• 120 words
  • Checked October 2026

Hardest Words to Spell

Pick a level, press Start test and hear ten tough words to spell, each read in a sentence.

Edit this list or use your own words

The 10 words of this list. Add or change any. For your own list, press Clear first.

For a sentence, put it after a colon: rain: The rain fell all day. Up to 40 words.

Sheet to show and print

Level 1, List 1: silent letters

Words to learn. Read each word, cover it, write it, then check it.

  1. 1.aplombHe handled the surprise with aplomb.
  2. 2.aproposHer comment was brief and apropos.
  3. 3.bristleEach bristle of the brush was stiff.
  4. 4.gristleHe cut the gristle off the steak.
  5. 5.jostleShoppers jostle one another at the sale.
  6. 6.trestleThe train crossed a wooden trestle.
  7. 7.rescindThe board voted to rescind the rule.
  8. 8.reminisceOld friends reminisce about their school days.
  9. 9.schismThe vote caused a schism in the club.
  10. 10.shipwrightA shipwright builds and repairs ships.

Made at homeroomtools.com

Make a word search

Each word is read aloud, then used in a sentence. Type what you hear. The marks come at the end.

More options
Reading speed

Accents do not count: café may be typed as cafe, and the marks show how it is written.

Only voices built into this device are used, so the words are not sent to a speech service to be read. With no voice, a person reads the words from the last page of the test sheet.

Review test from several lists
Tick the lists to draw 10 words from

The words are mixed from the lists you tick, so a review test needs a read-aloud voice.

Next step Test your own hard wordsEveryday words adults misspell

All 120 words

Level 1, List 1: silent letters 10

  • aplomb He handled the surprise with aplomb.
  • apropos Her comment was brief and apropos.
  • bristle Each bristle of the brush was stiff.
  • gristle He cut the gristle off the steak.
  • jostle Shoppers jostle one another at the sale.
  • reminisce Old friends reminisce about their school days.
  • rescind The board voted to rescind the rule.
  • schism The vote caused a schism in the club.
  • shipwright A shipwright builds and repairs ships.
  • trestle The train crossed a wooden trestle.

Level 1, List 2: double letters 10

  • buccaneer A buccaneer was a pirate of the 1600s.
  • cassowary The zoo's cassowary has a bony crest.
  • commissioner Not "commisioner". The commissioner signed the new rule.
  • embezzle To embezzle is to steal entrusted money.
  • flotilla A flotilla of small boats crossed the bay.
  • innocuous The spider looked scary but was innocuous.
  • mezzanine Our seats were on the mezzanine.
  • perennial A perennial plant returns year after year.
  • quizzical A quizzical frown crossed his face.
  • succinct Keep the summary succinct.

Level 1, List 3: hidden vowels 10

  • bouillon Bouillon is a clear, thin broth.
  • chieftain The chieftain led the clan.
  • harangue The coach began a long harangue.
  • heifer The heifer grazed beside the older cows.
  • marquee The film's title glowed on the marquee.
  • porpoise A porpoise has a blunt snout.
  • reveille The bugle sounded reveille at dawn.
  • statuesque The statuesque dancer stood perfectly still.
  • surfeit A surfeit of candy spoiled their dinner.
  • yeoman The yeoman served in the king's household.

Level 1, List 4: sound-alike endings 10

  • acquiescence His silence was taken as acquiescence.
  • fractious The fractious toddlers refused to nap.
  • impeccable Her handwriting was impeccable.
  • irascible The irascible cook shouted at the pans.
  • loquacious My loquacious uncle talks through every meal.
  • malleable A malleable metal can be hammered thin.
  • proprietor The proprietor owns the bakery.
  • repertory The repertory company staged six plays.
  • sedentary A desk job is sedentary work.
  • vexatious The vexatious delay lasted three hours.

Level 2, List 5: from French 10

  • coiffure Her coiffure took an hour to pin.
  • concierge The concierge booked a table for us.
  • ennui Rainy weeks filled him with ennui.
  • escargot Escargot is a dish of cooked snails.
  • gendarme A gendarme guarded the village square.
  • insouciance He shrugged with cheerful insouciance.
  • penchant She has a penchant for puns.
  • rapprochement The treaty marked a rapprochement between the neighbors.
  • ratatouille Ratatouille is a stew of eggplant, tomatoes and zucchini.
  • vaudeville Vaudeville shows mixed songs, jokes and juggling.

Level 2, List 6: Greek roots 10

  • dichotomy The essay explores the dichotomy between city and farm.
  • diphthong Not "dipthong". The vowel sound in coin is a diphthong.
  • euphony Poets choose words for their euphony.
  • pharynx Food passes through the pharynx when you swallow.
  • plethora The fair offered a plethora of pies.
  • sycophant The sycophant flattered every powerful guest.
  • syllogism A syllogism draws a conclusion from two premises.
  • syzygy An eclipse happens during a syzygy.
  • tautology Free gift is a tautology.
  • troglodyte A troglodyte is a dweller in caves.

Level 2, List 7: from Italian 10

  • bruschetta Bruschetta is toasted bread rubbed with garlic.
  • chiaroscuro Chiaroscuro contrasts light and shade in a painting.
  • focaccia We dipped warm focaccia in olive oil.
  • gnocchi The gnocchi floated when they were cooked.
  • imbroglio A missing ticket caused the whole imbroglio.
  • impresario Not "impressario". The impresario brought the opera to town.
  • pianissimo The flutes played the last bars pianissimo.
  • prosciutto Thin slices of prosciutto topped the melon.
  • solfeggio Singers practice scales with solfeggio syllables.
  • violoncello Violoncello is the full name of the cello.

