I have a little test for you. Today's lesson is a special one, or today's lesson is a spatial one.
Which pronunciation is correct? Did you hear a difference? Hm. Well, today's lesson is a special
one because you are going to be mastering 15 pairs of tricky words in English. All of these pairs are
based on observations from Speak English with Vanessa teachers in one of our private speaking
courses. So I know for sure that English learners struggle with these pairs of similar words when
they're speaking, and after this lesson you will be able to pronounce them correctly. Hooray.
Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com, and like always, I have created a special,
special PDF worksheet for you with all of today's 15 pairs, the difficulties in pronunciation,
how to pronounce them correctly, and sample sentences. Plus, at the bottom of the worksheet
you can answer Vanessa's challenge question so that you never forget what you've learned,
and the next time you have an English conversation you can pronounce them correctly and you can
understand these different pronunciations as well. Click on the link in the description to
download the free PDF worksheet today and never forget this important pronunciation lesson.
Let's get started with the first three pairs, which deal with tricky
vowel sounds. Do these sound familiar? Special, spatial. Ooh, at the beginning of the first word,
special, we have a short E, special. And at the beginning of the second word,
we have an A sound, spatial. Let's put both of these words together in a challenge sentence.
The house was special because it was so spatial. I'm going to be saying
these challenge sentences two times. The first time I want you to listen like you just did,
and the second time I challenge you to say it out loud with me. Take this lesson as a pronunciation
speaking lesson. Use those pronunciation muscles and say it out loud with me. Are you ready? The
house was special because it was so spatial. Let's go to the second tricky pair that involve
difficult vowels. Brick, break. Brick, the first one has a short I, bri-i-ick, brick,
and the second one has a long A, break, break. Let's put these together in a challenge sentence.
He was so strong he could break a brick with his hand. All right,
try to say it with me. He was so strong that he could break a brick with his hand. Great work.
The final pair of tricky words that include vowels are these two, sour
and sore. They look really similar, but they're not pronounced the same. The first one is sour,
sour. It almost sounds like there's a W in the middle of this word. Sour, sour. When you eat
a lemon, it's sour. And that second word, sore, sore. It's just one syllable, sore,
sore. I worked out so much that my muscles were sore. So let's put them together in a
challenge sentence. That fruit was so sour, it made my face sore. Can you say it with me? That
fruit was so sour that it made my face sore. Let's go into the next section, where there
are three pairs of tricky words that include difficult final sounds. These words are tricky
because sometimes you focus on pronouncing the beginning or middle of a word correctly,
and then you just lose the last part, especially depending on what your native
language is. I know this is a concept that's extremely difficult for Vietnamese speakers,
but it happens with other English learners as well. So let's make sure that the final sounds
of each of these words is clearly pronounced. The first pair is jam, jump. Jam, jump. Here
we have a light P at the end of jump, jump. Don't forget that sound. Let's put these words
together in a challenge sentence. Don't jump on the jam. Don't jump on the jam. Can you say
this with me? Don't forget that little "pah," little puff of air at the end of the word jump.
Don't jump on the jam. Don't jump on the jam. You're going to slip and get hurt.
The next tricky pair are package and packed, package and packed. Let's break down both of these
words because they have multiple syllables. The first one, package, sounds like pack,
and then we have a weird vowel. That A is actually going to sound like a short I, "age." Package,
package. And the next word is a verb, packed. That -ED ending sounds like a T, packed,
packed, packed. Let's put them together in a challenge sentence. I packed the package that
I sent to my friend. Can you say it with me? Try to say it out loud. I packed the
package that I sent to my friend. Great work. The next pair is somewhat similar, but it's a
little bit different. It is jacket and jagged. So here we have the difference between jacket with a
T sound and jagged with a D sound. Now, depending on your native language, there are a lot of
English learners who have trouble differentiating between a T and a D, especially at the end of
words. So let's go over these words individually and then we'll put them together in a sentence.
Jacket, jacket, jacket. And the second word is jagged, jagged. There's no puff of air.
When you say a T there's a little puff of air. I'm wearing a jacket. T, T, T, there's a puff
of air. But when you say jagged, there's no puff of air. Jagged. Let's put them together.
The zipper on that jacket is jagged. Can you say it with me? The zipper on that jacket is jagged.
The zipper on that jacket is jagged. This sentence is also tricky because
a lot of English learners have problems with a Z and a J sound. Understandably,
these are very difficult sounds, so make sure that when you're pronouncing this challenge sentence,
you also have a little thought for the Z and the J sounds. The zipper on that jacket is jagged.
Great work. Let's go to the next category. The next category of difficult pairs are words
that include an extra syllable, and if you forget that extra syllable, it might be a new word. So
let's start with the first pair, generally, genuinely. Let's start with the first one,
generally. Generally. Generally, this one also deals with the tricky R and L sounds pretty
close together in that word, generally. And then our second word, genuinely. There is an N in the
middle of this word. Don't forget it. Genuinely, genuinely. Let's put them together in a sentence.
Generally I genuinely enjoy meeting new people. Can you say this with me? Let's say it a little
bit slow and then we'll speed it up the second time. Generally I genuinely enjoy
meeting new people. Can you speed it up with me? Let's give it a try. Generally I genuinely
enjoy meeting new people. Great work. The next two are a little bit tricky,
anonymous and unanimous. These sound very similar, but they are not the same.
Anonymous means that you don't know who it is, it is anonymous. But unanimous means that everyone
agrees. The entire class unanimously agreed that they did not want to take the exam. All right,
so let's talk about the pronunciation. Anonymous, anonymous, and unanimous. So here we're talking
about the first sound of that second word that's different. Unanimous, unanimous.
Let's put them together. The anonymous writer received unanimous approval from the critics.
