How Digital Tools Are Affecting Our Spelling Skills in Washington

I don’t know if my spelling is getting worse but I do find myself Googling the proper spelling of words more often these days  And is “Googling” a verb now?

The researchers at WordUnscramble.pro suggest the reliance on the autocorrect feature is weakening our spelling skills.  They have even coined the term “digital amnesia”.   Technology allows us to forget things because we don’t have to know them.  We just rely on technology, like all the phone numbers we don’t memorize because they are stored in our phone.

Well that explains it.  Now I don’t feel so inadequate.

New research from 2025 shows the words we seem to struggle most with and WordUnscramble.pro used the occasion of this month’s National Spelling Bee to list the most misspelled words in each state and the Top 10 list in the U.S.A.

I doubt any of the brilliant, young spelling bee contestants would miss any of the common words we struggle with on these lists. 

Check out these common spelling errors;.

 America’s most misspelled words:

1.      Definitely – 33 500 searches.

2.      Separate – 30 000 searches.

3.      Necessary – 29 000 searches.

4.      Believe – 28 500 searches.

5.      Through – 28 000 searches.

6.      Gorgeous –  27 000 searches.

7.      Neighbor – 25 500 searches.

8.      Business – 24 200 searches.

9.      Favorite – 23 000 searches.

10.   Restaurant – 22 500 searches.

 America’s most misspelled words by state:

·        Alabama – Different

·        Alaska –  Tomorrow

·        Arizona – People

·        Arkansas – Quesadilla

·        California – Appreciation

·        Colorado – Sergeant

·        Connecticut – Schedule

·        Delaware – Beautiful

·        Florida – Compliment

·        Georgia – Necessary

·        Hawaii – Luau

·        Idaho – Definitely

·        Illinois – Congratulations

·        Indiana – Taught

·        Iowa – Through

·        Kansas – Different

·        Kentucky – People

·        Louisiana – Through

·        Maine – Pneumonia

·        Maryland – Character

·        Massachusetts – Beautiful

·        Michigan – Scratch

·        Minnesota – Successful

·        Mississippi – Beautiful

·        Missouri – Temperature

·        Montana – Appreciate

·        Nebraska – Beautiful

·        Nevada – School

·        New Hampshire – Protective

·        New Jersey – Congratulations

·        New Mexico – Appreciate

·        New York – Different

·        North Carolina – Secret

·        North Dakota – Daughter

·        Ohio – Crochet

·        Oklahoma – Patience

·        Oregon – Business

·        Pennsylvania – Scissors

·        Rhode Island – Cancelled

·        South Carolina – People

·        South Dakota – Beautiful

·        Tennessee – Broccoli

·        Texas – Protect

·        Utah – Definitely

·        Vermont – Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

·        Virginia – People

·        Washington – Appreciation

·        West Virginia – Beautiful

·        Wisconsin – Different

·        Wyoming – Beautiful

 WordUnscrambler.pro offered a few observations on the words in their research.  It’s clearly a sign of why English is such a difficult language for non-native speakers to learn because it’s full of unusual rules and sounds.

“This years most misspelled words violate many phonics rules, contain silent letters, contain double letters, originate from other languages and use tricky suffixes”

Words with silent letters:

• scissors, through, pneumonia, character, daughter.

Irregular vowel sounds:

• different, people, through, character, daughter.

Unusual suffixes:

• like -ture, -ate, -ence: temperature, character, appreciate, patience, compliment, protective.

Difficult consonant blends:

• scratch, school, schedule, cancelled.

Autocorrect confusion:

• words like ‘beautiful’ or ‘necessary’.

 Let us know your most misspelled word on our facebook page under this article and thank goodness for autocorrect, right?