The Most Mispronounced Words Across Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin

Words are weird. Whether it's mispronunciations or misreadings; our language is full of words that don't look like they sound, look like other words but mean different things, or spell exactly the same way but with different meanings depending on the context (like read and read, BTW you said that two different ways just now, but in what order? Food for thought). I have had several bilingual friends that consistently tell me English is extremely difficult to read, write, and comprehend for first time learners.

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I get it. I'm not a first-time English language user and I mess it up plenty. Speaking of which a recent fun list was just compiled by unscrambler.com about the words across the United States that are most difficult to pronounce, both nationally and for each state. The Tri-State area did not disappoint. It includes words which are link to a certain type of dog in Iowa, the recent arrival of an old school beer to Illinois, and a certain delightful donut in the state of Wisconsin.

Let’s start in Iowa, where the top mispronounced word is Dachshund. This little sausage dog has been tripping up Iowans’ tongues for years, proving that we like the dog but aren't settled on how to call it. Heck, just across the bridge in Galena they were race these little guys annually at Oktoberfest.

I've had lots of practice saying it actually. My uncle drives truck and takes a dachshund named Dexter along with him as company. He's a cute little guy and my kids love to see him at the family fish fry's. Quick question: can we just call them wiener/sausage dogs and give up?

Over in Illinois, the word causing confusion is Yuengling, said ying-ling. This Pennsylvania-born beer might have made its way to local taps; however, the pronunciation hasn’t traveled as smoothly as the brew itself. Cheers to trying, Illinois. And hey, after a few of them, no one will understand your mispronunciation anyway.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin can’t get enough of Paczki (POONCH-kee or rather Pawnch-Kee). These Polish pastries are a popular treat, especially around Fat Tuesday, but they clearly come with a pronunciation curveball. One bite and you’re hooked, but saying the word out loud? That’s another story. After looking at the way this word is spelled, there is absolutely no way I would say it right simply by looking at it or sounding it out. I'm going to stick with saying, "that jelly donut looking thing right there," and pointing enthusiastically.

Of course, the Tri-State area is just part of the picture. Across the country, Americans are stumbling over all sorts of tricky words. Here are the top 10 most mispronounced words in America, based on Google search trends:

1. Gyro – YEE-roh
2. Worcestershire sauce – WUSS-ter-sheer
3. Acai – ah-SIGH-ee
4. Qatar – KAH-tar
5. Dachshund – DAKS-hund
6. Niche – NEESH
7. Aoife – EE-fah
8. Charcuterie – shar-KOO-tuh-ree
9. Paczki – Pahnch-kee
10. Primeval – pry-MEE-vul

The folks at Unscramblerer.com analyzed Google search data from January 1st to October 27th, 2025, looking at queries like “How do you pronounce” and “How to pronounce.” Then they used Ahrefs to tally up all the different ways people were searching for the same tricky words; in total 110 variations of questioning! Basically, if you’ve ever Googled how to say something out loud, your curiosity helped make this list.

English is messy, hilarious, and, apparently, impossible to pronounce perfectly without Google or YouTube. So, the next time your Dachshund tries to steal a bite of your Paczki and knocks over that freshly opened Yuengling, remember: words are funny, and hardly any of us say them all right.