Can you say it with me? The anonymous writer received unanimous approval from the critics.
The next pair is caring versus carrying. Here you can hear that extra syllable. Caring, caring,
and carry, make sure you say that full root word, carry-ing. We're just going to tack on -ING at
the end. Caring, carrying. Let's put it together in a challenge sentence. She was caring for the
older woman by carrying her heavy bag. Can you say this with me? Don't forget to say that full
word carry plus -ING at the end. She was caring for the older woman by carrying her heavy bag.
Next we have agreement and argument. The first two consonants are switched in these words,
so don't mess them up. First we have agreement, ag- agreement,
and next we have argument, argument. So with the first word, make sure that you have the G first,
ag- agreement. And for the second word, make sure that your first sound is R, argument. Let's put
them together in a sentence. We had an argument, but finally we reached an agreement. We had an
argument, but finally we reached an agreement. Can you say this with me? We had an argument,
but finally we reached an agreement. Great. Our final pair of tricky words that have
multiple syllables are these two, guarantee and quarantine. Unfortunately we've had to use that
second word a lot more in the last couple years, so let's make sure we can pronounce
them correctly. The first one is going to start with a hard G sound, g- guarantee, guarantee,
guarantee. And the second word, even though it starts with a Q-U, we're going to be adding a
sound. Quarantine. Ooh, do you hear the sound at the beginning of this word? It sounds like a W,
quarantine. This is similar to other places where you pronounce a Q-U sound, there's a W, for
example, the word queen. W, w, queen. Notice that my lips are in the same shape. That's the same for
this longer word, quarantine. So let's put both of these tricky words together in a sentence.
There's no guarantee how long the quarantine will last. Can you say this with me? Make sure that
you have the hard G at the beginning of guarantee and that qu- sound at the beginning of quarantine.
Let's say it all together. There's no guarantee how long the quarantine will last. Great work.
The final category are just simply tricky words. If you don't say one of the sounds correctly in
these words, it's going to sound exactly like the other word, and that might cause some problems
when you're having a conversation. You don't want someone to have to stop every sentence and say,
"Sorry, what'd you say? Sorry, what'd you say?" So let's practice these four final
pairs of tricky words so that you can pronounce them clearly and understandably and other people
feel at ease having a conversation with you. The first pair is closed and clothed. Notice
where my tongue is for these words. The first one, closed. You didn't really see it when I
said the S sound, closed, but for the second word, take a look at where my tongue is placed.
Clothed, clothed. When I say that T-H, my tongue is going to come out of my mouth just a bit,
clothed, clothed. So let's try to put them together in a sample sentence.
He wasn't clothed, so he quickly closed the door. Can you say this with me? Yes, you can. Let's
say it together. He wasn't clothed, so he quickly closed the door. Great work with this tricky one.
I do want to give you a little bonus tip that these two words, clothes, I'm wearing clothes,
and close, close the door, are pronounced in fast English conversation exactly the same. Yes,
there is a T-H, but in fast English conversation we're going to just forget about the T-H. So we
would say, "Close the door, I'm putting on my clothes." Okay. For this word you
don't need to worry about the T-H, but for our tricky pair today, you do. Closed and clothed.
The next tricky pair is musical and mythical. Don't forget the T-H in that second word, musical,
musical, and mythical, mythical. Again, my tongue is coming between my teeth here to make that T-H
sound, mythical. The word mythical usually talks about something that's a fantasy. Unicorns are a
mythical creature. Or are they? All right, let's put both of these words together in a sentence.
I like the mythical theme of this musical. I like the mythical theme
of this musical. Can you say it with me? I like the mythical theme of this musical.
The next two difficult words are ones that trip up almost every English learner, and they are curl
and girl. Yes, you need to have the first sound correct, K and G, and but what makes this tricky
is that R-L at the end. So let's break down both of these words. Let's talk about the first one,
cur-l. It's going to be two separate syllables. Cur, this sounds like her,
her book, cur, and then we're going to add cur-l. L, L, curl. Her hair has one curl.
But what about that second word? Well, since you've said curl, now you can also say girl. We're
just going to change the first sound. Gir-l. This is going to have two syllables again, gir-l, girl,
girl. Let's put them together. Do you think that girl can curl my hair? Let's try to
say this together. Don't forget the two syllables for each of these words. Do you
think that girl can curl my hair? Great work. Our final pair of tricky words are these two,
energy and injury. These words are tricky because they're almost exactly the same,
but they're switched around a little bit in the middle. So let's start with the first one. Energy,
energy. Don't forget to make that G sound a hard G. Energy, energy. He has a lot of energy at 5:00
AM in the morning. And the second word, injury. If you fall and break your arm, you have an injury.
Say it with me, injury, injury. All right, let's put them together in a final challenge sentence.
I don't have the energy for another injury. Maybe it's been a bad year and you've just had so many
injuries. Well, you might say this sentence, and I want you to try to say it out loud with
me. Are you ready? I don't have the energy for another injury. Great work. You did it.
Congratulations on mastering these 15 pairs of extremely tricky words to pronounce in English.
I want to ask you, which pair of words is the most difficult for you? Let me know in
the comments. I'd be very curious to hear what you have to say. And don't forget to download
today's free PDF worksheet with all of these pairs of tricky words, how to pronounce them,
some ideas for pronouncing them clearly, and also the challenge sentences so that you can
continue to practice clear English pronunciation. You can click on the link in the description to
download this free PDF worksheet today. Well, thank you so much for learning English with me,
and I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye.
But wait, do you want more? I recommend watching this video next,
one hour of English pronunciation. You'll learn lots of English pronunciation, including what
in the world does gee- yet mean? Watch this video to find out, and I'll see you there.