60+ Hard Words To Spell For College Students

Are you wondering what words college students regularly misspell? Here are some super hard words to spell for college students.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you. Learn more: Affiliate Disclaimer.

hard words to spell for college students

Spelling is an incredibly important skill to have in college. You’ll constantly be writing papers, emailing professors, and applying to internships and jobs during your four years of college.

Having good spelling and grammar skills will help you be seen as smarter and more professional.

If you want to improve your spelling skills, it’s important to be aware of what words are commonly misspelled.

Learning these hard spelling words will help you in so many ways when it comes to reading and writing.

We put together a long list of the hardest words to spell for college students. These are tough words with common misspellings that you should know.

What Makes A Word Hard To Spell?

There are many words in the English language that are harder to spell than others.

The most difficult words are typically those with silent letters, words derived from old English, or double consonants.

Some of the most difficult words involve letters that can (but don’t always) make the same sounds, like the letter c and the letter s.

A lot of the hardest words to spell also contain consecutive consonants that don’t change the way the word is pronounced.

What Are The Hardest Words To Spell For College Students?

Let’s get right into it! Here is a list of hard words that college students regularly spell wrong.

1. Wednesday

This is by far the hardest day of the week to spell. The silent d always tends to trip people up when spelling Wednesday.

2. Ingenious

This common word is surprisingly hard to spell. Because the pronunciation contains the word “genius”, spellers tend to forget the o when spelling this word.

3. Minuscule

The correct spelling of this word is “minuscule” not “miniscule” as it is commonly misspelled. This is one of those English words that is pronounced differently than it is spelled.

That makes it one of the more challenging words to spell in the English language.

4. Weird

The common rule of i before e except after c does not apply to the word weird. This is one of those exceptions to literary rules that just needs to be memorized.

5. Misspell

Isn’t it ironic that “misspell” is one of the most commonly misspelled words?

The double consonants is usually what causes mistakes when spelling this word.

6. Tomorrow

Although this word is common in everyday conversations, it is still one of the most commonly misspelled words.

The most common spelling error is adding a double m or forgetting the double r in this word.

7. Mischievous

Some of the trickiest words are those that have consecutive vowels. Mischievous has two sets of consecutive vowels that don’t change the pronunciation.

That makes it a really tough word for college students to spell.

8. Irresistible

There are two aspects of the word “irresistible” that make it tricky to spell. The first part that trips people up is the double consonant at the beginning of the word.

Another hard part about this word is the “-ible” ending. Many people try to spell it with the letter a instead of an i.

9. Temperament

The word temperament is typically pronounced without the a sound in the middle. This causes a lot of confusion when spelling it.

10. Vacuum

Vacuum is a tricky word to spell for any grade level. The double u is not a common occurrence in the English language.

What Are Some Hard College Vocabulary Words?

Some of the hardest words to spell are those that have to do with academics or the college experience.

Here are some of the hardest college vocabulary words for students to spell.

11. Pronunciation

This is a commonly used word in college if you are a linguistics or foreign language major. However, plenty of students get it wrong.

Although the word pronunciation relates to the word “pronounce”, it is spelled differently. Many students will add an o to the middle of this word, which is incorrect.

12. Intelligence

It is common for college students to leave out the double consonant in the word intelligence.

Make sure you get this one right – it’ll help show off your intelligence!

13. Accomplish

Here is another case of a tricky double consonant. Don’t forget to add in the second c when spelling the word accomplish.

14. Accommodate

Two sets of double consonants make accommodate a very tricky word to spell.

Many students will only remember one double consonant or the other.

15. Thousandths

Math majors should make note of how the word thousandths is spelled. It is common to leave out the d near the end of the word.

16. Transferred

Many students tend to transfer schools after their first or second year. Don’t forget that the past tense of this word has a double r.

17. Psychology

A silent p at the start of the word makes psychology very difficult to spell for many students.

18. Professor

The word professor is an important one to remember how to spell. Make sure you are ending the word with -or, and not the common mistake of ending it with -er.

19. Permissible

Words that end in -ible or -able are very commonly misspelled among college students. Don’t forget that the word permissible ends in -ible!

20. Quizzes

Although this word is very common in a university setting, it still gets misspelled a ton. College students tend to leave out the double z when spelling quizzes.

More Hard Words To Spell For College Students

21. Address

22. Occurence

23. Silhouette

24. Mortgage

25. Immediately

26. Maintenance

27. Evaluative

28. Soliloquy

29. Tranquility

30. Strenuous

31. Vengeance

32. Undoubtedly

33. Ridiculous

34. Humorous

35. Coordinates

36. Exaggerate

37. Picnicking

38. Temperature

39. Succeeds

40. Pharaoh

41. Handkerchief

42. Logorrhea

43. Conscience

44. Particularly

45. Parallel

46. Thorough

47. Treacherous

48. Wintry

49. Whether

50. Rhythm

51. Twelfth

52. Ubiquitous

53. Referred

54. Extraneous

55. Acknowledgement

56. Surveillance

57. Privileged

58. Changeable

59. Entrepreneur

60. Maneuver

61. Miniature

62. Conscious

63. Asthma

How To Improve Your Spelling Skills

If you find yourself struggling to spell words in college, you’re not alone.

Smartphones with autocorrect are super helpful, but they can make it easy to slack off when it comes to learning how to spell.

Improving your spelling skills will help you immensely when it comes to reading and writing in college.

Here are some ways you can improve your spelling skills:

  • Read more. The more you read, the more you will be exposed to different combinations of vowels and consonants. It’s much easier to learn the spelling of a word you have already been exposed to.
  • Learn the rules. Not every word follows common English spelling rules, but most do. Make sure that while you’re studying the rules, you also study the exceptions to the rules.
  • Spell out loud. Spelling a word out loud can make it easier for you to remember it. Create a list of words you want to learn how to spell and spend some time spelling out each letter out loud.

These are the most difficult words for college students to spell. Hopefully now you’ll be able to practice and spell these hard college vocabulary words!

You may also like:

Similar Posts