40+ Difficult Words to Pronounce in English

come on in right let's do this shall we so hello everybody this video is all about difficult words to pronounce in English let's practice some tricky pronunciation what's going to happen in this video well what you're going to do is listen to me say some words and some lines you can find them written here they're probably written on the screen can you repeat them after me try to copy my pronunciation and try to make it exactly the same as the way that I'm saying it alright to get definitions and comments about the words in this video just click the link in the description below and you can also listen to an episode of my audio podcast where you'll hear all of these words with jokes tongue twisters conversation and more just click that link below okay then let's begin see if you can repeat these words and sentences after me let's pay attention to how I'm saying them as well okay so first one is the word sore throat sore throat this is like when you're feeling a bit ill oh I've got a sore throat I don't have a sore throat today thankfully but anyway a sore throat sore throat I've got a sore throat today I've got a sore throat today sore throat okay here's number two a squirrel a squirrel okay one of those lovely little cute animals that you might see in the park a squirrel and the sentence is I saw three squirrels in the park today I saw three squirrels in the park today I saw three squirrels in the park today square rolls squid roll squirrel third one throughout throughout this means all the way through okay so for example squirrels live in this park throughout the year throughout see the work sound in the middle of that throughout throughout okay fourth is the word bewildered which means confused bewildered not bewilder ed but bewildered for example I was bewildered by all the options I've got too many options which one should I choose I was bewildered by the options next word is the word hierarchy hierarchy which is like a system of levels okay for example a hierarchy in a business hierarchy okay higher higher like higher or lower higher raah hierarchy for example there's a flat hierarchy in our company there's a flat hierarchy in our company don't forget to repeat these try to repeat them exactly the way that I'm saying them there's a flat hierarchy in our company you might want to just pause the video to help you do that next word is number 6 this is a difficult one and this the tist a nice the tist ah nice thir tist a nice fattest okay and the verb is to anis the ties anis the ties nice the ties okay so the example sentence see if you can repeat this it's the job of the anesthetist to anesthetize the patients with an anaesthetic it's the job of the anesthetist to anis that there are it's the job of the anesthetist to anesthetize the patients with an anesthetic all right number seven threshold threshold another word with a thir sound in it threshold threshold is basically a level or a point at which at which one thing ends and another thing begins for example we talk about tax thresholds so different levels of tax threshold the example is if you earn more than seventy thousand pounds you enter the next tax threshold guys hot here it's not just the pronunciation it's just hot if you earn more than 70 thousand pounds you enter the next tax threshold number eight is worthlessly worthlessly which means sort of in a worthless way or where there's no you know there's no worth or there's no point worthlessly worth less ly worthlessly and the sentence I was worthlessly trying to impress her I was worthless ly trying to impress her number nine Worcestershire this is a kind of sauce isn't it it's a sauce that comes from a place in England called Worcestershire Worcestershire sauce it's actually two ways of saying it you can do the full way Worcestershire sauce and some people say Worcester sauce so Worcestershire becomes Worcester past the Worcestershire sauce would you can you say no past the Worcestershire sauce would you ten is a name and that is William Wordsworth William Wordsworth can you say it William Wordsworth for example William Wordsworth was a wonderful writer William Wordsworth was a wonderful writer okay number eleven some minimal pairs here words that sound similar so we've got the word live and the word leave so live and leave okay you see the difference it's a short sound in live and a long sound in leave so live and leave for example you have to live a little bit before you leave this world very philosophical statement live and leave number 12 is ship and sheep this classic example has been used so many times before there's in fact there's a book for pronunciation practice called ship or sheep ship obviously a big boat and sheep an animal an animal that we use to get wool ship or sheep for example we put all the sheep onto the ship so the ship was full of sheep okay ship it's a short sound it and sheep is a long sound II sheep ship or sheep number 13 full meaning for example the the room is full there's not enough spec there's no more space the room is full and full meaning like an idiot you stupid fool for example okay so ful short sound and fool the long sound for example the room is full you fool the room is full you fool can you say them like we can't fit anyone else in the rooms full you fool number 14 the word architecture architecture for example I love the architecture on this building it's amazing architecture ok and then the adjective number 15 architectural architectural for example the architectural style is fascinating the architectural style is fascinating you're still repeating these after me