English Pronunciation Class: Master 30 difficult words

I have a little test for you. Today's lesson is a  special one, or today's lesson is a spatial one.  

Which pronunciation is correct? Did you hear a  difference? Hm. Well, today's lesson is a special  

one because you are going to be mastering 15 pairs  of tricky words in English. All of these pairs are  

based on observations from Speak English with  Vanessa teachers in one of our private speaking  

courses. So I know for sure that English learners  struggle with these pairs of similar words when  

they're speaking, and after this lesson you will  be able to pronounce them correctly. Hooray. 

Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com,  and like always, I have created a special,  

special PDF worksheet for you with all of today's  15 pairs, the difficulties in pronunciation,  

how to pronounce them correctly, and sample  sentences. Plus, at the bottom of the worksheet  

you can answer Vanessa's challenge question  so that you never forget what you've learned,  

and the next time you have an English conversation  you can pronounce them correctly and you can  

understand these different pronunciations as  well. Click on the link in the description to  

download the free PDF worksheet today and never  forget this important pronunciation lesson. 

Let's get started with the first  three pairs, which deal with tricky  

vowel sounds. Do these sound familiar? Special,  spatial. Ooh, at the beginning of the first word,  

special, we have a short E, special.  And at the beginning of the second word,  

we have an A sound, spatial. Let's put both of  these words together in a challenge sentence.  

The house was special because it was  so spatial. I'm going to be saying  

these challenge sentences two times. The first  time I want you to listen like you just did,  

and the second time I challenge you to say it out  loud with me. Take this lesson as a pronunciation  

speaking lesson. Use those pronunciation muscles  and say it out loud with me. Are you ready? The  

house was special because it was so spatial. Let's go to the second tricky pair that involve  

difficult vowels. Brick, break. Brick, the  first one has a short I, bri-i-ick, brick,  

and the second one has a long A, break, break.  Let's put these together in a challenge sentence.  

He was so strong he could break  a brick with his hand. All right,  

try to say it with me. He was so strong that he  could break a brick with his hand. Great work. 

The final pair of tricky words that  include vowels are these two, sour  

and sore. They look really similar, but they're  not pronounced the same. The first one is sour,  

sour. It almost sounds like there's a W in the  middle of this word. Sour, sour. When you eat  

a lemon, it's sour. And that second word,  sore, sore. It's just one syllable, sore,  

sore. I worked out so much that my muscles  were sore. So let's put them together in a  

challenge sentence. That fruit was so sour, it  made my face sore. Can you say it with me? That  

fruit was so sour that it made my face sore. Let's go into the next section, where there  

are three pairs of tricky words that include  difficult final sounds. These words are tricky  

because sometimes you focus on pronouncing  the beginning or middle of a word correctly,  

and then you just lose the last part,  especially depending on what your native  

language is. I know this is a concept that's  extremely difficult for Vietnamese speakers,  

but it happens with other English learners as  well. So let's make sure that the final sounds  

of each of these words is clearly pronounced. The first pair is jam, jump. Jam, jump. Here  

we have a light P at the end of jump, jump.  Don't forget that sound. Let's put these words  

together in a challenge sentence. Don't jump  on the jam. Don't jump on the jam. Can you say  

this with me? Don't forget that little "pah,"  little puff of air at the end of the word jump.  

Don't jump on the jam. Don't jump on the  jam. You're going to slip and get hurt. 

The next tricky pair are package and packed,  package and packed. Let's break down both of these  

words because they have multiple syllables.  The first one, package, sounds like pack,  

and then we have a weird vowel. That A is actually  going to sound like a short I, "age." Package,  

package. And the next word is a verb, packed.  That -ED ending sounds like a T, packed,  

packed, packed. Let's put them together in a  challenge sentence. I packed the package that  

I sent to my friend. Can you say it with  me? Try to say it out loud. I packed the  

package that I sent to my friend. Great work. The next pair is somewhat similar, but it's a  

little bit different. It is jacket and jagged. So  here we have the difference between jacket with a  

T sound and jagged with a D sound. Now, depending  on your native language, there are a lot of  

English learners who have trouble differentiating  between a T and a D, especially at the end of  

words. So let's go over these words individually  and then we'll put them together in a sentence.  

