10 Words with Alternative Pronunciations
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Some words don’t like being boxed in by a single pronunciation. In class at Pronunciation Studio, we are often asked whether there is a more or less ‘correct’ version of words like OFTEN, GARAGE and SCHEDULE. The fact is that the idea of ‘correctness’ is often defined by popularity, so here are 10 words with alternative pronunciations, either will do nicely:
1. our
This can be pronounced /aʊə/, to rhyme with ‘hour’, or /ɑː/ like the strong form of ‘are’.
2. often
According to the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, the commonest pronunciation of ‘often’ is with a silent ’t’, /ˈɒfən/, but you can also say it with the ’t’, /ˈɒftən/.
3. either, neither
Students very often ask which pronunciation is correct – /ˈiːðə/ or /ˈaɪðə/? /ˈniːðə/ or /ˈnaɪðə/? The answer is you can use whichever one you like better; there is no difference in the meaning.
4. privacy
The more common pronunciation is to use the short vowel /ɪ/ in the first syllable, /ˈprɪvəsi/, but you can also use the diphthong /aɪ/ and say it as /ˈpraɪvəsi/.
5. schedule
The more traditional British pronunciation uses a ‘sh’ sound at the beginning of this word, /ˈʃedʒuːɫ/, but the American ‘sk’ sound /ˈskedʒuːɫ/ is becoming more popular.
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6. garage
Words from other languages often cause pronunciation issues in English, such as the word ‘garage’. Some people pronounce it in a French way /gəˈrɑː(d)ʒ/, some in a French-English way /ˈgærɑː(d)ʒ/, and others in an English style /ˈgærɪdʒ/, where the ending rhymes with words like ‘village’ and ‘manage’. The last version is gaining in popularity over the French(ish) versions.
7. envelope
Another import from France is the word ‘envelope’, again the more English pronunciation /ˈenvələʊp/ is more common than the French-influenced /ˈɒnvələʊp/.
8. scone
A quick poll here at Pronunciation Studio revealed that we all say /skɒn/ rather than the posher-sounding /skəʊn/, but whichever way you choose to say them, you can enjoy them with clotted cream and jam!
9. Celtic
In England and Wales it’s usually pronounced /ˈkeɫtɪk/, whereas in Scotland you’re more likely to hear /ˈseɫtɪk/ – the Scottish football team is known as /ˈseɫtɪk/.
10. American stress differences
There are obviously many pronunciation differences between British and American accents – one interesting aspect is that some words take the stress on a different syllable depending on which accent is being used e.g. ˈadult (BrE) and aˈdult (AmE), ˈdebris (BrE) and deˈbris (AmE).
6 Comments
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barbara July 21, 2015 at 10:35 am — Reply -
Michael Chambers August 13, 2015 at 2:42 pm — Reply
Thanks for the interesting article. Are you sure that Scottish people pronounce Celtic with a soft “c” (except for the name of the football team)? It doesn’t seem right to me, but I’m willing to be corrected.
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Karen Cheung August 13, 2015 at 4:17 pm — Reply
Hi Michael, I took this information from the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (2000 ed. hard copy, 2003 reprint) by Prof JC Wells, however the source for that particular fact isn’t listed. A quick Google search reveals, unsurprisingly, that everyone fights about it, so I’m sure there are Scots who use /s/ and Scot who use /k/! Perhaps best for me not to get too involved… thanks for your comment and please keep reading!
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And I am among those who pronounce the first r in February, though farther forward in my mouth than the second, so not so predominantly. This awareness of placement of the sound probably comes from an excellent high school choir director who taught us how pronunciation of a word when sung may differ from the spoken word, and particularly in a large group as opposed to a solo.
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winnie whistler November 2, 2015 at 2:25 am — Reply
I’d like to know why rpa which is spoken by only about 2% of the population, say long ‘a’in words like bath, but the vast majority say a short ‘a’ ? Surely the majority short ‘a’ speakers should have the right to say this is how the word is pronounced correctly. Or does the country above Peterborough not count. Winnie.