aren't you you should be because that's the point of this video you're supposed to be practicing by repeating after me so keep doing it number 16 the word draw draw I know it's spelt it looks like drower but it's actually pronounced draw for example a draw where you keep the knives and forks you know you open the drawer take the knives and forks out close the drawer again so can you repeat this the knives and forks are in the top drawer on the left the knives and forks are in the top drawer on the left where are your knives and forks are there just there in the top drawer on the left alright number 17 is colonel colonel a colonel is a senior officer in an army it's like a position in the army a senior position colonel it looks like : l actually pronounce colonel for example Colonel Sanders founded Kentucky Fried Chicken Colonel Sanders founded Kentucky Fried Chicken Colonel Sardis that's that guy with the beard and the starch and the white sort of white suit you see him on the logo for KFC can that's Colonel Sanders number 18 another word that sounds the same and that's Colonel spelt keer NDL colonel and in this case a colonel is a nut it sounds exactly the same Colonel Sanders and then you've got a pine colonel meaning a pine nut same sound so they are homophones these words for example pine kernels can be delicious nine kernels can be a delicious addition to a salad can you say that pine kernels can be a eikaiwa so pine kernels can be a delicious addition to a salad number 19 the word comfortable it's not calm for table just comfortable three syllables are you comfortable would you like a pillow like it's quite comfortable isn't it this seats really comfortable comfortable okay and yeah the adverb would be comfortably are you sitting comfortably then we'll begin for example comfortable number 20 pronunciation pronunciation not pronunciation it's a common mistake it's actually pronounced pronunciation so that now in his pronunciation the verb is pronounced but the noun pronunciation so for example pronunciation is important you have to pronounce words properly okay number 21 recipe recipe for example why the instructions for how to cook something recipe say it with me recipe can you give me that delicious cake recipe can you give me that delicious cake recipe please you have to say please it's polite okay number 22 scissors if I got any scissors up here yes here we go scissors now scissors not schizoar x' but scissors so can you repeat it scissors for example do you know where the scissors are where are the scissors where where did I put the scissors if you had anyone seen the scissors oh they're in my hand scissors alright next word number 23 is the word strengths yeah that's a difficult one ready strengths yeah strengths strengths yeah and it means strong points it's the opposite of weaknesses so your strengths and weaknesses what are your strengths and weaknesses or what are your strengths and weaknesses now if it's difficult to say strengths you can just say strengths it's basically okay strengths is alright if you can't say strengths ok next one is clothes clothes clothes those clothes not clothes and certainly not clothes is clothes yeah clothes for example I bought some new clothes today now if it's difficult to say clothes you can just say clothes like close the door it's a shortcut you can just say clothes if you can't say clothes so saying clothes is better than saying closes ok so there you go number 25 months months ok 9 months you know law how old's your baby now oh she's 18 months old now she's 18 months old again if you can't say months you can just say months so replace the first sound in month months replace the thirst sound with a sound and you end up with months 13 months old okay that's that's not so bad if you can't say months you can just say months instead for example she's 18 months old now she's 18 months old now number 26 the word eighth so we're at the 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th and 8th ok so for example Henry the eighth was a Tudor King of England Henry the eighth can you say that Henry the eighth you see that not sir not fur but Sir okay it's difficult it's one of the most difficult ones for many people but you can do it with practice just the tip of the tongue comes under your teeth not that well not all the way out just a little bit like that you could practice that for further and the the the yeah so Henry the eighth practice makes perfect number 27 the word Q Q which is strange word in terms of its pronunciation because it's basically the letter Q followed by four unnecessary letters isn't it Q because we say the letter Q is Q and the word Q is pronounced the same way so why do we have Yui Yui at the end I don't know but anyway it's pronounced Q for example sorry are you in the queue right are you skipping the queue sorry at the end of the queues back there yeah we're all queuing up here we're not just standing here unbelievable okay a queue a line of people waiting for something number 28 is the word fruit fruit so not fruit but fruit okay for example do you have any fresh fruit do you have any fresh fruit can you repeat these you stop repeating them what's the matter with you you didn't yeah I know you didn't but some of the other ones did fruit okay number twenty-nine 16th so we had ate earlier now we've got 16th 16th for example it's the 16th of October it's the 16th of October okay number 30 18th so we've gone past 17th and into 18 it's the 18th of November it's the 18th of November it's the 18th of November as five words right it's the 18th of November next one is number 31 and this is 13th that's 