Level 2, List 8: from German 10

  • autobahn An autobahn is an expressway in Germany.
  • dirndl A dirndl has a full skirt and an apron.
  • ersatz Chicory makes an ersatz coffee.
  • hasenpfeffer Hasenpfeffer is a seasoned rabbit stew.
  • lebkuchen Lebkuchen is a spice cookie sweetened with honey.
  • lederhosen Lederhosen are leather shorts worn in Bavaria.
  • meerschaum Meerschaum is a white, claylike mineral.
  • streusel Streusel is a crumb topping for cakes.
  • umlaut An umlaut is two dots over a vowel.
  • zwieback Zwieback is bread baked, sliced and toasted.

Level 3, List 9: science words 10

  • archaeopteryx Archaeopteryx had feathered wings and a toothed snout.
  • dodecahedron A dodecahedron has twelve faces.
  • dysprosium Dysprosium is a metal of the lanthanide series.
  • ichthyosaur An ichthyosaur was a reptile of ancient seas.
  • mitochondrion A mitochondrion releases energy inside a cell.
  • molybdenum Molybdenum is used to toughen steel.
  • parthenogenesis Some insects reproduce by parthenogenesis.
  • perihelion Earth is nearest the sun at perihelion.
  • praseodymium Praseodymium is a soft, silvery metal.
  • triceratops Triceratops had three horns and a bony frill.

Level 3, List 10: Japanese to Hawaiian 10

  • edamame Edamame are green soybeans boiled in salted water.
  • haboob A haboob is a violent dust storm.
  • harissa Harissa is a spicy sauce from North Africa.
  • ikebana Ikebana is the Japanese art of arranging flowers.
  • kukui The kukui is also called the candlenut tree.
  • muumuu A muumuu is a long, loose dress.
  • pahoehoe Pahoehoe lava cools into smooth, ropy folds.
  • sashimi Sashimi is thinly sliced raw fish.
  • sukiyaki Sukiyaki is a dish of sliced meat and tofu.
  • tahini Tahini is made by grinding sesame seeds.

Level 3, List 11: people and places 10

  • becquerel A becquerel counts one decay each second.
  • boysenberry A boysenberry is a dark, edible berry.
  • daguerreotype A daguerreotype is an early kind of photograph.
  • donnybrook The debate turned into a noisy donnybrook.
  • freesia Freesia flowers are known for their fragrance.
  • jodhpurs Riders wear jodhpurs fitted from knee to ankle.
  • martinet The new captain was a strict martinet.
  • serendipity Finding the lost ring was pure serendipity.
  • sousaphone The sousaphone is carried in marching bands.
  • theremin A theremin is played without touching it.

Level 3, List 12: very long words 10

  • chlorofluorocarbon A chlorofluorocarbon was once common in spray cans.
  • electroencephalograph An electroencephalograph records the brain's electrical activity.
  • extraterritoriality Extraterritoriality applies a country's law beyond its borders.
  • indistinguishable The two copies were indistinguishable.
  • interdisciplinary The interdisciplinary course joins art and science.
  • magnetohydrodynamics Magnetohydrodynamics studies magnetic fields in conducting fluids.
  • otorhinolaryngology Otorhinolaryngology is the medicine of ear, nose and throat.
  • psychoneuroimmunology Psychoneuroimmunology links behavior, nerves and the immune system.
  • spectrophotometer A spectrophotometer measures light at each wavelength.
  • superconductivity Some metals show superconductivity when extremely cold.

How it works

These hard spelling words are rare, long or borrowed: 120 of them in three levels of four lists. Level 1 has silent and double letters, Level 2 sorts by French, Greek, Italian and German origin, and Level 3 ends with ten very long words.

Read the full guide

Level 1: tricky words to spell

Each Level 1 list has one trap. List 1 hides a silent letter (aplomb, rescind), List 2 doubles one (buccaneer, mezzanine), List 3 has vowels you cannot hear (heifer, marquee), and List 4 has endings that sound alike: loquacious but vexatious, irascible but malleable.

Levels 2 and 3: where the word came from

A borrowed word keeps its home spelling. French keeps the silent t of escargot, Greek gives ph and y (diphthong, syzygy), Italian doubles consonants (focaccia, prosciutto), and German keeps sch and z (meerschaum, zwieback). Level 3 adds science words, words from Japanese, Arabic and Hawaiian, words named after people and places, and ten words of 17 letters or more.

  • Syzygy has three y's and no other vowel letter.
  • After a miss, the results show the usual wrong spelling of commissioner, diphthong and impresario, crossed out.

Questions and answers

What are some really hard words to spell?

Level 3 holds the hardest here: archaeopteryx, pahoehoe, daguerreotype and otorhinolaryngology. The levels are our own judgment, by how rare a word is and how far its spelling is from its sound, so no single word is ranked first.

Are these hard spelling bee words?

They are our own picks, not a contest's: no contest list was opened, and none of the 120 is on our spelling bee words page, which climbs from rabbit to trousseau. A classroom bee can take any list here as a final round.

Can I use them as spelling bee words for adults?

Yes. Print a Word list for the person who reads: ten words, each with a sentence that shows its meaning. Everyday traps such as accommodate and rhythm are not here; they are on our grade lists.

Why are rendezvous and onomatopoeia missing?

Both are on another list of this site, and this page repeats no word. Ukulele, hummus and sheikh are out because the dictionary gives each more than one spelling, and the test marks only one.

More tools

Show 8 more

Browse Flashcards