Hi.
I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
Are you ready to challenge your pronunciation muscles?
Let's do it.
Today, we're gonna talk about the top 33 most difficult words to pronounce in English.
All of these words are common words.
Tell me, when was the last time that you used squirrel or rural in daily conversation?
No recently, right?
So, today all of these words that I'm gonna share with you are common.
You will definitely use them in daily conversation.
A quick breakdown, there are 14 commonly difficult words but, actually, 17 because there's three
bonus, then 11 numbers that are difficult but, actually, 18 because I added some extras,
and eight food words but, actually, 12 because I added four bonus.
Okay, so really, here are 47 difficult words to pronounce, and you're gonna learn how to
pronounce them correctly.
Let's go.
Number one, everyone's favorite beach.
Notice how my lips are in a square shape, here, to make that long E sound, beach.
And also, sheet.
I recommend using a small hand mirror, something like this, so that you can see your lips and
make sure that they look the same as mine.
You can use it throughout this lesson.
I hope it will be useful to you.
Let's say that one more time.
Repeat with me, beach, sheet.
Probably, but we often say probably.
That means, we just cut out that syllable, probably.
Can you say that with me?
Probably, and probably.
Comfortable, let's say that slowly, comfortable.
In the middle of that word, it sounds like [ft], ft, ft, comfortable, comfortable, but
we often shorten this to be comfy.
I'm wearing some comfy clothes, comfy clothes.
Can you say that with me?
Let's say the full word, comfortable, then comfy.
Clothes, clothes, this word trips up a lot of English learner but it sounds exactly like
"close the door."
Close the door, I'm putting on my clothes, same thing.
You might hear some people try to add the TH in here, clothes.
But really, when we're speaking quickly, it just sounds like close.
Clothes, I'm wearing clothes.
You're wearing clothes, probably, clothes.
Months, months, this one is similar to close because we have that difficult TH in the middle
of the word.
But really, when we're speaking quickly, these are all for American English if I haven't
already mentioned that, in American English we often just cut out the TH.
When you're speaking a little bit slower, we might add it but let me show you both.
The first one, repeat with me, months, months.
My tongue is not between my teeth, like we usually do for a TH sound, months.
But if you wanna include the TH, you might hear some people say that, months, months,
months, and your tongue just flickers out of your mouth, months, months.
But it's no problem to just throw that TH away.
I'm sure that's something that you've been longing to hear all the time in English, just
throw that TH away.
Who cares?
This is your chance.
Months, months.
Though, though, kind of sounds like a W at the end of this word.
Say it with me, though, though.
You can watch this video, up here, for how to accurately use the word though.
Thought, thought, I thought was English was difficult.
But really, it's easy, thought.
Through, through, this sounds exactly the same as the past tense of throw.
I threw the ball through the tunnel.
Same sound, but they're spelled differently.
Let's say that together, through, through.
Drawer, drawer, some Native English speakers might argue with my pronunciation of this
word because there are, in fact, some regional differences for the word drawer.
But when Native English speakers are speaking quickly, I wanna give you the most general
pronunciation that you'll see in TV shows and movies.
In fact, it just sounds like jor, jor, jor.
There is a DR at the beginning of this word, but just forget it, jor, jor.
You might hear drawer, drawer with a clearer DR, drawer, drawer.
But when most people are speaking quickly, we just say jor.
Put it in the jor.
Mirror, mirror, I already mentioned this word, telling you that it's a good idea to look
in the mirror.
Here, we need to have two syllables, mirr-or.
It kind of sounds like M-I-R-E-R, mirror, mirror, mirror.
Can you say that with me, mirror?
Desks, desks, the end of this word is a little bit weird.
What's English thinking?
I don't know, but let's say it together, desks, desks.
This is the same as asks.
He asks a lot of questions.
When you say it quickly, it sounds similarly, just quicker.
He asks a lot of questions.
Lovely, isn't it?
