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One Hundred
Most Commonly
Mispronounced
English Words
by

Jakub Marian
Second Edition, March 2015
The PDF version has no associated ISBN
The image of the head on the front cover is copyrighted by
Andrey Ospishchev and licensed from fotolia
...


BEFORE YOU START
READING

If you have found this book freely available on
the Internet (from an illegal source), please consider obtaining a legal version at
http://jakubmarian
...

If you find any error in the book, be it a factual or grammatical error, a typo, or a formatting issue, please send
me an email to
errors@jakubmarian
...

I have selected 100 words from the original book
that I consider to be the most important ones and
compiled them here in alphabetical order so that
my readers can easily review them
...

Pronunciation is denoted using a simplified version of IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet; the
notation used in the aforementioned book is a bit
more sophisticated)
...
If you want to learn more
about the IPA, there is an appendix explaining all IPA
symbols at the very end of the book
...
3
What to expect from this book
...
6
The list
...
32
Vowels
...
37

Alphabetical Index
...
The characters you have to remember are:
[ə] is pronounced as “a” in “a book” (i
...
as the indefinite article)
...
If you
sometimes think that there’s an “ə” used in a place
where you would expect “i” as in “pit” (or conversely), don’t worry; these two sounds are often
interchangeable
...
The symbol is used to
remind you that English “a” (as in “cat” = “kæt”,
“bad” = “bæd”, “sad” = “sæd” etc
...

[ʌ] is the sound of “u” in “but” (bʌt) and “o” in
“come” (kʌm)
...

In case you are interested: “aw” is pronounced
as in “law”, “oo” as in “cool”, “oo” (italicised) as in
“good” (the same as “u” in “put”), “ ee” (italicised)
is used to denote the same sound as in “see” but
short, and “oh” is used to denote [oʊ] which is how
Americans pronounce “oh”; in British English,
“oh” is pronounced as “əu”
...
The stressed part is bold
...
For example “recipe” is denoted as
“res-ip-ee”, although the syllables are in fact “res-ipee”, but this would mislead some people to pronounce the “i” as “aay”
...


THE LIST
There is not much more to say; I hope you will enjoy
the process of reading and learning something new
...

albeit [ɔ:lˈbi:ɪt] (aw’l-bee-it); this fairly formal word,
meaning “although”, is not used much in
speech, but is still quite common in literature
...

alien [ˈeɪliən] (ei-li-ən); a lion would certainly be an
unwelcome alien at your home, but don’t pronounce them the same
...

angel [ˈeɪndʒəl] (eyn-dzhəl); unlike many other
words beginning with “ang-”, “angel” is pronounced with [eɪndʒ] (eyndzh) at the beginning
...


Arkansas [ˈɑ:kənˌsɔ:] (aak-ən-saw) UK, [ˈɑ:rkənˌsɔ:]
(aark-ən-saw) US; the name of one of the US
states sounds like a symbol for a new religious
movement: “ark and saw”
...

ballet [ˈbæleɪ] (bæ-lei) UK, [bæˈleɪ] (bæ-lei) US;
somewhat surprisingly, the final “t” remains silent in English
...
The “g” is
pronounced the same as in “massage”
...
This word is
perhaps even more confusing than the others in
that it also exists in most other languages in the
same written form but with the “b” pronounced
...


THE LIST

10

bull [bʊl] (bool, with short “u”); some people pronounce the “u” wrongly as [ʌ], as in “cut”, but it
is the same “u” as in “put”
...

bury [ˈberi] (ber-ri); a burial [ˈberiəl] (ber-ri-əl) is a
sad and important event
...
It is pronounced exactly the
same as “berry” (i
...
there is no “uh” or “ ʌ”
sound)
...

calm [kɑ:m] (kaam); English doesn’t seem to like
the combination “alm”, so the “l” remains silent
in most dialects (however, there are some American ones in which it is pronounced)
...


