Learning to speak English is accompanied by several challenges that can be overcome with practice. Many students have difficulties with speaking, however the pronunciation of some words in English is particularly difficult, even for native speakers. Check out some of the most common mistakes:

➡ Athlete

The correct pronunciation ath-leet. Be careful not to use more than two syllables ("ath-a-leet").

➡ Clothes

The pronunciation has only one syllable, the "e" is mute and "s" as the sound of "zzz".

➡ Pronunciation

"Pro-nun-si-ay-shun" is often mispronounced with the phonetic interpretation "pronounciation".

➡ Ask

There are people who mix the sound of "s" and "k" by pronouncing "ax". So pay attention to the letters and pronounce them all.

➡ February

The "Feb-roo-a-ree" sound takes both "r" sounds. This word is often mispronounced as "fev-yoo-a-ree".

➡ Escape and especially

The common mistake in these words is the use of the "x" sound or "is".

➡ Wednesday

In this word, the sound of the "d" is mute. The pronunciation is "wenz-day".

➡ Prescription

The beginning sound of the word is not "per" but instead "pre". People often mix up the 're' with 'er' and say 'per-scription' instead of pronouncing it correctly as 'pre-scription'.

➡ Nuclear

Instead of "nuc-lee-ar", many incorrectly say "nu-cu-lar".

➡ Colleague

Do not pronounce the "eu" at the end of the word, say "koh-leeg".

Now that you know what the most common mistakes in English are, the next step is to practice! Repeat this list as many times as is necessary to memorize these mistakes so you don’t make them!

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