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Karen Cheung November 5, 2015 at 1:18 am — Reply
Hi Winnie, thanks for asking a very relevant question.
For anyone who is interested, you can find out about the ‘long a’ vs. ‘short a’ in this Wikipedia article about the history of the TRAP-BATH split: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_short_A#Trap.E2.80.93bath_split
Since our school is indeed south of Peterborough, we do usually teach ‘long a’ from a practical point of view. However, our students are of course aware that there are many different accents to be found across the UK! Interestingly, learning to pronounce words with a ‘short a’ instead of ‘long a’ would in fact make many spellings easier and more logical…
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One of the most confusing things about the English language is that there are so many words that have more than one correct pronunciation. There is a lot of debate around some of these words, with some people arguing over the correct pronunciations.
Of course, everyone wants to pronounce words correctly, but certain words have more than one correct pronunciation. Here is a list of 25 words that can be pronounced differently.
List of Words that Can Be Pronounced Differently
1. Almond
This word has three correct pronunciations: “ALL-mund” – the “L” is pronounced and “al” sounds like the word “all”, “AH-mund” – the “L” is not pronounced, and “a” sounds like the “a” in father, and “AW-mund” – the “L” is not pronounced and “a” sounds like “aw” in the word awesome.
2. Apricot
This word has two correct pronunciations: “APP-ri-caht” – the first syllable rhymes with “map” and “APE”-ri-caht- first syllable rhymes with “cape.”
3. Aunt
This word can be pronounced like “ant” – sounds like the insect or “ahnt” – rhymes with “want.”
4. Broom
This word has two correct pronunciations: /brum/ – The “oo” sounds like the vowel in “food” and /brʊm/ – The “oo” sounds like the vowel in “foot.”
5. Caramel
You can either pronounce it like “CARE-uh-mel” – 3 syllables, the first syllable sounds like “care” or “CAR-mel” – 2 syllables, first syllable sounds like “car.”
6. Cauliflower
You can pronounce it like “COLL-ih-flower” – The “i” sounds like “ih” in “bit” or “COLL-ee-flower” – The “i” sounds like “ee” in “bee.”
7. Crayon
This word can be pronounced like “CRAY-on”- 2 syllables – rhymes with “rayon”, “cran” – 1 syllable – rhymes with “ban”, “CRAY-awn” – 2 syllables – last syllable rhymes with “pawn.”
8. Cot/Caught
The two words sound the same. The vowel in both “cot” and “caught” sound like the “a” in father. But also the two words sound different. The vowel in “cot” sounds like the “a” in father and the vowel in “caught” sounds like “aw” in “awesome.”
9. Coupon
This word has two correct pronunciations: “KOO-pon” – first syllable rhymes with “too” and “KYOO-pon” – first syllable sounds like “queue.”
10. Data
This word can be pronounced like “day-tuh” – the first syllable sounds like “day” or “da-tuh” – the first syllable has the “a” sound like in cat.
11. Don/Dawn
The two words sound different. The vowel in “don” sounds like the “a” in father and the vowel in “dawn” sounds like “aw” in “awesome.” But they also sound the same. The vowel in both “don” and “dawn” sounds like the “a” in father.
12. Either
You can either pronounce it like “EE-ther” – first syllable rhymes with “bee” or “AYE-ther” – the first syllable rhymes with “hi.”
13. Horrible
There are two ways to pronounce this word correctly: “HOR-uh-bul” – first syllable rhymes with “more” and “HAR-uh-bul” – first syllable rhymes with “car.”
14. Lawyer
The two correct pronunciations for this word are: “LAW-yer” – first syllable rhymes with “saw” and “LOY-er” – the first syllable rhymes with “boy.”
15. Neither
There are two correct ways to pronounce this word: “NEE-ther” – first syllable rhymes with “bee” and “NAI-ther” – first syllable rhymes with “hi.”
16. Pajamas
This word can be pronounced like “jam” rhymes with “Tom” or “jam” sounds like the fruit spread “jam.”