11

100 COMMONLY MISPRONOUNCED WORDS

chaos [ˈkeɪos] (kei-oss)

UK,

[ˈkheɪɑ:s] (kei-aas) US;
the pronunciation of this word is actually quite
regular, but people tend to pronounce it as the
same word in their own language, which usually
differs from its English pronunciation
...
The word is borrowed from French and
retains the original pronunciation
...
This is true also for “climbing”
[ˈklaɪmɪŋ] (klaay-ming), “climbed” [ˈklaɪmd]
(klaaymd), and “climber” [ˈklaɪmə] (klaay-mə) UK,
[ˈklaɪmər] (klaay-mr) US
...

column [ˈkoləm] (koll-əm) UK, [ˈkɑ:ləm] (kaal-əm)
US; whether it is a column of text or a column in
architecture, the pronunciation still retains some
influence of its French origin
...


THE LIST

12

comb [kəʊm] (kəum) UK, [koʊm] (koh’m) US; the
toothed device used for styling hair is pronounced without the “b” at the end
...

comfortable [ˈkʌmfətəbl] (kʌm-fə-tə-bl) UK, in the
US also [ˈkʌmftəbl] (kʌm-ftə-bl); if you “come for a
table” to a furniture shop, it will hopefully be
comfortable, although it doesn’t rhyme with it
...
The same is true for
accompany [əˈkʌmpəni] (ə-kʌm-pə-nee)
...

court [kɔ:t] (kaw’t) [kɔ:rt] (kaw’rt); hopefully you
will never have to deal with a court, but if you
do, remember to pronounce it with “aw”, not
with “oo”
...

debris [ˈdebri:] (deb-ree) UK, [dəˈbri:] (də-bree) US;
this word retained its original French pronunciation, so the final “s” is silent
...
If you pronounce the “b”,
people will likely understand it as “dipped”
...
The word “despisable” [dɪ
ˈspaɪzəbl] (dis-paay-zə-bl) (spelled with an “s”)
theoretically exists in some dictionaries, but noone really uses it in practice
...
Don’t con-

THE LIST

14

fuse it with desert [ˈdezət] (de-zət) UK, [ˈdezərt]
(de-zrt) US which is a large area of dry land
...
However, the word
“dove” is becoming increasingly widespread as
the past tense of “dive” (whose standard form is
“dived”), and in this sense it is pronounced
[dəʊv] (dəuv) UK, [doʊv] (doh’v) US
...

elite [ɪˈli:t] (ih-leet), sometimes also [eɪˈli:t] (ey-leet);
elite people are certainly not a “lite version” of
the population
...

epitome [ɪˈpɪtəmi] (ih-pit-ə-mee); this somewhat
less common word means “someone who is a
prototypical example of a class of people”
...


exercise [ˈeksəsaɪz] (ek-sə-saayz) UK, [ˈeksərsaɪz]
(ek-sr-saayz) US; many doctors will discourage
you from eating too many eggs if you want to
lead a healthy lifestyle
...

finale [fɪˈnɑ:li] (fin-aa-lee) UK, [fɪˈnæli] (fin-æ-lee) US
is the last part of a show or a piece of music
...

front [frʌnt] (frʌnt); is pronounced with [ʌ], i
...

“ron” in it doesn’t sound like the name “Ron”
...

fruit [fru:t] (froot); simply ignore the “i”
...


THE LIST

16

fuchsia [ˈfju:ʃə] (fyoo-shə) is a small bush with
flowers of a characteristic colour which is also
referred to as “fuchsia“
...

gauge [geɪdʒ] (geydzh); this word is especially useful to guitarists who speak about string gauges
(i
...
how thick they are)
...

genre [ˈʒonrə] (zhon-rə) UK, [ˈʒɑ:nər] (zhaa-nr) US; a
very French word indeed
...
e
...

Greenwich [ˈgrenɪtʃ] (gren-itch) or [ˈgrɪnɪdʒ] (grinidzh); you probably know this word from the
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) standard
...

grind [graɪnd] (graaynd); there are only 4 English
words that end with “rind”: rind, grind, regrind,

17

100 COMMONLY MISPRONOUNCED WORDS
and tamarind
...
In the other three, it
is pronounced as [raɪnd] (raaynd)
...
)

height [haɪt] (haayt); the pronunciation is as if it
were written “hight”
...

heir [eə] (eə) UK, [er] (er) US; a person who inherits
something from someone else
...

hotel [həʊˈtel] (həu-tel) UK, [hoʊˈtel] (hoh-tel) US;
“ho ho ho, tell me why you are not at home” is
something Santa Claus could ask you if you
stayed in a hotel over Christmas
...


