These Are the Most Misspelled Words in Every State Google Trends just released its map of most misspelled words, broken down by state.
By Joan Oleck
Karthik Nemmani, this year's 14-year-old Scripps National Spelling Bee -- crowned Thursday night after correctly spelling "koinonia" -- puts us all to shame. But do you know who puts us even more to shame? Us.
That's the takeaway from the 2018 list from Google Trends of what English words, simple words, really, that Google searchers are misspelling the most -- broken down by state. Examples?
- Beautiful: The word most mispelled by residents of Washington, California, Utah, Arizona, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Virginia, North Carolina and Massachussetts
- Tomorrow: Montana
- Chaos: South Dakota
- Hors D' Oeuvres: Florida
- Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious: Texas, Oregon, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio and Georgia
Are these America's most misspelled words? Check out the top 'how to spell' searches by state, just in time for the #spellingbee 2018 finals.#dataviz #maps pic.twitter.com/uTb7ynYcv5
— GoogleTrends (@GoogleTrends) May 29, 2018
Of course, some purists might object to that last, rather obscure, word, culled from Mary Poppins. And at least one complainant on the Google Trends page noted that North Dakota's most misspelled word, "yacht," isn't exactly pertinent to that land-locked state.
Related: Don't Underestimate How Much Spelling Matters in Business Communications
Then there was a smattering of words that might, might, pop up in a business context: One was resume, the most misspelled word in New York, New Jersey and Colorado. Google's version had no accent, so we're guessing that the site meant the verb, as in "to start again"; but job applicants should be aware of the difference and recognize that for the noun, two apostrophes over both "e's" are generally used for the title of the vita.
There's sincerely, the most misspelled word in Missouri and Connecticut; cancelled, in Delaware and Oklahoma; and apparel, in West Virginia.
All in all, not a bad list. Just remember that apostrophe, people. And, again, if you're a job applicant, remember to apply to the personnel office and not make things personal.
