Learn the TOP 50 MISPRONOUNCED English words. These words are common mistakes made by many English learners. I will show you how to avoid these incorrect pronunciations and say all of these words correctly in this pronunciation lesson.

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Transcript:

Hello, and welcome back. In
this lesson, I will show you
fifty words that you are
probably pronouncing
incorrectly right now. And I’ll
also teach you how to say them
correctly.
Let’s start with this word –
how do you say it? Well, we say
/prə-’nauns/, /prə-’naunst/ and
/prə-’nauns-iŋ/, but /prə-nən-
si-’eɪ-shən/. There’s no ‘noun’
in this word. It’s
‘pronunciation.’
Word number two is ‘says’. This
word is commonly mispronounced
by people learning English as
/s eɪs/. But remember: I say,
you say, but he or she /sez/.
Number three is ‘et cetera’. A
very common incorrect
pronunciation is to say ‘ek’ –
‘ek setra’ instead of ‘et’.
Don’t say that. And also
remember that the stress is on
‘ce’. So the word is /et-’se-
tə-rə/. You will also hear
/et-’se-trə/ – that is less
common but it’s OK too.
Next up is ‘often’. Some
pronounce this as /’äf-tən/.
Now, strictly speaking, /’äf-
tən/ is not wrong, but the more
common pronunciation is with
the ‘t’ silent, so I recommend
that you always say /’ä-fən/.
One word that is often
mispronounced by learners of
English is ‘women’. This is, of
course, because of the English
language’s crazy spelling
system. But remember that we
say /’wu-mən/ for one woman and
/’wi-min/ for the plural –
/’wi-min/.
Word number six is ‘police’.
This isn’t /po-lees/ or /po-
lis/. It’s /pə/ and /lees/ with
the stress on /lees/. So
/pə-’lees/.
The next word is ‘vehicle’.
It’s often pronounced wrongly
as /ve-hi-kl/. But the ‘e’ is a
long vowel and the ‘h’ is
silent. So /’vee-ə-kl/.
Number eight is this word. How
would you say it? The correct
pronunciation is /’zhän-rə/. Pay
attention to the first sound,
it’s like ‘sh’ but you put your
voice into it - /’zhän-rə/.
/’zhän-rə/
Next up is actually what you’re
watching right now – ‘video’.
The important thing is that
both the ‘i’ and the ‘e’ are
pronounced as short ‘i’ sounds.
It’s not /vee-di-o/, it’s
/’vi-di-o/.
If you watch a video on YouTube
or Facebook, you might leave a
‘comment’. I have heard many
speakers say /’kə-ment/. Now
whether you use this word as a
noun or a verb, the first
syllable is always /’kä /. So
it’s never a /’kə-ment/, it’s a
/’kä-ment/.
Word number eleven is
‘interesting’. This is
mispronounced sometimes as
/’in-tə-rə-stiŋ/. But there are
only three syllables – /in / –
/trə / – /stiŋ/ and the stress
is on ‘IN’. So the word is
/’in-trə-stiŋ/.
Number twelve is ‘hotel’. There
are two syllables – /ho/ and /
tel/ like the English word
‘tell’ as in ‘tell me’. The
stress is on the second
syllable, so /ho-’tel/.
A related word is ‘suite’. This
means a set of connected rooms
in a hotel and this is wrongly
pronounced by many people as
/soot/. But it’s /sweet/ - like
when you eat a piece of candy -
/sweet/.
While we’re on the topic of
suites and hotels, I cannot
leave out this word –
‘restaurant’. It gives a lot of
English learners trouble. But,
don’t let the fancy spelling
confuse you – the second
syllable is just /tə /. The
third is /ränt/. So /’res-tə-
ränt/. In British English, you
might hear just two syllables –
/’res-trɒnt/ - that is also
correct.
After you eat at a restaurant,
you have to pay the bill. But
you might get a discount on
your bill if you have one of
these – a ‘coupon’. A common
incorrect pronunciation is
/’koo-pən/. But the second
syllable should be /pän/. So –
/’koo-pän/.
Here’s word number sixteen –
how would you say it? The
proper pronunciation is not
‘break’ ‘fast’ – it’s
‘breakfast’. /brek / with a
short /e/ sound and /fəst/ with
an /ə/ sound - so /’brek-fəst/.
You know what I had for
breakfast today? I had this –
‘pizza’. Really, I did. It’s
not a /pee-sə/ and it’s not a
/peed-zə/. There’s no /z/ sound
in this word. It’s /peet/, /sə/
- /’peet-sə/.
Another food word that’s
mispronounced a lot is
‘vegetable’. It’s not /ve-jə-
tə-bl/. If you say it correctly,
there are only three syllables
- /vej/, / tə/, /bl/ - /’vej-
tə-bl/.
Let’s talk about a couple of
vegetables now – this is a
‘cucumber’. It’s not a /ku-
koom-bər/. Think of it like
saying the letter ‘Q’ and then
/kəm-bər/ like ‘number’. So
/’kyoo-kəm-bər/.
This vegetable is called
‘lettuce’. I know the spelling
looks like /let-yoos/ but it’s
not – it’s /letis/.
And since we talking about
food, here’s a food that just
about everybody loves –
‘chocolate’. When you ask for
this at the store, make sure
there are only two syllables –
/chäk / and /lət/ - /’chäk-lət/.
And remember: there is no
‘late’ in ‘chocolate’.
Speaking of chocolate, how
would you say this word? This
is ‘dessert’.