Family Favorites Top the List of Most Misspelled Food Names

CHICAGO, May 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — While May’s National Spelling Bee is intended to foster the vocabulary and scholarship of America’s youth, the competition also serves as a reminder that proper spelling is a challenge, regardless of age. When it comes to food, GrubHub search data confirms that family favorites like fettuccine, Caesar salad and omelets top the list of words perplexing spellers across the country.

To better understand America’s spelling plight, the analysts at GrubHub delved into diner search terms* to uncover the most frequently misspelled food names and their probability of being misspelled:

Most Frequently Misspelled Food Words:

1.Fettuccine – misspelled more than 70 percent of the time

• ‘Fettucine’ – more than 30 percent of misspellings
• ‘Fettucini’ – almost 30 percent of misspellings

2. Caesar – misspelled almost 40 percent of the time

• ‘Ceasar’ – almost 20 percent of misspellings
• ‘Cesar’ – almost 7 percent of misspellings

3. Omelet/Omelette (French) – misspelled more than 17 percent of the time

• ‘Omlette’ – more than 7 percent of misspellings
• ‘Omlett’ – more than 7 percent of misspellings

4. Dessert – misspelled almost 10 percent of the time

• ‘Desert’ – 100 percent of misspellings

5. Sandwich – misspelled more than 7 percent of the time

• ‘Sandwhich’ – about 7 percent of misspellings
• ‘Sandwitch’ – about 1 percent of misspellings

In addition to the top food misspellings, GrubHub analysts took a look at cuisines originating from non Latin-based languages (such as Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Mediterranean cuisines) to identify the foods with the greatest number of alternate spellings. While there is no culturally “correct” spelling of certain dishes, GrubHub’s menu data confirms that Pad See Ew, Kabobs and General Tso’s Chicken have the highest spelling variance.

“When it comes to spelling, GrubHub doesn’t judge,” said Mike Evans, GrubHub co-founder and COO. “In fact, if it wasn’t for spell check, this entire press release would look like it was written by a cat. We judge food by its flavor, not its name – so, misspell away. GrubHub will help you find exactly what you are looking for.”

Please visit GrubHub.com for more information about GrubHub or to find the restaurants available for pickup or delivery in your area.

About GrubHub
GrubHub is a leading online and mobile food ordering service that shows diners local restaurants available for delivery or pick up. Available in more than 500 cities across the nation, GrubHub features more than 20,000 online ordering restaurants and, as the parent company of Allmenus, lists approximately 250,000 restaurant menus. Diners who order through GrubHub’s free website or mobile apps can pay with cash, credit or PayPal™, and every order is supported by GrubHub’s 24/7 customer service. Founded in 2004, GrubHub is a privately held company and is headquartered in Chicago.

*Misspellings determined by search term data collected from (4/9/13-4/25/13).