Jacket, jacket, jacket. And the second word  is jagged, jagged. There's no puff of air.  

When you say a T there's a little puff of air.  I'm wearing a jacket. T, T, T, there's a puff  

of air. But when you say jagged, there's no  puff of air. Jagged. Let's put them together.  

The zipper on that jacket is jagged. Can you say  it with me? The zipper on that jacket is jagged.  

The zipper on that jacket is jagged. This sentence is also tricky because  

a lot of English learners have problems  with a Z and a J sound. Understandably,  

these are very difficult sounds, so make sure that  when you're pronouncing this challenge sentence,  

you also have a little thought for the Z and the  J sounds. The zipper on that jacket is jagged.  

Great work. Let's go to the next category. The next category of difficult pairs are words  

that include an extra syllable, and if you forget  that extra syllable, it might be a new word. So  

let's start with the first pair, generally,  genuinely. Let's start with the first one,  

generally. Generally. Generally, this one also  deals with the tricky R and L sounds pretty  

close together in that word, generally. And then  our second word, genuinely. There is an N in the  

middle of this word. Don't forget it. Genuinely,  genuinely. Let's put them together in a sentence.  

Generally I genuinely enjoy meeting new people.  Can you say this with me? Let's say it a little  

bit slow and then we'll speed it up the  second time. Generally I genuinely enjoy  

meeting new people. Can you speed it up with  me? Let's give it a try. Generally I genuinely  

enjoy meeting new people. Great work. The next two are a little bit tricky,  

anonymous and unanimous. These sound  very similar, but they are not the same.  

Anonymous means that you don't know who it is, it  is anonymous. But unanimous means that everyone  

agrees. The entire class unanimously agreed that  they did not want to take the exam. All right,  

so let's talk about the pronunciation. Anonymous,  anonymous, and unanimous. So here we're talking  

about the first sound of that second word  that's different. Unanimous, unanimous.  

Let's put them together. The anonymous writer  received unanimous approval from the critics.  

Can you say it with me? The anonymous writer  received unanimous approval from the critics. 

The next pair is caring versus carrying. Here  you can hear that extra syllable. Caring, caring,  

and carry, make sure you say that full root word,  carry-ing. We're just going to tack on -ING at  

the end. Caring, carrying. Let's put it together  in a challenge sentence. She was caring for the  

older woman by carrying her heavy bag. Can you  say this with me? Don't forget to say that full  

word carry plus -ING at the end. She was caring  for the older woman by carrying her heavy bag. 

Next we have agreement and argument. The first  two consonants are switched in these words,  

so don't mess them up. First we  have agreement, ag- agreement,  

and next we have argument, argument. So with the  first word, make sure that you have the G first,  

ag- agreement. And for the second word, make sure  that your first sound is R, argument. Let's put  

them together in a sentence. We had an argument,  but finally we reached an agreement. We had an  

argument, but finally we reached an agreement.  Can you say this with me? We had an argument,  

but finally we reached an agreement. Great. Our final pair of tricky words that have  

multiple syllables are these two, guarantee and  quarantine. Unfortunately we've had to use that  

second word a lot more in the last couple  years, so let's make sure we can pronounce  

them correctly. The first one is going to start  with a hard G sound, g- guarantee, guarantee,  

guarantee. And the second word, even though it  starts with a Q-U, we're going to be adding a  

sound. Quarantine. Ooh, do you hear the sound at  the beginning of this word? It sounds like a W,  

quarantine. This is similar to other places  where you pronounce a Q-U sound, there's a W, for  

example, the word queen. W, w, queen. Notice that  my lips are in the same shape. That's the same for  

this longer word, quarantine. So let's put both  of these tricky words together in a sentence.  

There's no guarantee how long the quarantine will  last. Can you say this with me? Make sure that  

you have the hard G at the beginning of guarantee  and that qu- sound at the beginning of quarantine.  

Let's say it all together. There's no guarantee  how long the quarantine will last. Great work. 