17. Pecan
This word has three correct pronunciations: PEE-can – sounds like a tin full of small round vegetables- “pea can”, “pick-AHN” – sounds like “pick Ron” minus the /r/, and “pee-KAHN” – rhymes with “see Ron.”
18. Poem
The two correct pronunciations are: “po-em” – two syllables – “po” rhymes with “go” and “em” rhymes with “them” and “pome” – one syllable – rhymes with “home.”
19. Quarter
You can pronounce it like “kor-ter” – starts with /k/ sound, no /w/ or “kwor-ter” – starts with /kw/ sound.
20. Roof
This word can be pronounced in two correct ways: /ruf/ – The “oo” sounds like the vowel in “food” and /rʊf/ – The “oo” sounds like the vowel in “foot.”
21. Room
There are two correct ways to pronounce this word: /rum/ – The “oo” sounds like the vowel in “food” and /rʊm/ – The “oo” sounds like the vowel in “foot.”
22. Root
The two correct ways to pronounce this word include /rut/ – The “oo” sounds like the vowel in “food” and /rʊt/ – The “oo” sounds like the vowel in “foot.”
23. Route
You can pronounce this word like /rut/ – The vowel sounds like the vowel in “food” or /raʊt/ – The “ou” sounds like the vowel in “house.”
24. Syrup
This word can be pronounced like “SIR-up” – First half of word sounds like “sir” which rhymes with “burr” “SIHR-up” or “SEAR-up.”
25. Thanksgiving
There are two correct ways to pronounce this word: “thanks-GIV-ing” – stress on the second syllable and “THANKS-giv-ing” – stress on the first syllable.
What Are the 15 Most Mispronounced Words?
1. Aisle
Wrong pronunciation: ai-suhl / ei-suhl
Correct pronunciation: ile
2. Archive
Wrong pronunciation: aa-keev / aa-cheev
Correct pronunciation: AA-kive
3. Athlete
Wrong pronunciation: eh-tuh-leet / eh-tleet
Correct pronunciation: ATH-leet
4. Calendar
Wrong pronunciation: kuh-len-duh
Correct pronunciation: KA-luhn-duh
5. Colonel
Wrong pronunciation: kuh-luh-nuhl / koh-loh-nuhl
Correct pronunciation: KUH-nuhl
6. Congrats
Wrong pronunciation: con-grates
Correct pronunciation: KUHN-grats
7. Cupboard
Wrong pronunciation: cuhp-bohrd
Correct pronunciation: KUH-buhd
8. Debris
Wrong pronunciation: deh-brees / duh-brees
Correct pronunciation: DEI-bree
9. Debut
Wrong pronunciation: dee-buht / dei-butt / duh-buht
Correct pronunciation: DEI-byoo
10. Epitome
Wrong pronunciation: eh-pi-tohme
Correct pronunciation: uh-PI-tuh-mee
11. Forte
Wrong pronunciation: forth
Correct pronunciation: FOR-tei
12. Gauge
Wrong pronunciation: gowj
Correct pronunciation: geij
13. Genre
Wrong pronunciation: jen-ruh / jen-rei
Correct pronunciation: ZHON-ruh
14. Honour
Wrong pronunciation: hoh-nuhr / hoh-nuh
Correct pronunciation: O-nuh
15. Invitation
Wrong pronunciation: in-vie-tei-shun
Correct pronunciation: in-vuh-TEI-shun
What Are the Hardest Words to Pronounce?
- Anathema – the many As in this word make it difficult it difficult to pronounce. It is pronounced like / uh-nath-uh-muh
- Anemone – the first two syllables in this word make it difficult to pronounce. It is pronounced as / uh-nem-uh-nee.
- Antarctic – the double Cs cause real trouble when pronouncing this word. Its correct pronunciation is / ant-ahrk-tik.
- Antidisestablishmentarianism – this is one of the longest words in English and a perfect tongue-twister. Its correct pronunciation is / an-tee-dis-uh-stab-lish-muh n-tai-ee-uh-niz-uh-m.