THE LIST

18

hour [ˈaʊə] (aau-ə) UK, [ˈaʊər] (aau-rr) US (both the
same as “our”); the “h” at the beginning is silent,
as it should be also in the name of the letter H
[eɪdʒ] (eydzh)
...

houses [ˈhaʊzɪz] (haauziz); the singular form,
house, is pronounced with [s] at the end: [ haʊs]
(haaus)
...

hyperbole [haɪˈpə:bəli] (haay-pə’ə-bə-lee) UK, [haɪ
ˈpərbəli] US (haay-pər-bə-lee); don’t confuse this
word with a hyperbola, a geometric shape
...

infamous [ˈɪnfəməs] (in-fə-məs); although the
word is just “famous” with the prefix “in-” stuck
in the front, it is not pronounced so
...
However, the “Ire” in “Ire-

19

100 COMMONLY MISPRONOUNCED WORDS
land” comes from “Ériu”, a mythological Irish
being
...
The same is true also for
“ironed” [ˈaɪənd] (aay-ənd) UK, [ˈaɪərnd] (aayrn’d) US and “ironing” [ˈaɪənɪŋ] (aay-ə-ning) UK,
[ˈaɪərnɪŋ] (aay-ər-ning) US
...
Although island indeed is
land surrounded by water, the word is not written so because it “is land”, but because there is
an etymologically unrelated word isle [aɪl] (pronounced the same as “I’ll”) which also means
“island”, and so people during the 16 th century
thought it would be fun to insert “s” into the
spelling of “iland” as well
...


THE LIST

20

launch [lɔ:ntʃ] (law’ntch); as in most English words,
“au” here is pronounced as [ɔ:] (aw)
...

lettuce [ˈletɪs] (let-is) UK, [ˈleɾɪs] (led-is) US; remember that lettuce doesn’t grow on a spruce; and it
also doesn’t rhyme with it
...

lingerie [ˈlænʒəri] (læn-zhə-ree) UK, [ˌlɑ:n(d)ʒəˈreɪ]
(laan-(d)zhə-rei) or [ˈlɑn(d)ʒəri] (laan-(d)zhə-ree)
US; in British English, pronunciation of this word
remains close to the original French one; there
are several other options in American English
...
The last “e”
is silent and there is no “oh” in it
...
By
the way, the word “syrup” is pronounced
[ˈsɪrəp] (si-rəp), not “saay-rəp”
...
Also notice the difference in stress position between American and British English
...

mischief [ˈmɪstʃɪf] (mis-tchif); mischief is a bad behaviour which does not cause serious harm
...
The adjective derived from it is mischievous [ˈmɪstʃɪvəs] (mistchiv-əs);
mishap [ˈmɪshæp] (mis-hæp); the word is mis-hap,
meaning mis-happiness, i
...
misfortune or bad
luck
...
K
...

niche [ni:ʃ] (neesh)

UK,

[nɪtʃ] (nitch) US; this word,
originally meaning a shallow recess or simply a
nice place or position, is also often used to mean
a particular narrow field of interest (especially in
business)
...


oasis [əʊˈeɪsɪs] (əu-ey-sis) UK, [oʊˈeɪsɪs] (oh-ey-sis)
US; imagine you are on a desert with a friend
named Asis and you are almost dying of thirst
...
” after which your friend starts running
forward in a burst of happiness
...
The plural of “oasis” is
“oases” [əʊˈeɪsi:z] (əu-ey-seez) UK, [oʊˈeɪsi:z]
(oh-ey-seez) US
...


23

100 COMMONLY MISPRONOUNCED WORDS

owe [əʊ] (əu) UK, [oʊ] (oh) US; if you remember that
the phrase “I owe you” is often abbreviated IOU,
it will help you remember that this word is pronounced just as the letter “o”
...

owl [aʊl] (aaul); it may be a silly way, but if you remember that an owl looks like ʌ(OO)ʌ, it will
perhaps help you remember that it is pronounced with something close to “ʌoo”
...
The person is
a photographer [fəˈtogrəfə] (fə-togg-rə-fə) UK,
[fəˈtɑ:grəfər] (fə-taag-rə-fr) US; notice that the
stress is now on the second syllable, whereas it
was on the first syllable in “photograph”
...


