Commonly Mispronounced English Words | Difficult Words To Pronounce In English

English pronunciation is crazy, right? I mean look at these three words right here. They all have OUGH at the end but they are pronounced completely different. Though. Through. Thorough.

 

But don’t worry because the good news is after you learn how to pronounce words like this, you don’t have to learn again. So in today’s English lesson, I am going to show you 20 words in English that are commonly mispronounced. These are words which are very common in English so it’s important that you are pronouncing them correctly. So if you’re ready to improve your pronunciation and your speaking skills, let’s get started!

 

Word #1

Number one. Chocolate. Chocolate. We don’t say ‘chocOlate’ or ‘chocolet’. There are only two sounds in this word. Chocolate. Chocolate. I know there’s an O between the ‘choc’ and the ‘late’ but we don’t pronounce it. We just say ‘chocolate’. Chocolate. Some other words like this are ‘comfortable’. Comfortable. And ‘restaurant’. Restaurant. It looks like these words should have another sound in the middle but they don’t. So again, those words are ‘chocolate’, ‘comfortable’ and ‘restaurant’.

 

Word #2

Number two. Wednesday. Wednesday. We don’t say ‘Wed nes day’. No. This word only has two sounds. Wednesday. We don’t pronounce that first D sound and the second E sound. So again, it sounds like this. Wednesday. Some other words like this are ‘handsome’. Handsome. And ‘sandwich’. Sandwich. We don’t pronounce the D in these words as well. So again, those words are ‘Wednesday’, ‘handsome’ and ‘sandwich’.

 

Word #3

Number three. Clothes. Clothes. We don’t say ‘closes’ or ‘cloths’. Listen very carefully and repeat after me. Clothes. Clothes.

 

Word #4

Number four. Oil. Oil. I’ve heard a lot of students pronounce this word as ‘oi’. Oi. But this is incorrect. This word has two sounds. Oil. Oil.

 

Word #5

Number five. Plumber. Plumber. Don’t say ‘plum ber’. This is incorrect. The B in this word is silent. Again, the correct pronunciation is ‘plumber’. Plumber. Now if you don’t know what a plumber is, a plumber is someone whose job is to fix and connect things to do with water. For example, pipes, toilets and showers. Some other words like this are ‘climb’, ‘numb’ and ‘thumb’. All of these words have a silent B sound. That means you don’t pronounce them. Again, those words are ‘plumber’, ‘climb’, ‘numb’ and ‘thumb’.

 

Word #6

Number six. Mortgage. Mortgage. Don’t say ‘mort gage’. This is wrong. The T in this word is silent. That means we don’t pronounce it. Again. Mortgage. Mortgage. Now if you don’t know what a mortgage is, a mortgage is an amount of money that you borrow from a bank to buy a house. Some other words like this which have silent Ts are ‘bustle’, ‘listen’ and ‘fasten’. So those words again are ‘mortgage’, ‘bustle’, ‘listen’ and ‘fasten’. We don’t pronounce the T.

 

Word #7

Number seven. Valet. Valet. Don’t say ‘vale t’ with that T sound at the end. The T is silent. The correct pronunciation is ‘valet’. Valet. Now I think this word comes from French which is why it’s spelt like this. If you don’t know what a valet is, a valet is someone who parks your car for you at a restaurant or a hotel.

 

Word #8

Number eight. Bury. Bury. This word is not pronounce as ‘burry’ or ‘buery’. It’s pronounced ‘bury’. Bury. Bury. It’s pronounced exactly the same as this word right here. Bury. Now bury means when you put something in the ground and you cover it up. Bury.

 

Word #9

Number nine. Schedule. Schedule. Don’t say ‘sk hed ule’. This is incorrect. The correct pronunciation is ‘schedule’. Schedule. Schedule. It’s like the SCH sound is pronounced as an SK. Schedule. But please note that in some accents, they pronounce this word as ‘schedule’. Schedule. So you can either say ‘schedule’ or ‘schedule’. It’s up to you.

 

Word #10

Number ten. Singer. Singer. I’ve heard many students pronounce this word as ‘sing ger’. Sing ger. But we don’t really pronounce that G sound. That NG sound is pronounced like this. Ng. Ng. Singer. Singer. So remember. Don’t say that G sound. Don’t say ‘sing ger’. Say ‘singer’. Singer.

 

Word #11

Number eleven. Choir. Choir. Don’t pronounce this word as ‘chore’. It’s pronounced ‘choir’. Choir. If you don’t know what a choir is, it’s a very large group of people who sing together. Choir.

 

Word #12

Number twelve. Breakfast. Breakfast. Don’t say ‘break fast’. This is incorrect. The correct pronunciation is ‘breakfast’. Breakfast. We say ‘break’. We say ‘fast’. But when we put those two words together, we say ‘breakfast’. Breakfast.

 

Word #13

Number thirteen. Draught. Draught. I’ve heard some students pronounce this as ‘drort’ but this is incorrect. The correct pronunciation is ‘draught’. Draught. Draught. Now if you don’t know what a draught is, a draught is when cold air is coming or blowing into a room. Draught.

 

Word #14

Number fourteen. Sword. Sword. Don’t say ‘sw ord’. That W sound is silent. Now if you don’t know what a sword is, this is a sword. Sword.

 

Word #15

Number fifteen. Gauge. Gauge. I’ve heard some students say things like ‘gorge’ but this is incorrect. The correct pronunciation is ‘gauge’. Gauge. Now if you don’t know what a gauge is, a gauge is a device that measures something like you can see over here. Again, the pronunciation is ‘gauge’. Gauge.

 

Word #16

Number sixteen. Coupon. Coupon. Don’t say ‘cuppon’. I’ve heard some students pronounce that word as ‘cuppon’ and that’s incorrect. The correct pronunciation is ‘coupon’. It’s like that OU sound is pronounced as an ‘ooo’. Coupon. Coupon. Now a coupon is normally a little piece of paper that you can use to get something for free or you can use to get something for a lower price like you can see on the screen right now.

 

Word #17

Number seventeen. Cucumber. Cucumber. Don’t say ‘coo cumber’. Coo cumber. This is incorrect. The correct pronunciation is ‘cucumber’. Cucumber. Now if you don’t know what a cucumber is, it’s what you can see on the screen right now. Cucumber.

 

Word #18

Number eighteen. Quote. Quote. This word should actually be spelled K W O T E. Quote. It’s like that UO is actually just pronounced as an O sound. Quote. Now quote normally means to repeat the words of someone else. So if I quote what you said, that means I am repeating what you said.

 

Word #19

Number nineteen. Lettuce. Lettuce. I’ve heard many students pronounce this word as ‘lettoose’ but this is incorrect. The correct pronunciation is ‘lettuce’. Lettuce. Lettuce. If you don’t know what a lettuce is, it’s what you can see over here on the screen right now. Lettuce.

 

Word #20

Number twenty. Pronounce. Pronounce. Don’t say ‘PRO nounce’. PRO nounce. This is incorrect. The stress should be on the second syllable. Pronounce. Pronounce. Now if you don’t know what pronounce means, pronounce means to say a word or a letter. Pronounce.