50 Words You're Pronouncing WRONGLY Right Now! | Top 50 Mispronounced English Words, Common Mistakes

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’.

[LearnEnglishLab]

A clarification about the word _singer:_ that sound in "singer" is neither an "n" nor a "g". It's a separate phonetic entity - /ŋ/ - the same "ng" sound as in "ring". My aim in this video was to contrast it with "finger" in which there is both a /ŋ/ (ng) sound and a "g" sound. Many ESL learners say "singer" like "finger". Compare:

[edeibler]

Hello! I am a native English speaker, but I watched the video anyway out of curiosity. Many native English speakers also mispronounce the same words, so I’m sure your video is extremely helpful! By the way, if you are NOT a native English-speaking American, then I must complement you – your English is absolutely fantastic!

[LearnEnglishLab]

Hey there, I hope you enjoyed this lesson. Let me know if you have any questions. Also check out:

[DDArtCustom]

I love how he linked the words. That is art right there.

[AlexColberg]

Absolutely flawless English lesson. Excellent job. I was a career EFL teacher, and to everyone who's reading this I highly recommend this guy's videos.

[ToabBoat]

As a native english speaker. I don't mispronounce any of these words. I've heard people who do however I do not. Great teaching video for non native speakers!

[artoffugue]

Good refresher for even those who speak English well.

[Brainybulb]

Even our teachers don't know these 😮😮😮😮

[galxanvinith]

American English : tu-wi-shaen
British English : tyu-wi-shaen
Indian English : Two-shen

[andrewhockings]

Great video.
I am a native English speaker from the south of England and this is an excellent video for anyone wanting to learn English pronunciation.
I'm watching it going, damn, my language is really silly at times. lol
Like Save is pronounced "Say-v" and Gave is pronounced "Gay-v" but Have is pronounced "Hav"... WTF???
How on Earth did my kids learn to speak properly? More to the point, how the hell are non English speakers supposed to learn this madness? : )
Good luck.

[s.kshirsagar]

My grand mother also says chaklet😂 to chocolate we thought she is pronouncing wrong but now I appreciate her😂😅😅😂😂😂😂😂😂

[eduardoarencibia]

This is simply outstanding! I have been teaching English for 34 years and I had some trouble pronouncing INFAMOUS and ZOOLOGY. From now on, I will have a pronunciation session in my ESL lessons using your videos. I plan to do it once or twice a week. Thank you!!!

[ikachan]

I've pronunced wrongly almost half of them...😭
Thank you so much for teaching us the correct pronunciation !
Wish I could go to ESL and have a teacher like you.
You made my day❣️

[jamestheminorbender]

As a filipino, i would say indian accent with a mix of american accent is probably the most beautiful thing id ever hear.

Love from the philippines! ❤

[Pahhu]

I don't know how I ended up here, but as a native English speaker I can confirm that this is all correct and very well explained! (P.S our language is weird, sorry about that.)

[Swarnshikha]

Your teaching style, your pronunciation- everything is really great... Quite helpful...

[ManpreetSingh-bspp]

Hey you made me realise that I was pronouncing half of the English wrong and I used to think that I speak correst more than anyone in my class

[dr.vaseemakramvadhooth]

Damn, those lucky students who get him as their teacher ... The best English teacher I've ever seen. Kudos man, highly appreciate that

[paulorobertomattosluizluiz]

Great pronunciation class! Great job! A big hug from a Brazilian teacher from the Board of Education of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

[YurNmsis]

Thank you for this video. Made me realize how many words I used to mispronounce. I got through PTE with overall 87 and I find you as a contributor. Thanks again!