English Words You Are (Probably) Saying WRONG | Commonly Mispronounced English Words (PART 1)

Lesson summary

Stop feeling frustrated because native English speakers don't understand you. In this lesson you will learn how to pronounce 5 commonly mispronounced words in English.

Video transcript

Leo ped, lepred, mmm.  What’s up guys? 

 

My name is Shane and today we are talking about pronunciation. 

 

English is a very funny language because we have letters which have sounds but when you put those letters into words, sometimes the sounds change but don’t worry because today we are looking 5 commonly mispronounced words. 

 

Word #1

Okay let’s look at our first word.  How do we say that word.  It should be com for ta ble right?  It looks like it has 4 syllables but it actually has 3. 

 

We say it like this. Comf table comf table comf table.  Now you say it.  Comfortable. 

 

The o and the r are silent letters. That means we don’t pronounce them, we don’t make any sound for them. 

 

English has many words which have silent letters. For example, knife, lamb, write. 

 

Okay, so what does comfortable mean?  Comfortable means a good feeling with no problems. 

 

So for example I could say this chair is very comfortable.  When I sit in it, I have no problems, I feel good. 

 

Word #2

Now let’s look at our second word.  How do we say this one? 

 

It’s photography, photography, the stress or the emphasis is on the tog, the t o g.  photography, photography.  Now you try. 

 

If you want to find out where the stress is on words, you can look at the Cambridge online learner’s dictionary and the little apostrophe will show you where the stress is.

 

So you can see here on photography, the little apostrophe is before the tog, so we know that we must stress tog. Photography. 

 

Two other common words which often have stress mistakes are desert and dessert. Desert and dessert. Now you try – desert.  Dessert. 

 

Okay so what does photography mean?  Photography means taking photos.

 

And an example sentence is do you like photography?  Comment down and let me know. 

 

Word #3

The third word for today is.  How do we say that one?  Let’s split it in half. 

 

Should be leo pard right? Leo pard.  But we actually pronounce it leopard, leopard, leopard, now you try. Leopard. 

 

Some words are funny like this – you have to hear them before you know how to pronounce them. 

 

Some other common examples are liaison, queue and jeopardy. 

 

Okay and what does leopard mean?  Leopard is an animal – like this.  It’s like a cheetah or a tiger. 

 

And an example sentence could be – have you ever seen a leopard before? Comment down below and let me know – have you ever seen a leopard before?

 

Word #4

And the fourth word for today is … and how do we pronounce that one?  It’s health, health. 

 

Because theres a th at the end, we have to pronounce the th, th. Health, health.   Now you try – health. 

 

Some other words which have th at the end are bath, both and earth.  Okay so what does health mean? 

 

Health normally means the condition of your body and your mind.

 

So for example, if we use it in a sentence, we could say my health is very important to me.  That means the condition of my body and my mind is very important to me. 

 

Word #5

And the last word for today is … how do we pronounce that one?  It’s good ed at the end so it should be ed, overcooked.

 

But we actually pronounce it overcooked, overcooked.  When we have a ked at the end of a word, we always pronounce it with a t, overcooked.

 

Now you try – overcooked.

 

Some other words with ked at the end are walked, talked and looked. 

 

So what does overcooked mean? Overcooked means you have cooked something for too long.

 

An example sentence is you overcooked my food.

 

Okay that is it for today, thank you so much for watching.  Make sure you subscribe if you haven’t already, so you don’t miss any video that can help you understand English like a native speaker. 

 

If you like the video, please hit like and share this with your friends who are learning English and if you want me to make a video on anything, comment down below and let me know. And if you want more English make sure you are following my Instagram and facebook and I will see you in the next video.

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