The most mispronounced words in the US revealed — and some of these will shock you

Ordering a steak sauce or scanning a Greek menu can quickly turn into a total tongue-twister for Americans.

A new report exposes the everyday words Americans can’t quite pronounce across the nation — from tricky condiments and gourmet dishes to foreign capitals and singers’ names.

In fact, residents in several states can’t even pronounce their own state’s name.

The online puzzle platform Unscrambler analyzed Google Trends data from Jan. 1 to Oct. 10, 2026, searching through pronunciation queries like “how do you pronounce” and “pronunciation of” across all 50 states.

Taking the top word of shame nationwide is “Worcestershire” (WUUS-ter-sheer) sauce, sparking a whopping 321,600 monthly searches — more than 30,000 searchers ahead of the runner-up. 

In second place with 290,400 searches was “Gyro” (YEE-roh), the classic Greek pita dish. The Mediterranean staple proved to be the ultimate head-scratcher in four states: Alabama, Indiana, Mississippi, and Missouri, with more Americans admitting to pronouncing Gyro as ‘guy-row.’

Third place went to the German dog breed ‘Dachshund’ (DAKS-hund), which topped pronunciation searches in four states, including Nebraska and North Dakota. 

“Niche” (224,500 searches) and German luxury automaker “Porsche” (205,200 searches) rounded out the top five national brain-busters.

The embarrassment doesn’t stop there. Ohio residents unexpectedly struggled with dinner classic spaghetti, while locals in Hawaii, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Nevada embarrassingly led searches on how to pronounce their own states.

Experts blame the nation’s stuttering on bizarre English spelling rules and America’s roughly 40 distinct regional accents. The United States features major dialect and accent regions and linguists group American English into 30-40 major dialects and several broad macro-regions.

Top 15 most mispronounced words in the United States: 

1. Worcestershire sauce (Wuus-ter-sheer sauce) – searched 321,600 times
2. Gyro (YEE-roh) – searched 290,400 times
3. Dachshund (DAKS-hund) – searched 259,100 times
4. Niche (NEESH) – searched 224,500 times
5. Porsche (POR-shuh) – searched 205,200 times
6. Qatar (kuh-TAR) – searched 196,800 times
7. Gif (JIF) – searched 190,700 times
8. Curacao (KYUR-uh-sow) – searched 189,600 times
9. Saoirse (SEER-shuh) – searched 181,200 times
10. Pho (FUH) – searched 174,000 times
11. Salmon (SAM-un) – searched 171,600 times
12. Nguyen (WIN) – searched 170,300 times
13. Aoife (EE-fuh) – searched 169,200 times
14. Acai (Ah-sigh-ee) – searched 168,000 times
15. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (Super-cali-FRAJ-al-istic-ex-pi-ali-do-shous) – searched 165,600 times

The West, Midwest and Southwest are all seen as distinct regions with their own dialects. And of course, Metropolitan New York City is known to have its own dialect and pronunciations.

The most mispronounced word in each state:

1. Alabama – Gyro
2. Alaska – Juneau (JOO-noh)
3. Arizona – Saguaro (suh-WAR-oh)
4. Arkansas – Aoife (EE-fuh)
5. California – Iran (ih-RAN)
6. Colorado – Colorado (kah-luh-RAD-oh)
7. Connecticut – Curacao (KYUR-uh-sow)
8. Delaware – Water (WAW-ter)
9. Florida – Schedule (SKEJ-ool)
10. Georgia – FIFA (FEE-fuh)
11. Hawaii – Hawaii (huh-WY-ee)
12. Idaho – Worcestershire sauce
13. Illinois – Chicago (shih-KAH-goh)
14. Indiana – Gyro
15. Iowa – Hozier (HOH-zee-er)
16. Kansas – Iran
17. Kentucky – Louisville (LOO-uh-vul).
18. Louisiana – Eschatology (es-kuh-TAH-luh-jee)
19. Maine – Bangor (BANG-gor)
20. Maryland – Gauche (GOHSH)
21. Massachusetts – Massachusetts (mass-uh-CHOO-sits)
22. Michigan – Gauche
23. Minnesota – Nguyen (WIN)
24. Mississippi – Gyro
25. Missouri – Gyro
26. Montana – Xochitl (SOH-cheel)
27. Nebraska – Dachshund
28. Nevada – Nevada (nuh-VAD-uh)
29. New Hampshire – Acai (ah-sigh-EE)
30. New Jersey – Data (DAY-tuh)
31. New Mexico – Laufey (LAY-vay)
32. New York – Iran
33. North Carolina – Raleigh (RAH-lee)
34. North Dakota – Dachshund
35. Ohio – Spaghetti (spuh-GET-ee)
36. Oklahoma – Acai
37. Oregon – Oregon (OR-ih-gun)
38. Pennsylvania – Water (WAW-ter)
39. Rhode Island – Caprese (kuh-PRAY-zay)
40. South Carolina – Salmon (SAM-un)
41. South Dakota – Worcestershire sauce
42. Tennessee – Sevierville (sev-uh-VEER-ul)
43. Texas – Pho (FUH)
44. Utah – Data (DAY-tuh)
45. Vermont – Montpelier (mont-PEEL-yer)
46. Virginia – Laufey (LAY-vay)
47. Washington – Spokane (spoh-KAN)
48. West Virginia – Dachshund
49. Wisconsin – Paczki (POONCH-kee)
50. Wyoming – Dachshund