1 week ago - Explore 250+ of the hardest English words to spell and pronounce. Includes adult Spelling Bee words, common misspellings, and tricky pronunciation tips.

November 7, 2025 - The swampy definition, however, is commonly pronounced “slew” in American English, but also sometimes rhymes with “wow.” Who decided that two words that are pronounced completely differently should share this unintuitive spelling? If this list of the hardest English words to spell has your head spinning, you’re not alone; lots of others feel the same way.

We hear you, some English words like “clothes” or “February” can be hard to pronounce. Luckily, we’ve got your back. Learn and practice pronouncing hard words in English with Busuu’s free online courses and learning resources! ... Below you’ll find 20 of the hardest English words to pronounce.

The “r” sounds in “rural” are difficult to say back-to-back, making this word challenging for many. Some common mispronunciations include rool or rur-al. ... Draught is often used in British English to refer to draft beer, but it can also mean a current of cool air in a room.

A vocabulary list featuring 300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words. Looking to build your vocabulary? Then practice this list of 300 "hard words" — the kind that used to be tested on the SAT before 2016. If you're a high school student prepping for the SAT, check out Vocabulary.com's Roadmap to the ...

Originating from 17th century Latin and originally meaning ‘a foot and a half long’, this word literally stands for ‘long-winded’ words, such as Sesquipedalian. And one would think it would mean something really mysterious and fascinating.

July 14, 2025 - While it looks like it might be pronounced “drot,” it’s actually pronounced “draft” (sort of like the word laugh) and usually refers to an alcoholic beverage drawn from a keg. Remember this next time you take a vocabulary quiz! ... While the popularity of this ancient grain has grown in recent years because of its “superfood” powers, many people still struggle with how to pronounce quinoa and its numerous vowel blends. If you apply Standard English rules, you might say “qwin-o-ah,” but it’s actually a Spanish word that has numerous acceptable pronunciations, including “KEEN-wah,” “ken-WAH” and even “KEN-o-ah.” (Believe it or not, you may have been saying these company names wrong all your life.)

July 7, 2025 - One of the things that makes English hard to spell is that there are letters that can—but don’t always—make the same sounds, such as c and s. This, combined with the use of double consonants that don’t change how the word is pronounced, makes necessary tricky to spell.

September 24, 2025 - What are some of the hardest words to spell in the English language? Number 8 and 7 might just surprise you.

July 17, 2025 - Even fictionalized versions of the word, like “green-ify” (shout-out to fans of Wicked), are spelled with an “i.” But “liquefy,” meaning to make or become liquid, ends with “-efy.” To make matters even more confusing, “liquid” itself is spelled “-qui,” really making you think that second vowel should be an “i.” But nope—the fact that “liquefy” is spelled with an “e” makes it one of our hardest words to spell. (“Stupefy,” “putrefy,” and “rarefy” also use this unusual spelling.) Next, find out what TL;DR means. ... Native English spellers have gotten used to the spelling of “Wednesday,” but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still very, very strange when you think about it.

January 5, 2023 - Difficult Words in English Vocabulary Starting with the Letter ‘P’ · Difficult Words in English Vocabulary Starting with the Letter ‘Q’

March 20, 2023 - Incomprehensibility is one of those words: it means that something is difficult and/or impossible to understand or comprehend. Example: "The manual is too full of technical jargon, making it incomprehensible". ... French loanwords can be especially tricky for non-native English speakers, since they keep some aspects of their original pronunciation and spelling even after being adopted into the language.

July 17, 2025 - To most people, words like ‘esoteric’, phylogenetic, and ‘synecdoche’ might be difficult as these are not commonly used in our daily conversations. Moreover, they have complex meanings, as they require specific knowledge to understand. There are over 170,000 English words in the Oxford Dictionary.

1 month ago - Today we’re going to test your pronunciation with 20 of the most difficult words in English — words like “squirrel,” “asterisk,” and “bureaucracy.”

September 2, 2025 - Don't read this if you have hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (fear of long words). ... Most English words longer than about 15-20 letters are scientific, meaningless, or highly specialized, and they tend to be formed by affixation. This is the act or process of adding affixes to a base word to produce a derivative word—in the word affixation, for instance, -ation is an affix.

November 25, 2022 - The social fear of long words is known as hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia. Although the 15-syllable phobia differs from person to person, it can have a negative impact on one's life. If you or someone you know has hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, make sure to seek professional assistance to better manage symptoms and coping methods. Get Beelinguapp! ... Learn Languages Learn with Audiobooks in English Learn with Audiobooks in Spanish Learn with Audiobooks in Portuguese Learn with Audiobooks in French Learn with Audiobooks in Italian Learn with Audiobooks in German Learn with Audioboo

May 12, 2022 - You’ve probably heard folks say “mis-cheev-ee-us” when it’s actually a three-syllable word pronounced MIS-chiv-us.” · The issue is that the original spelling of the term included an extra I at the end, which was common until the 1700s. Native English speakers pronounce this Middle French-derived 16th-century word “ker-nul”.