Here are my top ten pronunciation mistakes that English students make.

So how should you say these words correctly? For each word, listen to the audio and get tips for the right pronunciation.

1. Comfortable

People often get this word wrong because they say it with four syllables. (/com-fort-ay-bul/)

But remember it has only three syllables, with the stress on the first syllable: /comf-tah-bul/

Click below to hear the word “comfortable“.

2. Vegetable

This word has exactly the same pronunciation pattern as “comfortable”. Remember, it has only three syllables, with the stress on the first syllable: /veg-tah-bul/

Click below to hear the word “vegetable“.

3. Manage

For this word, the second “a” is pronounced as an “ih” sound (not an “ay” sound). The stress is on the first syllable.

Click below to hear the word “manage“.

Remember that the stress is on the first syllable (/man/) for other words based on “manage”.

manager = /’man-ihg-er/

management = /’man-ihg-ment/

4. Develop

This word causes problems because of its word stress. The stress is on the second syllable (“ve”) and not on the first syllable “de”.

Click below to hear the word “develop“.

The stress stays on the first syllable for other words based on “develop”:
developer = /de-‘ve-lop-er/

development = /de-‘ve-lop-ment/

5. Enough

The final sound of this word is “f”, and the vowel sound before is “uh”, not “ow” or “owg”. The word sounds like “ih-nuff”.

Click below to hear the word “enough“.

6. Though

The final sound of this word is “oh” – now “ow” or “owg”.

The word sound like “thoh”.

Click below to hear the word “though“.

You pronounce it in the same way as the word “although“.

Be careful with the word “thought“, where the vowel sound is pronounced “or” (and not “oh”) even though the spelling is the same as in “though”.

Click below to hear the word “thought“.

7. Laugh

The vowel sound is “ah” – like at the dentist! It’s not an “ow” sound. The final sound of the word is “f”. The word sound like “larf”.

Click below to hear the word “laugh“.

8. Truth

This word is difficult to pronounce correctly because there are two sounds which cause problems: a “tr” sound, and the final “th” sound.

Click below to hear the word “truth“.

9. Whole

Remember: this word is pronounced exactly the same as “hole”.

Click below to hear the word “whole“.

10. Can’t

This is another word with a long “ah” sound.

Click below to hear the word “can’t“.