How to pronounce the words people get wrong

Because English spelling stopped tracking English pronunciation centuries ago. Silent letters were inserted by scholars imitating Latin, unstressed syllables were deleted in speech but kept in writing, and borrowed words kept their foreign spelling. Anyone who meets a word in print before hearing it builds a pronunciation from rules that do not apply.

Only when it affects intelligibility. The IELTS pronunciation descriptor is about being understood, not about accuracy on individual rare words, and every standard accent is accepted. A mispronounced everyday word costs far more than a mispronounced unusual one, which is why frequency, not difficulty, decides what to fix first.

It is faster to read and good enough for a single word, which is why every page here shows both. IPA is more precise and unambiguous across accents, so it is worth learning to read even if you never write it.

Hear it, say it, and check it — in that order, several times across several days. Reading the correct form does not retrain the muscle memory. Each word page has model audio in both accents at two speeds and a recording drill that scores your attempt.