1 3 th 13th the 13th okay for example Friday the 13th Friday the 13th unlucky for some Friday the 13th okay number 32 is the word 30th and that's 3 0 th xxx xxx how are you doing how's your face alright it's it feels like going to the gym because it is like going to the gym because it's muscles it's about working the muscles in your mouth your jaw your tongue so if it feels like yeah if it feels uncomfortable and your face even aches that's good because it means you're working those muscles so you got to keep doing it practice practice practice ok what's what was that work xxx for example it's the 30th of December it's the 30th of December number 33 and here we've got a few words with silent letters the first one is bomb a bomb an explosive device the OMB but the B at the end is silent so we end up with bomb and bomb and bombed and bombing as well for example there was a bomb scare in the station there was a bomb scare that's when the station gets evacuated because you know there's been an alert about a bomb a possible bomb there was a bomb scare in the station people were talking about a bombing so that's bombing not bombing bombing and I can remember when the IRA bombed Oxford Street I can remember when the IRA bombed Oxford Street so that's bombed not bomb bit ok 34 we're nearly at the end it's the word climb which also has a silent beyond the end climb like climb like this you know climb a mountain climb a ladder climb for example do you want to go climbing next weekend do you want to go climbing next weekend so that's climbing not climbing yeah ok number 35 is comb so that's like a thing that you'd use to comb your hair or not use my case comb your hair you know it's like a flat thing made of plastic comb your hair like that a comb okay see OMB but the B is silent I'm just combing my hair with a comb can you repeat that I'm just combing my hair with a comb okay number 36 is crumb a crumb crumbs these are little bits of bread or little bits of like food that you might find on the surface of a table like if you've just eaten the biscuit yum yum yum and there might be crumbs left on the plate or on the table or something crumb with silent B for example why are there loads of bread crumbs on the table have you been cutting bread here there are lots of crumbs everywhere can you clean them up please crumbs okay number 37 is the word debt debt it's got a silent B as well that's debt look at look at this say it with me debt yeah you can smile when you say it you shouldn't but you can debt you know it's these lips should not meet when you say that word so it's not depth and it's not depth or depth its debt okay for example many students leave University with thousands of pounds of debt okay thousands of pounds of debt okay good just got a couple of others left next one is doubt doubt like when you're not sure about something doubt not doubt again your lips don't meet is doubt doubt doubt doubt okay there's no doubt about it there's no doubt about it it's a brilliant film there's no doubt about it number 39 is the word government or government okay now there is n M in the middle of the word but so you can pronounce it government that's how I usually browse it or government with a little n government you see that here that government or government government or government three syllables not four so don't say government go it's not government it's government or government okay for example the government is yet to make a statement or the government is yet to make a statement as if you want to sound like you're on the BBC the government is yet to make a statement on the BBC and then two more number forty years is my name and that's Luke Luke okay not look not luck not mister luck either just Luke okay Luke Thompson okay Luke Thompson and number 41 is the word podcast this is a podcast podcast all right not postcard this is a postcard look a postcard from Japan that's a postcard but this is a podcast look there it's written Ella pod carpod cast not postcard so that's a postcard that's a well that's a podcast all right so it's Luke's English podcast not postcard not pot card not podcast or pot cat it's a podcast all right cool so if you'd like to hear more about this kind of thing if you'd like to hear more about these words with definitions of the words and more then why not listen to my audio podcast okay did you get that my audio podcast which is called Luke's English podcast that I've shown it to you you could start with episode number 485 which is all about difficult English pronunciation and you'll hear me and a friend of mine a very funny friend of mine called Paul Taylor who is a comedian you hear the two of us talking about all of the most difficult words to stay to say in English and there are lots of jokes and things like that the link to that episode is in the description below if you haven't already heard it you can check it out there and you can subscribe to luke's English podcast on itunes and on the android play store as well if you've got an Android phone also finally I would just like to say thank you to the people from topito comm the first ten words in this list came from a list of difficult English words that they originally published on their website a few months ago all right cool thanks for watching Cheers

Channel: Luke's English Podcast

Views: 142,575

Rating: 4.9548936 out of 5

Keywords: learn, learning, english, lesson, lessons, luke, podcast, luke's, vocabulary, native, speaker, interviews, listening, pronunciation, british, accent, london

Id: tOx4J-wSTco

Length: 23min 13sec (1393 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 13 2017