Small Michigan Town Must Be Most Difficult to Spell in the State

The great state of Michigan is slap full of town and city names that are incredibly hard to pronounce. Well, for outsiders like myself, that is.

It takes some time, patience and effort to nail down these pronunciations.

Of course, Michigan isn't alone in that. Many states have city and town names that are a real struggle for anyone who hasn't lived in that area for an extensive period of time.

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But we've heard the same cities time and time again: Ponshewaing, Sault Ste. Marie, Ypsilanti, Charlotte. These are the typical towns and cities you'll see listed among the many incredibly difficult names to pronounce in Michigan. That kind of list follows this article.

But what about spelling? I write for a living and I just might be the worst speller I know. If not for services like Grammarly, I'd be an editor's worst nightmare. (Shoot for the moon kids, because I'm the editor of this website.)

I'm not alone either, because Michiganders struggle to spell a handful of words themselves.

But when it comes to proper names such as cities and towns, those spell checkers aren't there to help you out. Either you know it, or you don't.

Believe it or not, there is no study or list out there that details the most difficult state to spell. So I took a look at the list below and determined for myself which town or city name I believe is the most difficult to spell as well as pronounce.

But remember, spelling gets easier with repetition. So a well-populated place like Ypsilanti, you're out. How well the sound of the word follows its spelling is also a major help in ensuring you'll get it correct eventually. Ponshewaing, thanks for looking how you should be pronounced.

For my money, the toughest place to spell in Michigan has to be Peshawbestown. Why? The unincorporated town is pronounced PSHAW-bə-town. Clearly, there are a few extra letters in this word that anyone could feasibly forget to include them.

On top of that, there are four different historical spellings of the place: Peshabetown, Peshabatown, Pshawbatown, and Preshabestown. Good luck.

Folks typically visit Pashawbestown for the Leelanau Sands Casino, Lake Leelanau, or Suttons Bay. Still, the tiny town is out of the way enough on the Leelanau Peninsula that most aren't given the chance to familiarize themselves with the name.

Think a different city or town name is harder to spell? It's probably included in the list below.