What everyday word from the English language uses the highest number of differing letters? I am after the shortest word with the most letters.

eg.
KNIFE has 5, where SPOON only has 4. so KNIFE is better.
The word SPINES has 5 differing letters but is 6 letters long so KNIFE would be better here also.
The word POSTERS has 6 differing letters, even though it is 7 letters long, this will beat KNIFE.

(In reply to Solution (VB program used) by Penny)

"Superacknowlegment" and "uncopyrightable" are not really words you hear every day. The only really common word that fits this puzzle is "semiautobiographical" (15 unique letters, 20 total letters), a word you do hear often, if not every day,  if you rent movies, watch television or read a lot of book reviews. 

Also, going off on a tangent, there are only eleven English words of length greater than 13 letters that have every letter unique. Only a few of them are anywhere close to being common.

Two 15-letter words:

dermatoglyphics 
uncopyrightable

Nine 14-letter words: 

ambidextrously
benzhydroxamic
dermatoglyphic
hydropneumatic
pseudomythical
schizotrypanum
sulphogermanic
troublemakings
undiscoverably

 

Edited on October 4, 2004, 12:58 am

Posted by Penny on 2004-10-03 18:50:16