- Asterisk – the metathesis in this word makes it hard to pronounce. It is pronounced like / as-tuh-risk.
- Brewery – its middle syllable is quite tricky to pronounce. This word is pronounced like / broo-uh-ree.
- Cavalry – this word contains a metathesis that makes it difficult to pronounce. Its actual pronunciation is / kav-uh l-ree.
- Comfortable – the “tuh” in this word can easily be skipped, but that makes the word difficult to pronounce. It should be pronounced like / kuhm-fer-tuh-buh l.
- Defibrillator – the dissimilation in this word spells real trouble when pronouncing it. The correct pronunciation is / dee-fib-ruh-ley-ter.
- Deteriorate – the first R in this word gets the same treatment as the second one, making the word difficult to pronounce. Its correct pronunciation is / dih-teer-ee-uh-reyt.
Anne B. Robinson
Life is full of difficulties and challenges, but you can overcome them. I’m hoping that this blog can help many people with their problems.
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#1
I’m studing the english pronunciation with a site that pronunce every kind of word.
Sometime happens that a word that could be both a noun and a verb, has two different pronunciation with regards to the accent.
For example, if I search for «protest» that site said:
«Protest» as a noun = pròtest.
«Protest» as a verb = protèst.
(Sorry I don’t know how to write the phonetic symbols).
Now I would like to know: are these differences real in the spoken language, or are they just formalism that almost noone use?
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#2
They’re real, Wiren.
When I say «they protest», I stress «-est».
When I say «a protest», I stress «pro-«.
Last edited: Sep 10, 2012
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#3
The different emphases (which is what you mean by accent) are important since if you put the strong stress on a word, the person you are talking to may have difficulty in understanding you.
For example (wrong stress):
Do you have any record of this?
Will you permit me to do this?
It is common for the verb to have the stress on the last syllable (of two) and the noun to have the stress on the first syllable.
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#4
In BrE they are certainly real but I believe in some places the difference may not exist.
Furthermore I have often noticed a difference between the way US speakers stress certain words and the way we British do. I cannot immediately think of examples but I expect I shall shortly.
EDIT
I can think of only a couple of examples so far and they are both compound nouns, jet-plane and boy-scout. In my experience US speakers tend to stress the first word of the pair and UK speakers either stress the words equally or place the stress on the final word.
Example
BrE: When I was young I was a boy-SCOUT.
AmE: When I was young I was a BOY-scout.
Last edited by a moderator: Sep 10, 2012
Cagey
post mod (English Only / Latin)
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#5
Last edited: Sep 10, 2012
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#6
Now I would like to know: are these differences real in the spoken language, or are they just formalism that almost noone use?
Language is first and foremost a spoken medium. Writing is a feeble attempt to represent some aspects of language. Standard English spelling does not even attempt to represent many aspects of pronunciation including stress, volume, pace, accent and intonation.
The difference between pròtest and protèst is as real as the difference between protest and PROTEST (louder), protest and p r o t e s t (slower), protest and proootest (regionally marked), etc.
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#7
People my age, in my circle, pronounce protest (n.) and protest (v.) identically, and to us, the pro-TEST pronunciation actually sounds quite stuffy.
EDIT: On second thought, I do use the pro-TEST pronunciation, but only in the phrase (to) protest one’s innocence.
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#8
Different stresses for me, as indicated by various people above. However, the stress can change for reasons of contrast. I just heard on the radio a comment about how the number of cod fish INcreased. Normally I would talk about ‘an INcrease’ and ‘the cod fish inCREASED’, but I can understand the stress moved to the first syllable here because the context of the programme was a newspaper earlier publishing an article that there were only 100 cod left in the North Sea, so ‘INcrease’ is implicitly contrasted to ‘DEcrease’ (although that word wasn’t mentioned).
(See the news story here.)
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#9
I’m studing the english pronunciation with a site that pronunce every kind of word.
Sometime happens that a word that could be both a noun and a verb, has two different pronunciation with regards to the accent.
