Whoops! Google reveals the words misspelled most in each state

June 19, 2021

By Kim Komando

Were you a good speller back in your grade school days? Even if you weren’t winning spelling bees, you probably have a good grasp of grammar these days. But if you still struggle with spelling, you’re not alone.

Do you know the difference between “there,” “their,” or “they’re?” What does “I” before “E” except after “C” even mean? Even some of the easiest words to spell can really make someone scratch their head in deep thought. If you need a little help, tap or click here for five sites for checking your grammar.

AT&T Experts reviewed the top search “how to spell” words by state. This was completed from March 24, 2020, to March 24, 2021, using Google Trends. By their observation, each state has its own spelling struggles.

Here’s the backstory

During the study, the most commonly misspelled words were “coronavirus” and “quarantine,” which comes as no surprise during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 12 states struggled with being able to spell the word “quarantine.” These states included Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, Tennessee, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

In six states, “coronavirus” broke into the top three, with people trying to find information on the contagious disease. These states included Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont and West Virginia.

According to the map from the study, the top 15 misspelled words are as follows:

1. Definitely
2. Quarantine
3. Separate
4. Favorite
5. Government
6. Succeed
7. Coronavirus
8. Multiplication
9. Every
10. Which
11. Piece
12. Confident
13. Receive
14. Which
15. Pharaoh

Do you find these words surprising to make it to the top list? While some of these words seem like no-brainers, common words like “every” and “which” still broke the top 10.

Other surprisingly misspelled words

Other words making the list include “favorite” from Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, New Mexico, Ohio and Virginia. And “which” from Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

“Favorite” seemed to be a top misspelled word due to the U.K. version of it being spelled “favourite.” Eleven states misspelled the words, “which,” “every,” and “believe.” People in Washington, D.C., were trying to find the spelling of success but couldn’t figure out how many c’s were in “succeed.”

Three states had trouble spelling “every,” Hawaii, Mississippi and Montana. Three others, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota, had the most trouble spelling “believe.”

“Definitely” was the most-searched spelling word in New Hampshire, New York and Utah. “Separate,” meanwhile, was the most common spelling search in California and Rhode Island.

Words appearing only once on the list were “eighty” (Alaska), “receive” (Arkansas), “government” (Delaware), “succeed” (Washington, D.C.), “pharaoh” (Florida), “piece” (Idaho), “multiplication” (Kansas), “watch” (Maine), “exercise” (North Carolina) and “confident” (Texas).

Want to find out which word is most commonly misspelled in your state? Tap here to check it out.

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