The 10 Commonly ‘Mi-spelled’ and Mispronounced Words Of All Time- Save Yourself from Embarrassment and Error and Speak Like a Pro
English is a complex language. It may be easy to learn, but the pronunciation rules are flexible, ever-changing and tricky. I’ve seen many learners make mistakes, but many natives do the same!
In this article, I will take you through some commonly mispronounced and misspelt words that everyone often makes, and the right way to say it. Ready? Let’s go!
1. Mischievous [MIS-chuh-vus]
Admittedly, I’ve said this wrong multiple times.
I used to say it as ‘mis-chi-vi-us’, but that all changed when I looked up a synonym for the word and found out the right way to pronounce it. The right way to say it is… mis-chiv-us!
Yeah, it feels weird. Native speakers even get this wrong. So next time you’re talking about your mischievous sibling, amaze yourself and pronounce it right!
2. February [Feb-yoo-a-ree]
I remember, back in third grade, we always mispronounced and misspelt this word. My teacher was determined to make us say it right. It didn’t work at the time, but I still remember it to this day.
People often pronounce it ‘feb-ru-are-ee’ or ‘feb-yo-ree’. The correct way to say it is- ‘feb-yoo-uh-re’. That’s the British pronunciation. Americans would say ‘feb-yoo-eh-ree’.
There’s a difference between how you pronounce the sounds ‘uh’ as a Brit and ‘eh’ as an American. ‘Uh’ ‘eh’. Yup, definitely weird.
3. Arctic [Arc-tic]
Believe me, I’ve been saying this wrong my whole life. Even as I write this article, I am trying to say it right.
Often pronounced as ‘art-ic’, people often forget the ‘c’ before the ‘t’. People even write it wrong. We’re all used to saying, “Unless you want to go to the Ant-artic!’ or “You’d find weather worse than this in the ‘Ant-artic’!”
You’re supposed to pronounce it as- ‘arc+tic’. Arc-tic. Does it roll off the tongue? I heard ice sticks to your tongue. Never mind.
4. Sachet [sa-shey]
Honestly, this word feels posh.
This one is mistaken as ‘sat-chet’, ‘sak-et’ and ‘sa-shet’. There’s a lot of interesting mispronunciations with this word. It follows a different pronunciation- ‘sa-shey’.
‘Sa’+ ‘Shey’= Sachet!
5. Regime [Ray-geem]
This one is pronounced as ray-geem. I got this one wrong when I was little. My pronunciation was reg-im-ay. Many others pronounce this as ra-gim and reg-im. The actual way is- ray-geem.
6. Espresso- [es-press-o]
I surprised someone hasn’t told you this already! It’s a common error.
People usually pronounce this drink as ‘ex-press-o’. Italians are crazy about pronouncing this one right. I figured it a from a video. Next time, go impress an Italian and say it right.
7. Candidate [can-did-ate]
And the can-nid-date…. oh, wait. That’s wrong.
Often written and pronounced wrong, this word has a beautiful array of mistakes that I will kindly not mention here. The right was to say this word is- can-did- ate. I can. I did. I ate. Can. Did. Ate.
Can-did-ate. Got it?
8. Strategic [struh·tee·juhk]
Next time you get a genius idea and are presenting it to your boss, remember to be struh-tee-juhk, not strat-ej-ic.
You need to be struh-tee-juhk to figure out the pronunciation of some words like these, don’t you think?
9. Jewelry [jool-ree]
Often mistaken for joo-luh-ree. I made this mistake several times as a kid, but I now know how to say it right. Writing errors often come with this as well(I used to make them). There is only one ‘l’, no doubles.
This is a sparkly mistake, but don’t bother. The right way to say this word is- jool-ree. There isn’t any ‘lery’ sound there. Just ‘jool’ and ‘ree’.
10. Pronunciation [pro-nun-si-ay-shun]
Did you know one of the most mispronounced and misspelt words is pronunciation? How ironic.
The right pronunciation for this word is pro-nun-si-ay-shun. There is a big error that learners make with this word because the verb is ‘pronounce’, so the noun would be ‘pro-noun-ciation’. But no, English needs to make this complicated.
The correct way to say it is pro-nun-ciation, not ‘noun’. So we say ‘nun’ instead of ‘noun’. But for other words such as ‘mispronounced’ or ‘pronounce’, we write it and say it with a ‘noun’.
I sincerely hope this isn’t too complicated.
Conclusion
Those were the 10 words you were probably mispronouncing. Don’t worry, I spelt it right.
Write these down, keep it with you, practice the right way to say it and explain it to others. Outshine the literary perfectionists by keeping your pronunciation clean, sharp and accurate.
If you forget how to pronounce ‘Arctic’, just picture an arc with a tick. You get what I mean.