THE LIST

24

pour [pɔ:] (paw) UK, [pɔ:r] (paw’r) or [poʊr] (poh’r)
US; although the word looks like having a French
origin and “ou” in French words is usually pronounced [u:], e
...
route [ru:t] (root), in this case
the origin is not French, and so is not the pronunciation
...
If you use the
former, you can remember not to use the “poor”
pronunciation for “pour”
...

purchase [ˈpə:tʃəs] (pə’ə-tchəs) UK, [ˈpərtʃəs] (pərtchəs) US; it is true that many people literally
“chase discounts” when purchasing goods, but
there is no “chase” in the pronunciation of “purchase”
...


UK,

[ˌpaɪroʊˈmeɪniə] (paay-roh-

queue [kju:] (kyoo); if you want to pronounce this
word correctly, just think of the Q at the beginning; “ueue” is not pronounced at all
...

salmon [ˈsæmən] (sæ-mən); there’s something
fishy about this word
...

sandwich [ˈsænwɪtʃ] (sæn-witch) or [ˈsænwɪdʒ]
(sæn-widzh); would you like to eat a sandwich
with sand? If you wouldn’t, don’t pronounce the
“d”
...
Anyway, if you learn
a certain dialect, you should stick to the pronunciation used in that dialect
...
It is one of very few English words containing the “ts” sound where “t” and “s” are pronounced almost simultaneously
...

subtle [ˈsʌtl] (sʌ-tl) UK, [ˈsʌɾl] (sʌ-dl) US; “btle”
simply doesn’t sound good
...

suit [su:t] (soot), in the UK also [sju:t] (syoot); as in
the case of “fruit”, the “i” is silent
...


27

100 COMMONLY MISPRONOUNCED WORDS

surface [ˈsə:fɪs] (sə’ə-fis) [ˈsərfɪs] (sər-fis); you can
wipe your face using the surface of your towel,
but you cannot rhyme it with it
...
Don’t pronounce it this
way
...
However, it is not true that
in “sw” the “w” would always be silent; for example “swan” is pronounced [swon] (swonn)
UK, [swɑ:n] (swaan) US
...
Although “target” is etymologically related neither to “tar” nor to “get”,
it is a way to remember that the “g” is as in
“get”, not as “j” in “jet”
...
When
it denotes a water drop coming out of someone’s
eye, it’s pronounced [tɪə] (ti’ə) UK or [tɪr] US (tir)
...

ton [tʌn] (tʌn); don’t let your mother tongue mislead you; there is really an [ʌ], and so is in “son”
and “won”
...
It can also refer
to the ton used in the UK where 1 ton = 2,240
pounds = 1,016 kg, but which is no longer officially used (since 1985)
...
e
...

vegan [ˈvi:gən] (vee-gən); the city of Las Vegas
[ˈlɑ:s ˈveɪgəs] (laas vei-gəs) is considered to be a
place of indulgence—a quality despised by vegans
...

village [ˈvɪlɪdʒ] (vil-idzh); it is not called so because
its inhabitants are of higher age on average; in
fact, there is no connection between the words
“village” and “age” whatsoever, and there is also
none in the pronunciation
...


UK,

[ˈvɪlɪdʒər] (vil-

vinegar [ˈvɪnɪgə] (vin-ig-ə) UK, [ˈvɪnɪgər] (vin-ig-rr)
US is used to make food more sour [ˈsaʊə]
(saau-ə) UK, [ˈsaʊər] (saau-rr) US
...
And when we are at it, don’t
confuse pronunciation of “vine” and “wine”; a
“vine” is a plant on which grapes grow and is
pronounced with “v” at the beginning (as in
“very”), and “wine” is the liquid you can make
out of the grapes and is pronounced with “w” at
the beginning (as in “wow”)
...
In other words,
if you’ve heard a story about someone’s grandpa
being attacked by a beer while eating his peer,
you can be pretty sure the storyteller hadn’t read
this book
...
Other examples include woman
[ˈwʊmən] (woo-mən), and similar words womb

THE LIST

30

[wu:m] (woom), the organ in which a child before birth is, and tomb [tu:m] (toom), a place in
which remains of dead people are stored
...

womb [wu:m] (woom), tomb [tu:m] (toom); people
tend to pronounce “o” as in “lot”
...
“Mb” may sound
nice in Swahili, but not so much in English, so
the “b” is silent
...
The “b” is silent even in “number”
when it means “more numb” and in “plumber”
...