For example, if I search for «protest» that site said:
«Protest» as a noun = pròtest.
«Protest» as a verb = protèst.
(Sorry I don’t know how to write the phonetic symbols).Now I would like to know: are these differences real in the spoken language, or are they just formalism that almost noone use?
The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, an American dictionary, shows only one pronunciation for the noun protest: Accent on the first syllable and the same vowel as in pro.
It gives three pronunciations for the verb protest, two with the accent on the second syllable, with the vowel in the first syllable being either a schwa or the vowel in pro, and one which is identical with the pronunciation it shows for the noun.
These pronunciations are not theoretical but are based upon actual speech, for which the editors have the evidence (which, interestingly enough, the printed version of the dictionary, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, on the first page of its «Guide to Pronunciation,» says is «an extensive collection of 3 x 5 slips of paper…[which have been cited] from live speech and from radio, television, and shortwave broadcasts since the 1930s»).
This is the second blog post in a three-part series on the relationships between the pronunciation of English words and their spellings. Follow the links for part one of the series on Silent Letters and part three on the Sound System of American English.
As mentioned in the previous blog post, it often happens that the spelling of an English word doesn’t match up well with its pronunciation. There’s another category of word that can also cause confusion; these are words that sound the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings. These words are called “homophones”. If you memorize the most common homophones in English, then you will avoid a lot of potential confusion in your communications. An added bonus of memorizing common homophones is that you will be able to easily understand many jokes, puns, and plays on words that you encounter (or even spice up your conversations by creating such plays on words yourself!)
Without further ado, here is a chart of some of the most common sets of homophones in English. Remember, all of the words in the left column are pronounced the same way. That is, if you say “ate, eight” out loud, then it should sound exactly the same as if you said “ate, ate” or “eight, eight”.
| Spelling: | Pronounced: |
| ad, add | ad |
| Adam, atom | AD-um |
| air, err, heir | air |
| aisle, isle, I’ll | AI-ull |
| aloud, allowed | uh-LOUD |
| altar, alter | ALL-ter |
| ant, aunt | ant |
| assent, ascent | uh-SENT |
| ate, eight | ate |
| bail, bale | bale |
| ball, bawl | bawl |
| band, banned | band |
| bazaar, bizarre | buh-ZAR |
| bare, bear | bare (rhymes with “air”) |
| base, bass (instrument) | base (rhymes with “ace”) |
| be, bee | bee |
| beat, beet | beet |
| berry, bury | berry |
| bin, been | bin |
| billed, build | bild |
| bite, byte | byte |
| blew, blue | bloo |
| board, bored | bord |
| brake, break | brake |
| buy, by, bye | by |
| carrot, karat | KARE-ut |
| cell, sell | sell |
| cent, sent, scent | sent |
| cereal, serial | serial |
| chili, chilly, Chile | chill-ee |
| chews, choose | chooz |
| cite, site, sight | site |
| close, clothes | kloz |
| core, corps | kor |
| course, coarse | korss |
| creek, creak | creek |
| cue, queue | kyoo |
| days, daze | daze |
| deer, dear | deer |
| die, dye | dye |
| do, due, dew | doo |
| fair, fare | fare |
| faze, phase | faze |
| finish, Finnish | finish |
| find, fined | find |
| feudal, futile | FYU-dul |
| flea, flee | flee |
| feat, feet | feet |
| flower, flour | FLOW-er (“flow” rhymes with “cow”) |
| for, four | for |
| fowl, foul | FOW-ul |
| great, grate | grate |
| groan, grown | grone |
| Greece, grease | grees |
| guest, guessed | gest (rhymes with “best”) |
| gym, Jim | jim |
| hair, hare | hair |
| hall, haul | hawl |
| heal, heel | heel |
| hear, here | heer |
| heed, he’d | heed |
| herd, heard | herd |
| him, hymn | him |
| hire, higher | hi-er |
| hole, whole | hol |
