A new study has revealed that ‘diarrhoea’ is the hardest word to spell for Brits. Online gaming site unscrambled-words.com analysed how many times a word’s spelling has been searched for on Google from the UK in the past year.
This volume of searches was then used to determine how relatively hard each word is to spell. They also compiled a list to show what words made up the top five that Brits struggled with.
1. Diarrhoea
While maybe not the most pleasant word to think about, diarrhoea takes the top spot for the hardest words for UK residents to spell, with an estimated 2,700 UK searches per month for 'How to spell Diarrhoea’.
The spelling is particularly tricky due to the ‘rrh’ sequence in the middle, a spelling pattern that rarely appears in everyday English. The silent h in this sequence only adds to the potential confusion in this spelling. This is further compounded by the silent o straight afterwards. A phrase to remember the order of the letters in the tricky part is: “A Really Round Hippo Often Eats Apples”.
2. Askew
‘Askew’ comes second, with an estimated 1,900 UK searches for its spelling. Askew can mean to be in a tilted or off-straight position or something that is wrong. The word entered English in the 16th Century, potentially originating from the Old Norse a ska, or just meaning “on skew”, similar to how ashore means “on shore”.
This spelling can be confusing due to the kew section sounding the same as cue; a word people are more likely to encounter in their everyday.
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3. Beautiful
Beautiful has a wonderful meaning but a particularly challenging spelling, including four out of five vowels. Beautiful is the third most searched for spelling, with an estimated 1,700 UK searches each month. The word beautiful means very pleasing to the senses or mind and comes from the word beauty, originally from the Latin word bellus, meaning pretty, handsome, or pleasant. An easy way to remember how to spell the start of beautiful is the phrase, “Big Elephants Are Under Trees.”
4. Queue
Brits love a good queue, though its spelling can be particularly tricky. Queue takes the fourth spot with 1,300 estimated UK searches per month for its spelling. In modern English, queue means a line or sequence of people or things, or the action of forming a line or sequence of things.
The spelling of queue is especially difficult because of the number of silent letters it has, plus the silent ue pattern repeats itself. As well, the word cue sounds identical with just one instance of the ue pattern. A handy way to remember queue’s spelling is to think, “there is a queue of ues after the q”.
5. Pneumonia
Pneumonia is the fifth most searched for spelling, with an estimated 1,100 UK. Pneumonia is a condition where the air sacs of the lungs become inflamed, usually due to an infection, with potentially serious implications.
The word means lung disease when it is translated into English. The silent p at the start of pneumonia in particular causes confusion: not many other words in English have this spelling pattern, mainly due to pneumonia being a loan word from Ancient Greek originally.
