Accurate Pronunciation is the key to make a good impression. And along with pronunciation comes a good accent. You could be excellent in your English but if you pronounce wrongly, you won't be able to make a standout impression. So, here are some of the commonly mispronounced words and best practices to become a confident speaker or presenter.
Here are few mispronouned words:
1. Silicone vs Silicon
The first word is Silicone and the second word is Silicon both are spelt more or less the same way but the pronunciation is different. ‘Silicone’ is the soft rubber material that you have on your earphones and ‘Silicon’ is the material that is used to make computer chips.
2. Mischievious vs Mischievous
A lot of us actually make mistakes in this word. ‘Mischievious’ which means naughty but, it is actually Mischievous (Mis+chi+vous).
3. Etc
This is the abbreviation we use. Most of us pronounce etc as (Excetra) but it is actually etc (Et. Cetera).
4. Nuptial
This is a word that is related to marriage or wedding. Anything that is related to marriage or wedding is not Nuptial (Nup+tial) it is just Nuph+shl.
5. Pronunciation vs Pronounciation
At least 60 to 70 percent of people actually mispronounce this word. It's ‘Pronunciation’ (Pro+nun+ciation) it's not ‘Pronounciation’. A lot of us say Pronounciation (Pro+noun+ciation) and that's not right.
6. Strengths
Do you say strength (St+ren+th)? It is Strength (St+reng+ths). This is where the under sound ‘ng’ comes.
7. Jewellery
This is another word we all pronounce it wrong. It's Jewellery (Jool+ry) and not Jewelry (Jwel+lery).
8. Anyway vs Anyways
This word is not about pronunciation but a lot of us actually make mistakes in using this word. A lot of us use it as ‘Anyways’. For example: 1). “We are meeting tomorrow ‘Anyways’.” So never say ‘Anyways’ it is always ‘Anyway’. 2). “I didn't want to try the new dish but I tried it ‘Anyway’.”
9. Vegetable
One more word ‘Vegetable’, it is not Vegetable (Vege+table). It’s not vegetarian or anything to do with veggie, It is Vegetable (Veg+tabl).
10. Comfortable
This is ‘Comfortable’ (comf+table) not comfortable (comfor+table).
11. Almond
The next word that we have is not Almond it is Almond (Aa+muhnd) not Almond (Al+mond). So a lot of other words are there - Half, Talk, Walk where the ‘L’ is silent.
12. Clothes
It's Clothes (klouz) not clothes (Clo+thes) there's no ‘th’ sound it is pronounced similar to ‘close’ close with th in between clothes.
13. Word/World/Work
A lot of people pronounce these words wrong. It’s not ‘Werd’, ‘Werld’ or ‘Werk’. It is ‘Word’ (Vuhd), ‘World’ (Vuhld) and ‘Work’ (Vuhk).
14. Analyse vs Analysis
In these two words Analyse (verb) and Analysis (noun) the stress is on the second part ‘na’ of the second syllable of the word.
15. Execute vs Executive
These two words Execute (verb) and Executive (noun), the ‘Ex’ sound in Execute (lks) and Executive (egs) there is a difference in the sounds.
16. Develop
A lot of us actually mispronounce this as well it's, Develop (duh+veh+luhp) it is not Develop (deve+lop).
17. Focus
We have some words where the O actually is pronounced as ‘ou’ so, it’s Focus (fou+cus)
18. Quote
There are some words with q that you need to have a kw sound. Like it is not Quote (Cote) it does not have ‘Co’ kind of pronunciation. It is called Quote (kwo+t).
19. Suite vs Suit
Here the first word is a room that you find in hotels, it is exactly pronounced as ‘Sweet’ right and the second one is Suit, a set of garments. It is pronounced as (Sewt - Soot).
20. Cooperate vs Corporate
This word is Cooperate, pronounced as (KO+Operate) (KO-wa+perate).
21. Increase vs Decrease
These two words have two forms when you use it as a verb the stress is on INcrease and DEcrease but when you use it as a noun the stress is on the second part of the world increase decrease.
22. Employ vs Employe
We have got two other words: Employ (verb) and the other one Employee (noun).
23. Figure
This word is Figure (Fig+yur) it's not figure (fi+gar). A lot of these words are mispronounced, so need to be focused on.
24. Advice vs Advise
Here the word Advice (Noun) comes with a ‘s’ sound and Advise (Verb) comes with a z sound.
25. Moral vs Morale
So these are the words that we learn in class : Moral (feeling of right or wrong) and Morale (employee morale). Moral is caring about what is right or wrong and Morale is the attitude or move mood of your employees
26. Carrier vs Career
It’s Career (an occupation or profession) and the other one is Carrier, a tiffin carrier or something that carries.
Anindya Ghosh is a Spoken English, Communication skills and IELTS trainer on UrbanPro. He has been associated with UrbanPro for nearly seven years now. According to Anindya, most of the students worry about fluency in speaking English, finding proper words or public speaking. He helps a student improve in all the problems as per their grasping skills and knowledge.