Yosemite [joʊˈsemɪti:] (yəu-sem-it-ee) UK, [joʊ
ˈsemɪɾi:] (yoh-sem-id-ee) US; Yosemite National
Park is well known around the Globe
...


31

100 COMMONLY MISPRONOUNCED WORDS

zealot [ˈzelət] (zel-ət) is a person who is very enthusiastic about something, i
...
a person having
a great amount of zeal (a great energy or enthusiasm) which is, surprisingly, pronounced [zi:l]
(zeel)
...
You will find several hundred more
words and many other tips in my book entitled
Improve your English pronunciation and learn over 500
commonly mispronounced words (which is available as
a paperback, for Kindle, or as a PDF file)
...
jakubmarian
...
facebook
...
com/+JakubMarian
Mailing list: http://jakubmarian
...
com

APPENDIX: IPA
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) has
become standard when denoting English pronunciation, and proper knowledge of it is essential for
any learner who wants to further improve his or
her pronunciation
...
g
...

Unlike some other phonetic alphabets, there is
no way to recognize what exact sound an IPA symbol represents just from its symbol
...
We shall
take a look only at the symbols used to denote English pronunciation
...


33

100 COMMONLY MISPRONOUNCED WORDS

VOWELS
We will take a look at the symbols for vowels
first because they usually cause more problems:
[x:] long vowel
When the symbol “:” follows a vowel symbol, it
means that the vowel is pronounced longer
...

[ˌxy] secondary stress
This symbol, which looks similar to a comma, is
basically the same as the above, only the stress is
weaker
...
It is somewhere in
between of “a” in “father” and “e” in “bed”
...

[ɑ:] bra, calm, palm, father, start, dark
This vowel is the closest one to the sound of the
letter “a” in many other languages and as such is
also denoted [a] in some dictionaries
...

[ɒ] (o) god, pot, top, spot (British English
only)
This vowel is quite similar to the sound of “o”
many other languages (and we also denote it as [o]
in this book)
...

[ʌ] but, cut, gun, come, some, glove
This vowel very similar to [ɑ:], but it’s never pronounced long in English
...


35

100 COMMONLY MISPRONOUNCED WORDS
[ɪ] pit, bin, fill, will, village, bullet

If you find [ə] (see below) in a dictionary in a
word for which you are almost sure that [ ɪ] is correct (or conversely), don’t worry; in most cases the
two possibilities are interchangeable and usage can
vary even among different occurrences of the same
word pronounced by the same speaker
...
It is usually long when it
is in a stressed syllable and short when it is not, but
not necessarily
...

[ʊ] put, full, good, wood, could, would
The sound most similar to the sound of “u” in
most other languages
...


VOWELS

36

[ə] a, syllable, moment, terrible, felony,
papyrus
Most learners of English learn very fast how to
pronounce “a” when it means an indefinite article
(such as in “a book”), and this is exactly the pronunciation of [ə]
...
e
...

For example “visible” is pronounced [ˈvɪzɪbəl]
which means that some speakers would pronounce
it as [ˈvɪzɪbəl] and others as [ˈvɪzɪbl]
...

[ɚ], [ər] mister, standard, editor
(American English only)
This vowel is formed by saying [ə] and at the
same time putting your tongue to the position as if
you were saying the English “r” (listen to the recordings)
...
In all cases where it is used
(most notably “-er” at the end of a word), a Brit
would say just [ə]
...
[ɜ:] is pronounced the same as [ə:] in some dialects while it is
slightly “darker” in others, and some dictionaries
don’t use it at all and write simply [ ə:] (and we do
to in this book)
...
The former is
used chiefly in British English, the latter chiefly in
American English (listen to the recordings)
...