Library, library, library, I'm going to the library.
Make sure that you sound each of those syllables out, library, library.
Often, often, both of these are correct and it's just a personal preference.
For me, I think I often say often without the T sound.
But sometimes, I include a T just depending on what's going on in the rest of the sentence.
So, you've got two correct answers here.
Let's say them together, often, often, often, often.
Subtle, subtle, what's happening here?
We have a BT in the middle of this word, but it sounds like a D. Well, first of all, the
B is silent so let's forget about that.
And in American English, if there is a T with two vowels on either side, because, remember,
we forgot about that B, often that T changes to a D sound.
So, this word is a unique case because we have a silent letter in the middle of the
word.
Let's say it together one more time, subtle, subtle, subtle.
Let's go on to some numbers.
13, 30, 13, 30, what's the difference between these two words?
We're gonna be talking about a bunch of pairs, like this, teens, and then the tens place
words.
So, here, let's look at 13.
Do you hear a T in the middle of that word, 13?
Yes, there is a T in the middle of that word, 13.
But, if I tell you my age minus one year, 30, 30, do you hear a T in the middle of that
word, no.
This T has changed to a D. Now, this is for American English.
This is quite common.
That T is gonna sound like a T. So, let's say those two pairs together and make sure
that there's a T and then a D sound, which is gonna help you to differentiate.
And just to let you know, sometimes native speakers, when they hear other people say
numbers, they have difficulty with this too.
So, it's no problem to clarify, "Did you say 13 or 30," and you can say that again and
someone will have no problem saying, "Oh, I meant 13."
Great, let's say those two together, 13, 30, 13, 30.
14, 40, do you hear something similar here?
We have a T and then a D sound.
14, 40, 15, 50, 15, 50, 16, 60, 16, 60.
Make sure that you're using the T and then the D for all of these pairs.
17, 70, 17, 70, 18, 80, 18, 80, 19, 90, 19, 90.
In 1990, in the year 1990, I was three years old, so I don't remember too much from the
year 1990.
Fourth, fourth, having a TH at the end of words sometimes trips up English learners,
so here's your chance to practice it.
Let's say it, fourth, fourth.
Notice, my tongue is between my teeth here.
I want yours to look exactly the same.
Fourth, fifth, fifth, there's a little bit of spit that happens here with this word,
so watch out if you're too close to somebody.
Let's say it together, fifth, fifth.
My tongue is between my teeth.
I hope yours is too.
Fifth, sixth, sixth.
This is a workout for your jaw, and your tongue and your teeth.
Let's say it slowly, sixth, just like saying the word six and adding TH, favorite English
learner's sound the T-H to the end of it.
Sixth, sixth.
Twenty, twenty, there's a T in the middle of this word.
What happened to it?
It's gone.
So, we need to pronounce with word without the T, tweny, tweny.
This is something that often happens in English when there's an NT in the middle of word.
For example, words like sentence, winter, these words also have a T but we don't pronounce
it.
So, I wanna help you pronounce this a little bit better.
Let's practice the word twenty.
But if you wanna take it deeper, you can watch a previous video that I made about NT in the
middle of words.
Up here, you can click on that link and watch that pronunciation video.
Let's say that together, twenty, twenty, twenty.
Now, let's move on to some food words that are difficult.
We're often in food situations, whether it's at our house, or at a restaurant or just talking
about drinking something, so I wanna make sure that you can pronounce these correctly.
Water, water, this is quite an American English pronunciation.
If you wanna speak like an American, this is a keyword to use.
Make sure that that T has changed to a D, like we've already talked about, water.
And make sure the ER at the end is quite wrong, water, water, water.
Can you say that with me, water?
I want some water.
Coffee, coffee, make sure that F, here, is clear.
Your teeth are on your bottom lip and there's some air passing through, coffee, coffee.
This is actually tea but, shh, don't tell anybody.
Wine, wine, make sure that the W is clear, wine, wine.