| horse, hoarse | horse |
| hostel, hostile | HAHST-ul |
| hurts, hertz | herts |
| I, eye | AI |
| in, inn | in |
| intense, intents | intense |
| jewels, joules | joolz |
| lessen, lesson | less-in |
| maid, made | made |
| mail, male | male |
| manner, manor | manner |
| meat, meet | meet |
| metal, medal, meddle | MED-ul |
| need, knead | need |
| new, knew | noo |
| no, know | no |
| nose, knows | noz |
| not, knot | not |
| nun, none | nun |
| oh, owe | oh |
| one, won | wun |
| or, oar | or |
| our, hour | ow-er |
| pail, pale | pale |
| pair, pare, pear | pare |
| past, passed | past |
| peace, piece | peese |
| peer, pier | peer |
| plane, plain | plane |
| poll, pole | poll |
| pour, pore | pore |
| prince, prints | prins |
| principal, principle | PRINCE-i-pul |
| profit, prophet | PRAH-fit |
| rain, rein, reign | rane |
| rap, wrap | rap |
| red, read | red |
| right, write, rite, wright | rite |
| ring, wring | ring |
| road, rode, rowed | rode |
| roll, role | roll |
| root, route | root |
| sail, sale | sale |
| sea, see | see |
| seam, seem | seem |
| seas, sees, seize | seez |
| seen, scene | seen |
| seller, cellar | seller |
| side, sighed | side |
| so, sow, sew | so |
| sole, soul, Seoul | sole |
| some, sum | sum |
| son, sun | sun |
| stair, stare | stare |
| steal, steel | steel |
| sweet, suite | sweet |
| sword, soared | sord |
| tail, tale | tale |
| taught, taut | tawt |
| tear (meaning: drop of water), tier | teer |
| tear (meaning: rip), tare | tair |
| tense, tents | tense |
| there, their, they’re | thair |
| threw, through | threw |
| thrown, throne | throne |
| tie, Thai | tye |
| to, too, two | too |
| tow, toe | toe |
| vain, vein | vain |
| way, weigh | way |
| wait, weight | wait |
| weather, whether | wether |
| week, weak | week |
| where, wear, ware | ware |
| which, witch | witch |
| whose, who’s | hooz |
| will, we’ll | will |
| wood, would | wood |
| wore, war | wore |
| worn, warn | worn |
| your, you’re | yer |
Do you have further questions about American English, or are you interested in accent training? Reach out and contact me!
The differences in pronunciation are not simply regional, however, but serve more specifically to identify class differences. At the time, typical American pronunciations were considered less “refined” by the upper-class, and there was a specific emphasis on the “broader” a sound. This class distinction with respect to pronunciation has been retained in caricatures, especially in the theater, where the longer a pronunciation is most strongly associated with the word “darling.”
22 words with British and American Pronunciation
LET’S CALL THE WHOLE THING OFF (Louis Armstrong)
Things have come to a pretty pass
Our romance is growing flat
For you like this and the other
While I go for this and that
Goodness knows what the end will be
Oh I don’t know where I’m at
It looks as if we two will never be one
Something must be done
You say either and I say either
You say neither and I say neither
Either, either neither, neither
Let’s call the whole thing off
You like potato and I like potahto
You like tomato and I like tomahto
Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto
Let’s call the whole thing off
But oh, if we call the whole thing off
Then we must part
And oh, if we ever part
then that might break my heart
So if you like pyjamas and I like pyjahmas
I’ll wear pyjamas and give up pyajahmas
For we know we need each other so we
Better call the whole thing off
Let’s call the whole thing off
You say laughter and I say larfter
You say after and I say arfter
Laughter, larfter after arfter
Let’s call the whole thing off
You like vanilla and I like vanella
You saspiralla, and I saspirella
Vanilla vanella chocolate strawberry
Let’s call the whole thing off
But oh if we call the whole thing off
then we must part
And oh, if we ever part,
then that might break my heart
So if you go for oysters and I go for ersters
I’ll order oysters and cancel the ersters
For we know we need each other so we
Better call the calling off off
Let’s call the whole thing off
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