The final category are just simply tricky words.  If you don't say one of the sounds correctly in  

these words, it's going to sound exactly like the  other word, and that might cause some problems  

when you're having a conversation. You don't want  someone to have to stop every sentence and say,  

"Sorry, what'd you say? Sorry, what'd you  say?" So let's practice these four final  

pairs of tricky words so that you can pronounce  them clearly and understandably and other people  

feel at ease having a conversation with you. The first pair is closed and clothed. Notice  

where my tongue is for these words. The first  one, closed. You didn't really see it when I  

said the S sound, closed, but for the second  word, take a look at where my tongue is placed.  

Clothed, clothed. When I say that T-H, my tongue  is going to come out of my mouth just a bit,  

clothed, clothed. So let's try to put  them together in a sample sentence.  

He wasn't clothed, so he quickly closed the door.  Can you say this with me? Yes, you can. Let's  

say it together. He wasn't clothed, so he quickly  closed the door. Great work with this tricky one. 

I do want to give you a little bonus tip that  these two words, clothes, I'm wearing clothes,  

and close, close the door, are pronounced in  fast English conversation exactly the same. Yes,  

there is a T-H, but in fast English conversation  we're going to just forget about the T-H. So we  

would say, "Close the door, I'm putting  on my clothes." Okay. For this word you  

don't need to worry about the T-H, but for our  tricky pair today, you do. Closed and clothed. 

The next tricky pair is musical and mythical.  Don't forget the T-H in that second word, musical,  

musical, and mythical, mythical. Again, my tongue  is coming between my teeth here to make that T-H  

sound, mythical. The word mythical usually talks  about something that's a fantasy. Unicorns are a  

mythical creature. Or are they? All right, let's  put both of these words together in a sentence.  

I like the mythical theme of this  musical. I like the mythical theme  

of this musical. Can you say it with me?  I like the mythical theme of this musical. 

The next two difficult words are ones that trip  up almost every English learner, and they are curl  

and girl. Yes, you need to have the first sound  correct, K and G, and but what makes this tricky  

is that R-L at the end. So let's break down both  of these words. Let's talk about the first one,  

cur-l. It's going to be two separate  syllables. Cur, this sounds like her,  

her book, cur, and then we're going to add  cur-l. L, L, curl. Her hair has one curl. 

But what about that second word? Well, since  you've said curl, now you can also say girl. We're  

just going to change the first sound. Gir-l. This  is going to have two syllables again, gir-l, girl,  

girl. Let's put them together. Do you think  that girl can curl my hair? Let's try to  

say this together. Don't forget the two  syllables for each of these words. Do you  

think that girl can curl my hair? Great work. Our final pair of tricky words are these two,  

energy and injury. These words are tricky  because they're almost exactly the same,  

but they're switched around a little bit in the  middle. So let's start with the first one. Energy,  

energy. Don't forget to make that G sound a hard  G. Energy, energy. He has a lot of energy at 5:00  

AM in the morning. And the second word, injury. If  you fall and break your arm, you have an injury.  

Say it with me, injury, injury. All right, let's  put them together in a final challenge sentence.  

I don't have the energy for another injury. Maybe  it's been a bad year and you've just had so many  

injuries. Well, you might say this sentence,  and I want you to try to say it out loud with  

me. Are you ready? I don't have the energy  for another injury. Great work. You did it. 

Congratulations on mastering these 15 pairs of  extremely tricky words to pronounce in English.  

I want to ask you, which pair of words is  the most difficult for you? Let me know in  

the comments. I'd be very curious to hear what  you have to say. And don't forget to download  

today's free PDF worksheet with all of these  pairs of tricky words, how to pronounce them,  

some ideas for pronouncing them clearly, and  also the challenge sentences so that you can  

continue to practice clear English pronunciation.  You can click on the link in the description to  

download this free PDF worksheet today. Well,  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. 

But wait, do you want more? I  recommend watching this video next,  

one hour of English pronunciation. You'll learn  lots of English pronunciation, including what  

in the world does gee- yet mean? Watch this  video to find out, and I'll see you there.