A US student has had her diploma held back after using the word hell in her speech

A STRAIGHT-A student in the US has reportedly been denied her high school diploma for saying the word "hell" in her valedictory speech.

Kaitlin Nootbaar graduated from Oklahoma’s Prague High School back in May of this year and was named valedictorian.

In her graduating speech which was inspired by the film Eclipse: The Twilight Saga, she accidentally said the word "hell" instead of "heck"- a move which her father claims has cost her dearly.

"Her quote was, when she first started school she wanted to be a nurse, then a veterinarian and now that she was getting closer to graduation people would ask her what do you want to do and she said ‘How the h*** do I know? I’ve changed my mind so many times," David Nootbaar told local TV station KFor.

The audience laughed and she was given a round of applause at the end of her speech. But when she went to pick up her high school diploma this week, she was told by the principal she will not get in until she writes a letter of apology.

Her father is furious with the school and said administrators have no legal right to refuse to release the diploma as his daughter was a straight-A student.

Kaitlin said she will not write the letter as she believes she didn’t do anything wrong, but she is due to start college in just a few days on a full scholarship.

The local school superintendent declined to comment on the matter which he said was "confidential".