Tennessee’s most mispronounced word revealed

INFORMATION FROM UNSCRAMBLER.COM:

3 hours ago

WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News Staff,

America’s most mispronounced words by state with pronunciations:

Alabama – Worcestershire sauce (WUSS-ter-sheer)
Alaska – Saoirse (SUR-sha)
Arizona – Aoife (EE-fah)
Arkansas – Laufey (LOW-fay)
California – Kali Uchis (KAH-lee OO-chees)
Colorado – Qatar (KAH-tar)
Connecticut – Sfogliatelle (sfo-LYA-tel)
Delaware – Mauve (MOHV)
Florida – Staphylococcal (STAFF-uh-loh-KOK-ul)
Georgia – Sza (SIZ-uh)
Hawaii – Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (HIP-oh-pot-oh-MON-stroh-ses-kwip-uh-dal-ee-oh-FOH-bee-uh)
Idaho – Kefir (KEE-fer)
Illinois – Yuengling (YING-ling)
Indiana – Paczki (POONCH-kee)
Iowa – Dachshund (DAKS-hund)
Kansas – Louvre (LOOV)
Kentucky – Chamomile (KAM-uh-meel)
Louisiana – Oaxaca (wah-HAH-kah)
Maine – Qatar (KAH-tar)
Maryland – Omniscient (OM-NISH-unt)
Massachusetts – Jhostynxon Garcia (JOS-tin-son gar-SEE-uh)
Michigan – Paczki (POONCH-kee)
Minnesota – Thyme (TIME)
Mississippi – Chinoiserie (SHIN-wah-zuh-ree)
Missouri – Aurelia (aw-REEL-yuh)
Montana – Dachshund (DAKS-hund)
Nebraska – Bolognese (boh-luh-NAYZ)
Nevada – Macabre (muh-KAHB)
New Hampshire – Gyro (YEE-roh)
New Jersey – Primeval (pry-MEE-vul)
New Mexico – Gif (JIF)
New York – Tzatziki (tsat-SEE-kee)
North Carolina – Raleigh (RAW-lee)
North Dakota – Worcestershire sauce (WUSS-ter-sheer)
Ohio – Paczki (POONCH-kee)
Oklahoma – Nguyen (WIN)
Oregon – Bibimbap (BEE-bim-bap)
Pennsylvania – Jhoan Duran (JO-an duh-RAN)
Rhode Island – Worcestershire sauce (WUSS-ter-sheer)
South Carolina – Chose (CHOZ)
South Dakota – Derecho (duh-RAY-cho)
Tennessee – Gyro (YEE-roh)
Texas – Staphylococcal (STAFF-uh-loh-KOK-ul)
Utah – Qatar (KAH-tar)
Vermont – Montpelier (mont-PEEL-yer)
Virginia – Adolescence (ad-oh-LES-ens)
Washington – Primeval (pry-MEE-vul)
West Virginia – Acai (ah-SIGH-ee)
Wisconsin – Paczki (POONCH-kee)
Wyoming – Mayonnaise (MAY-uh-nayz)

America’s most mispronounced words with pronunciations:

Gyro (312 000 searches) – YEE-roh.
Worcestershire sauce (300 000 searches) – WUSS-ter-sheer.
Acai (192 000 searches) – ah-SIGH-ee.
Qatar (180 000 searches) – KAH-tar.
Dachshund (156 000 searches) – DAKS-hund.
Niche (142 000 searches) – NEESH.
Aoife (84 000 searches) – EE-fah.
Charcuterie (72 000 searches) – shar-KOO-tuh-ree.
Paczki (36 000 searches) – POONCH-kee.
Primeval (26 000 searches) – pry-MEE-vul.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (24 000 searches) – soo-per-kal-uh-fraj-uh-lis-tik-ek-spee-al-uh-DOH-shus.
Hozier (21 000 searches) – HO-zee-er.

A spokesperson for Unscramblerer.com commented on the research: “Our research about the most searched for mispronunciations gives an interesting insight into American culture. Exposure to new words through media, music, pop culture and social platforms drives curiosity. People often look up pronunciations if there is a gap between how a word or name is spelled and how it sounds. English language is particularly irregular in this regard (“Colonel” and “Wednesday” defy phonetic expectations). English spelling only matches pronunciation about 75% of the time(University of Oxford research). A Cambridge University linguistics survey found that over 60% of English speakers admit they regularly mispronounce at least one common word. Correct pronunciation is closely tied to perceived intelligence and competence. The desire for correct pronunciation is a mix of avoiding social embarrassment and simple curiosity. There are over 40 regional accents across America. No wonder people are searching for how to pronounce words.”

Research was conducted by word unscrambling experts at Unscramblerer.com.

We analyzed Jan 1, 2025 – Oct 27, 2025 search data from Google Trends for “How do you pronounce” and “How to pronounce”.

Methodology: We used Google Trends to discover the most mispronounced words and Ahrefs to find the number of searches. Americas most mispronounced words can be discovered in Google Trends by searching for “How do you pronounce”, “pronunciations of” and “How to pronounce”. Ahrefs shows many variations of pronunciation searches like ‘primeval pronunciation’ or ‘how do you pronounce paczki’. We added up 110 search variations of top mispronouncing searches.

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