CONSONANTS
A few technical terms: voiced consonants are
those in which the vocal chords are active while
pronouncing them (e
...
b, v, z, d, g), and unvoiced
consonants are the others (e
...
p, s, t, k, sh)
...
One thing to pay
attention to is that it doesn’t become “p” when it is
at the end of a word (unless it follows an unvoiced
consonant)
...
Again, it doesn’t become “t” when it is at the end of a word (unless it
follows an unvoiced consonant)
...
It is pronounced as if you wanted to say
“d” but only slightly touched the back of your teeth
by your tongue instead
...

[dʒ] jet, joke, giant, purge, huge, banjo
A sound approximately like [d] and [ʒ] (see below) pronounced at the same time
...

[g] go, get, grass, big, dog, fig
The sound similar to “k” but voiced, i
...
with an
almost uninterrupted stream of sound coming out
of your vocal chords
...
Try to make
a neutral sound just by letting air flow through
your vocal chords, and then try to “squeeze’ the
stream of air at the very bottom of your throat
...
In the IPA it
represents what is usually written as “y” in English
at the beginning of a syllable
...

[kh], [k] keep, cat, character, sock, bloc
When [k] is at the beginning of a stressed syllable, it is always aspirated (there is always a short
“h” after it which is sometimes denoted by a superscript “h”)
...
If you say [k] in place
where [kh] is expected, it can lead to a misunder-

CONSONANTS

40

standing; for example if you pronounce “call” just
[kɔ:l] instead of [khɔ:l], some people will think that
you said “gall” [gɔ:l]
...
g
...

Nevertheless, for simplicity, virtually all dictionaries write just [k] and suppose that the reader implicitly understands that it is in fact [kh]
...
Some dictionaries use [l] to denote pronunciation of the letter “l” that precedes a vowel and [ ɫ] otherwise
...
The difference is minor, and
it is pointless to worry about it much
...

[n] no, new, nose, ban, soon, keen
Again, no problem here
...

[ph], [p] pit, pale, poke, top, hip, cap
The very same same rules (in terms of aspiration) that hold for “k” hold also for “p”
...
g
...

[r], [ɹ] red, rich, rake, boar, care, tour
The correct IPA symbol for the typical English
“r” is [ɹ], unless you mean the rolled Scottish [ r]
...

[s] sit, soap, same, boss, kiss, house
Most people have no problem with the sound
(but don’t confuse it with [θ])
...

[th], [t] two, tall, tea, hot, bat, put
The very same rules about aspiration that hold
for “k” and “p” hold also for “t”, i
...
it is always aspirated when it is at the beginning of a stressed syllable (two, tall, tea) and in many dialects also almost everywhere else, except after “s” (e
...
step,
still)
...
It is pronounced like
“t”, but instead of putting your tongue on your upper palate, use it to gently touch your upper teeth
...
En
...

It is called “alveolar flap” and is usually represented by a double “t”
...


43

100 COMMONLY MISPRONOUNCED WORDS
[tʃ] chat, China, choose, rich, catch, much

This sound sounds approximately like [t] and [ʃ]
pronounced together
...
g
...

[w] we, wow, wax, dwell, swine, twain
This sound must be distinguished from [v];
“wary” and “vary” don’t sound the same
...

[ʒ] genre, version, measure, massage
This sound is a softer version of [z]
...

Now you have finished reading even the appendix! If
you would like to learn more about the IPA and English
pronunciation in general, see my book “Improve your
English pronunciation and learn over 500 commonly
mispronounced words”
...
8
accompany
...
8
alien
...
8
angel
...
8
Arkansas
...
9
beige
...
9
bull
...
10
bury
...
10
calm
...
10
chaos
...
11
climb
...
11
colour
...
11
comb
...
12
company
...
12
court
...
13
cupboard
...

debt
...

despicable
...

dove
...

elite
...

exercise
...

front
...

fuchsia
...

gauge
...

Greenwich
...

height
...

hotel
...

houses
...

infamous
...

Ireland
...

island
...

laugh
...

lettuce
...

lingerie
...

lunch
...

margarine
...

mischief
...

mishap
...

niche
...

oasis
...

owe
...

pear
...

photographer
...

plumb
...

pudding
...

pyramid
...

queue
...

rind
...

salmon
...

schedule
...

since
...

subtle
...

suite
...

swan
...

sword
...

target
...

tomb
...

vegan
...
28
villager
...
29
vinegar
...
11
wolf
...
29
womb
...

Xerox
...
30
zealot

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