When you’ve been speaking a language from a young age, it’s generally assumed you’ll know how to pronounce most words correctly.
But there are a some words in the english language that are very deceptive – particularly if the spelling doesn’t make the pronunciation entirely clear.
This is why the language experts at Preply have compiled a list of English words that typically tend to be mispronounced. Have you been mispronouncing these words? Let’s find out.
1. Almond
It looks fairly easy to pronounce, but it turns out many people are unaware of the fact that the ‘l’ in almond is actually silent, and so the word should be pronounced as ‘aa-mund.’ This is something to remember the next time you’re asking for your plant-based milk coffee order.
2. Police
Despite the spelling, the correct pronunciation for police is actually ‘puh-leece’ and not ‘poh-leece’.
3. Quinoa
This food often gets pronounced as ‘kee-noah’, which is simply incorrect. Rather, the correct pronunciation is ‘keen-wah’.
4. Arctic
There is a common misconception that the ‘c’ in the word arctic is silent, but truth be told it isn’t! So, instead of ‘ar-tic’, the correct pronunciation is actually ‘arc-tic’.
5. Schedule
When it comes to the pronunciation of ‘schedule’, most people don’t know there are actually two ways of pronouncing this word. According to US English, the correct pronunciation is ‘sked-jule’ and according to British English, it is actually ‘shed-yool’.
6. Espresso
Although it sounds just how it’s spelt, many people tend to pronounce espresso as ‘expresso’. So, it may be the case that you’ve been pronouncing your favourite coffee wrong all this time. If a barista hasn’t already commented on your pronunciation, now you know.
7. Specifically
The word specifically tends to get mispronounced as ‘pacifically’. It’s probably because of the overpowering sound of the ‘p’ but don’t forget to stick an ‘S’ in front of it.
8. Probably
Likewise, ‘probably’ tends to get shortened to two syllables instead of three, with the common pronunciation in the UK being ‘prob-ly’. It’s actually ‘pro-bab-ly’.
9. Clothes
Contrary to popular belief, there isn’t a silent ‘th’ in clothes. However, in everybody’s defence, the ‘th’ in this word exudes a very soft sound, so it’s quite easy to get overlooked.
10. Liable
In the interest of the law, you definitely want to pronounce ‘liable’ right. This is because liable (pronounced ‘li-able’) means being legally obligated, whereas libel (pronounced ‘li-bel’) relates to a defamatory statement.