Desert vs Desert | Learn English Heteronyms | Vocabulary and Listening Practice

Hello, everyone.

My name is Fiona.

Today, we're going to be looking at these two words.

They look the same.

And they sound the same.

And knowing the difference is really going to help with your English pronunciation and listening.

Keep watching to find out what it is.

Are you ready?

Let's begin.

First, I'm going to say the sentence really quickly,

so I want you to listen closely.

‘I had to desert my car in the desert.’

Oh that's tough.

So I'll slow it down for you.

‘I had to desert my car in the desert.’

Let's see the sentence.

‘I had to desert my car in the desert.’

What words go in these two blanks?

Can you guess?

Well the answer is, ‘I had to desert my car in the desert.’

Oh no.

They look like the same word.

I know.

I know.

But they're two different words.

And pronunciation is key here for making sure that people can understand what you're saying.

Let me tell you more.

Okay let's have a look at our two words.

We have 'desert' and 'desert'.

They're spelled the same way, but the meaning and the pronunciation is different.

It's a heteronym.

What is a heteronym?

Well it's where two words are spelled the same way but have different pronunciation

and a different meaning.

Okay, let's look at the meaning and pronunciation of our two words.

First, we'll start with ‘dessert’.

‘desert’ is a verb.

It means to leave or abandon.

Everything goes away.

I have two sentences to show you this.

First, ‘Our father deserted our family,’

Sad.

It means that he abandoned the family.

He left the family.

And second,

‘Rain made everyone desert the beach.’

The rain came.

And because of the rain, everyone left the beach.

No one was on the beach.

The beach had no people.

Okay.

Let's look at pronunciation.

Repeat after me.

‘desert’ ‘desert’

Our second word is ‘desert’.

‘desert’ is a noun.

It means a place that is usually very sandy.

Very hot.

Not a lot of water and not many plants.

I have two sentences to show you this in use.

First,

‘This desert has a lot of sand.’

This place has a lot of sand.

It's a desert.

It has a lot of sand.

And sentence number two,

‘You will get thirsty walking in the desert.’

‘desert’ doesn't have water so you will become thirsty.

You will get thirsty because there isn't any water.

Okay pronunciation time.

Repeat after me.

‘desert’ ‘desert’

We'll go back to our main sentence now.

‘I had to desert my car in the desert.’

I had to desert.

I had to leave.

I had to abandon my car -I don't know why - in the desert.

In the hot sandy place.

Let's practice pronunciation together.

Now I'm going to say it first slowly and then we'll speed up - okay

‘I had to desert my car in the desert.’

‘I had to desert my car in the desert.’

Well done.

Great job today, guys.

We got some awesome pronunciation and listening practice today in English.

If you want to leave a comment down below, I read every single one.

And I’m always thankful for my students’ support.

I'll see you in the next video.