different or difficult

[joham]

Without your help and advice, my life would be d__________.

The given answer is difficult/different (either is OK).

But I feel only difficult should be used here to express gratitude. Am I right?

Many thanks.

[emsr2d2]

They would both fit. Is this really a test question? They simply gave the first letter of a word and expected you to guess the correct answer, or at least the answer they had deemed correct? There are plenty of possibilities:

Without your help and advice, my life would be disastrous.
Without your help and advice, my life would be dreadful.
Without your help and advice, my life would be disappointing.

If you were simply given "difficult or different" as your choices, I agree with you that both are equally possible.