New study reveals North Carolina’s most misspelled word
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Ahead of next week’s National Spelling Bee, a new study is revealing the words Americans have the most trouble spelling.
Researchers with Unscramblerer.com analyzed Google search data in 2026. They focused on searches like “How do you spell” and “How to spell” to identify the words people searched the most for correct spelling.
Across the United States, “bougie” ranked as the most searched spelling word with more than 134,000 searches.
Other commonly misspelled words rounded out the top 10:
- Bougie — 134,400 searches
- Favorite — 128,400 searches
- Through — 127,200 searches
- Business — 123,600 searches
- Tomorrow — 121,200 searches
- Because — 106,800 searches
- Definitely — 104,400 searches
- Beautiful — 102,000 searches
- Niece — 100,800 searches
- Separate — 98,400 searches
North Carolina and Virginia’s most commonly misspelled word was “spaghetti.” South Carolina’s was “quite.”
The study also broke down the most searched spelling word by state:
- Alabama — Business
- Alaska — Beautiful
- Arizona — Through
- Arkansas — Beautiful
- California — Different
- Colorado — Color
- Connecticut — Recommend
- Delaware — Beautiful
- Florida — School
- Georgia — Chihuahua
- Hawaii — Appreciate
- Idaho — Necessary
- Illinois — Color
- Indiana — Because
- Iowa — Character
- Kansas — Schedule
- Kentucky — Definitely
- Louisiana — Restaurant
- Maine — Definitely
- Maryland — Business
- Massachusetts — Schedule
- Michigan — Which
- Minnesota — Ukulele
- Mississippi — Business
- Missouri — Because
- Montana — Appreciate
- Nebraska — Congratulations
- Nevada — Teacher
- New Hampshire — Bougie
- New Jersey — Because
- New Mexico — Sincerely
- New York — Judgement
- North Carolina — Spaghetti
- North Dakota — Adios
- Ohio — Because
- Oklahoma — Chihuahua
- Oregon — Diamond
- Pennsylvania — Maintenance
- Rhode Island — Bougie
- South Carolina — Quite
- South Dakota — Congratulations
- Tennessee — Through
- Texas — Recycle
- Utah — Basically
- Vermont — Beautiful
- Virginia — Spaghetti
- Washington — Fiance
- West Virginia — Beautiful
- Wisconsin — Business
- Wyoming — Chihuahua
“Analyzing America’s list of most misspelled words for 2026 we found silent letters, irregular vowel sounds, tricky suffixes, difficult consonant blends, schwa sounds, weird double letters, French and Spanish loanwords that break every phonics rule,” a spokesperson for Unscramblerer.com said.
The study also pointed to growing reliance on technology as a possible factor.
“Studies show that reliance on autocorrect and AI deteriorates the authors spelling ability over time,” the spokesperson said. “To combat this digital amnesia we encourage everybody to search for the correct spelling of the word when a feeling of doubt arises. This becomes an educational moment. As the saying goes, use it or lose it.”
