Monday, December 26, 2011

Confusing English Words



When you pronounce a word, do you worry that it sounds like a different word? Have people been confused or have they misunderstood you?

Here are some that my students often confuse:

can and can't
Doug and dog
Brett and Brad (men's names)
series and serious
staff and stuff
sheet and shit
this and these
of and off

Which ones can you add to this list?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello,

First of all, thank you very much for your videos on You Tube.

Some words confusing me :
low - law
clothes - close
die - dye
wait - weight

Best regards.

Laurent(France)

Lisa Mojsin said...

Hi Laurent - "die and dye" are pronounced the same and "wait and weight" are too. Many Americans pronounce "clothes" and "close" the same. "Low" and "law" are very different in American English but in British English they are more similar - the lips are more rounded for "law" in British and more open in American English.

L said...

Hi,

sail-sale-sell always got me. As does the tail-tale-tell combo.

Thanks for the YouTube vids.

Best,

-L