Beer, beer, let's break down this word because it's a common word, but I've heard a lot of
mispronunciations for it.
So, let's say it slowly, beer, beer.
Do you hear that final part, er, er, er.
Do you see my lips, the way that they're moving?
I want yours to do the same thing, beer, beer, beer.
I want some beer.
Refrigerator, refrigerator, I'm gonna give you some good news about this word in just
a moment, but let's practice this word.
Refrig ... make sure that there's some vibration happening here ... refrigerator, refrigerator.
Where is that [da] coming from that end?
There is a T, and that T is changing to a D. So, let's try to speed this word up.
If you have difficultly with this word, just break it down into different segments with
me, and then we'll put it all together.
Refrigerator, refrigerator, my refrigerator broke so I have to get a new one.
We're so lucky to live in a time with refrigerators that we can use, refrigerator.
But, I have some good news.
You can say fridge, fridge.
Oh, we say this all the time because the word refrigerator is a big word.
Let's be honest.
So, you can just shorten it and say fridge.
I need to buy a new fridge.
What's the best fridge on the market?
I'm so lucky to have a fridge.
Let's say this word slowly, fridge, fridge.
There's a [ga].
That vibration that's happening here, fridge.
Hamburger, hamburger, if you have ever seen The Pink Panther, or you've at least seen
The Pink Panther clip with Steve Martin, where he tries to say the word hamburger.
Oh, I love this clip.
If you have not seen it, I recommend just typing into the internet "Pink Panther hamburger."
You'll laugh for days.
I certainly do, and every time that I see it I laugh.
Let's try to say it together so that you can pronounce it better than Steve Martin in this
movie, hamburger.
Make sure that the H has some air coming out, hamburger.
Those two final sounds are quite similar, er, gr, er, er, hamburger.
All right, let's say it all together, hamburger, hamburger.
I'd like to buy a hamburger.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner, breakfast.
That final A kind of sounds like a short I, breakfast.
A fist is this, when you do this with your hands you making fists, because you're angry.
Well, I hope you're not angry about breakfast, but it's pretty much that same sound, breakfast,
breakfast.
Then we have lunch, lunch.
Make sure that your tongue is out of your mouth to make the L, lunch.
And then, dinner, dinner, dinner.
You might hear the word supper, but I've only heard people from the South use this and most
people just say dinner, so I recommend using the most common word, dinner, dinner.
For your evening meal, dinner.
And finally, we have the best part of all, dessert, dessert.
Oh, why is there a Z in the middle of this word?
Dessert, there's a lot of vibration going on here, dessert, dessert, dessert.
Well, we need to make a difference between the word dessert and the word desert.
The word desert is where cactuses and snakes live, but we don't want to eat the desert.
We want to eat dessert, so make sure that we're pronouncing this correctly.
The emphasis is on that second syllable, dessert, dessert.
But when we're talking about the sand, and cactuses and snakes, we say desert, desert.
In fact, the emphasis is on the first part, desert.
And to go along with dessert, we have chocolate, chocolate.
There's a lot of sounds in the middle of this word that are being reduced.
So, I wanna make it simple.
Just remember, choc-late, choc-late.
If you say choc-o-late, people will look at you a little bit strange, so make sure you
cut out that middle part and just say choc-late.
I want some chocolate milk.
I like hot chocolate.
I wanna eat chocolate every day, chocolate.
How did you do?
You can click in the description to see a time stamp for each of the words that we talked
about.
Maybe the word 16 and 60 aren't difficult for you, but the word mirror is.
Excellent, go to that time stamp and practice it five times out loud.
You can do it.
And now, I have a question for you.
Which one of these words was the most difficult for you to pronounce, and which other words
would you like me to help you pronounce in a future lesson?
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.
The next step is to download my free ebook, Five Steps to Becoming a Confident English
Speaker.
You'll learn what you need to do to speak confidently and fluently.
Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more free lessons.
Thanks so much, bye.