Words that Are Hard for Dyslexics to Read and Spell

August 23, 2024

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Dyslexic children struggle to read, write and spell new words. Some words can be more challenging than others.

Did you know?

Dyslexic kids learn to read by recognise words by the shape, not the letters in the word.
This means they can struggle to spell, as they don’t read each letter individually.
Dyslexic children may struggle to spell the same words, no matter how many times they try to learn them.

How Can You Help?

We have 10-minute activities in ‘Mooki Cards’ to help you practice spelling with your child at home.

Parents love them! “This (Mooki Cards) has been our game changer. Never before did he get any, last week we had 9 outta 12”.

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Hard words for dyslexics to read and spell

Learning new words is a challenge for dyslexic children. Try the 10 minute activity in the video to help them learn new spellings. Taken from Mooki Cards, get your copy now!

Hard Words for Dyslexics Word Lists

Irregular spellings (Tricky Words) that don’t follow typical pronunciation rules. For example:

the
she
me
said
here
they
go
live
give
little
down
what

Homophones words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings. For example:

Hole – Whole
Rain – Reign
Witch – Which
There – Their
Real – Reel
Soul – Sole
Tale – Tail
Waist – Waste

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Multi-syllabic and long, making them harder to break down into sounds. For example:

Window
Sunny
Dinosaur
zookeeper
Spaghetti
Excitement
Marvellous

Confusable letters that look similar. For Example:

Affect – Effect
Further – Father
Insure – Ensure
Accept – Expect
Ensure – Insure
Advise – Advice

No more Struggling with Hard Words!

If your child is struggling to read and spell in class, try a reading c-pen for dyslexia.

C-pens can be used to scan writing and then read it aloud. Some contain dictionaries, which spell out words and can be used with headphones.

To learn more see “Top 10 c-pens that read aloud – Under £100!”

Recommended by parents! “It saved her the embarrassment of keep having to ask other kids what the work sheet said!”

8 Word types dyslexic kids struggle to learn

The types of words dyslexic children often struggle to read and spell include:

1. Phonetically Irregular Words

These words don’t follow standard phonetic rules, making them challenging to decode.
Examples: was, what, of, said, know.

2. Words with Silent Letters

Silent letters can confuse learners trying to match sounds with letters.
Examples: knight, island, psychology, honest.

3. Homophones

Words that sound the same but are spelled differently.
Examples: their, there, they’re; to, too, two.

4. Polysyllabic Words

Longer words with multiple syllables can be difficult to decode and remember.
Examples: responsibility, independent, organisation.

5. Words with Uncommon Letter Combinations

Unfamiliar combinations can confuse recognition and pronunciation.
Examples: gnome, quiche, bouquet.

6. High-Frequency Words

These are often expected to be known by sight rather than phonics, making them tricky for dyslexic learners.
Examples: because, could, should, every, always.

7. Words with Similar Shapes

Words that look visually similar can cause confusion for children relying on word shape for recognition.
Examples: form vs. from, saw vs. was, on vs. no.

8. Abstract Words

Words without concrete meanings are harder to associate with an image or context.
Examples: concept, idea, truth.

Hard Sentences for Dyslexics to Read

Children with dyslexia often struggle to read long sentences and large blocks of text.

Below is a list of hard things for dyslexics to read. This includes examples of hard sentences for dyslexics to read:

Long and complicated sentences.
Words made up of many syllables, with irregular spellings
Sentences using complicated words or tense they are not familiar with. Such as speaking in the past or future.

Certain fonts or fonts with unusual spacing that can be hard to read.
Poorly written sentences, with large chunks of text. Long paragraphs without breaks or headings.
Writing on top of images, or clutters writing can be hard to read. For example a poster printed with lots of different coloured and sized writing.

Flashing, scrolling writing can be harder to read quickly.
Sentences with homophones or homonyms. Words that spelt differently to how they sound. Such as “their” and “there”.
Large chunks of text without images and diagrams to help explain context.
Information that is disorganised, jumps from one topic to the next without explanation.

Why do dyslexic children struggle to spell?

Some days they may be able to spell a word and the next day not be able to spell it. A common trait is for a dyslexic child to spell the same words wrong in many different ways.

This can be one of the reasons why dyslexic children can wrongly be labelled lazy or that they are not trying. Yet dyslexia is a learning difficulty. So dyslexic children would benefit from extra support to learn how to read and write.

Dyslexic children struggle with memory and sequence. This means they may struggle to remember what letters are in a word and in which order the words should go.

Unable to sound out the words, they are relying on remembering the correct spelling for words. So they may struggle especially to spell new and very long words.

What are hard words for dyslexics to spell?

Words that are hard for dyslexics to spell. Are often longer words, with spellings that a child may struggle to understand.

Below is a list of the most commonly misspelt words. These maybe hard words to spell for dyslexics.

Commonly Misspelt words

Accommodate
Colonel
Conscience
Diarrhoea
Embarrass
Entrepreneur
Guarantee
Handkerchief
Miscellaneous
Nauseous
Occurrence
Parallel
Rhythm
Thermometer
Vacuum

Hardest Words for Dyslexics to Spell

The list below is a list of some of the hardest words for dyslexics to spell. These words would be hard for anybody to read, write and spell.

Yet for a dyslexic child that is unable to sound out words. That relies on being able to remember all the letters in the right order, long words can be a real challenge.

Words that are hard for dyslexics to spell

Accommodation
Anthropomorphism
Appraisal
Archaeology
Entrepreneurship
Exaggeration
Hyperventilation
Paradoxical
Precipitous
Pseudonym
Orthography
Psychosomatic

Help a Dyslexic Child to Read, Write & Spell

If your dyslexic child is struggling to write and spell hard words. Take them back to basics, before attempting to learn the common misspelt words above.

Start by relearning basic 2, 3, 4 letter words, using the word lists below:

Ticking off the words the child already knows can be a great confidence boost.
Once they have the basics move to learning the 100 common words.
If the child can read all these words they will be able to read 50% of most books.
Remember to focus on getting the basics right first. It is more important that a dyslexic child has a good foundation in reading, writing and spelling.

Ensuring the child is able to read, write and spell. Basic 3, 4, 5 letter words. To ensure the child knows enough to read most book and get their ideas down on paper.
For spelling longer words, use assistive technology instead. Such as spell checker and read aloud text software.

Word Lists for Primary School Age Children

The activities in the “Teaching Tool” box, include 10 min activities to help a dyslexic child. Learn to read, write and spell words. The activities can be used to learn the word lists below, that includes a list of tricky words.

Use the activities in the “Teaching Tool” box, to help them learn the words in dyslexic friendly way. Also see “Twinkl” for printable word lists and flashcards.

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