excellent, guys, exactly what I had in mind.
Keep 'em coming!
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### Author:  [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703/5 "2008-08-03T16:55:12Z")
Minuscule
Privilege
“Judgment” actually is wrong, where I come from.
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### Author:  [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703/6 "2008-08-03T17:16:38Z")
stupefy
decimal
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703/7 "2008-08-03T17:17:21Z")
[QUOTE=Usram]
“Judgment” actually is wrong, where I come from.
[/QUOTE]
I bet you think “travelled” is right, also. 😉
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### Author:  [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703/8 "2008-08-03T17:19:08Z")
Maybe it’s just me, but **occasion** never looks right to me.
Are you working these into a crossword? 'Cause that woud be kind of mean.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703/9 "2008-08-03T18:19:17Z")
[QUOTE=Bayard]
Are you working these into a crossword? 'Cause that woud be kind of mean.
[/QUOTE]
That wasn’t what I’d had in mind – but maybe I should. Mean? That would be evil. 😃
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### Author:  [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703/10 "2008-08-03T18:24:03Z")
definitely
maintenance
guard
guarantee
weird
personnel
These have tripped me up in the past and probably will continue to do so in the future!
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### Author:  [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703/11 "2008-08-03T18:26:26Z")
separate
I always have to say it “sep - (long) A - rate” to spell it right.
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### Author:  [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Have_Hippos_In_My_Garden)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703/12 "2008-08-03T19:20:24Z")
Diarrhea- that looks just so wrong.
The Philippines
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### Author:  [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703/13 "2008-08-03T19:25:56Z")
Vacuum sometimes makes me pause… I always want to put an extra ‘c’ in there. And can someone tell me, why does ‘queue’ have the extra ‘ue’ in it?
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### Author:  [@AuntPam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntPam)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703/14 "2008-08-03T19:33:17Z")
pre-nuptial
or nuptials (One “u” only, please.)
Renown. Why isn’t it “reknown”? It’s about being well-known.
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### Author:  [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703/15 "2008-08-03T20:11:47Z")
fuchsia
Tucson
Hmm, I think I kind of see a pattern here…
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### Author:  [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703/16 "2008-08-03T20:24:19Z")
I think I got these off the SDMB a while back:
Incorrect - Correct
Millenium - Millennium
Innoculate - Inoculate
Embarassment - Embarrassment
Harrasses - Harasses
Miniscule - Minuscule
Noticable - Noticeable
Supercede - Supersede
Perseverence - Perseverance
Accomodate - Accommodate
Occurence – Occurrence
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703/17 "2008-08-03T20:43:23Z")
Oh! Here’s one that never used to be a problem for me – until the instructor in a copyediting class I took mentioned that it’s one of her “trouble” words, and now it’s one of mine:
eighth
I always have to stop and think when I write or type it now, to keep from spelling it “eigtht.” Dammit, I KNOW how to spell “eight” and “eighth,” but now there’s a permanent short in my mental wiring. Thanks, teach! :mad:
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703/18 "2008-08-03T20:45:14Z")
victuals
sacrilege
desperate
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### Author:  [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703/19 "2008-08-03T22:02:39Z")
Develop and development look like they’re missing an ‘e’.
Height–my Dad pronounced and wrote it ‘heighth’.
Taught–I was ‘tought’ wrong so the right way still looks wrong to me.
About ‘perseverance’: I haven’t had trouble with it ever since I found out it was actually two words, spelled the same.
The tendency to persevere–perseverance. [PER-su-VEER-uns]
The tendency to persever–perseverance. [per-SE-ver-uns]
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### Author:  [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-to-spell-words/458703/20 "2008-08-03T22:04:10Z")
Pnumonia.
Pyrnesse.
I am spelling them wrong, I know it.
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