Frequently Mispronounced Words

These words are very frequently mispronounced by either our teachers or classmates, sometimes mispronouncing very seriously. Pronounciations are denoted with IPA (International Phonetics Alphabet). Some of the alphabets which HTML cannot accomodate are shown as follows. Brackets indicate a "reversed" form of the letter, e.g. (v) = U as in cut.

š = sh
tš = ch
d3 = j
3 = zh
o = OH sound as in cold
o: = ALL sound as of all (equivalent to the "reverse c")

Words from the Webmaster:
Teachers OUGHT TO look the words up in the dictionary before you say them to the students! Some words are so special that they can't be simply pronounced by looking at its spelling. I've got a list of them of about 70 words, and it will soon be available on the Net.

Word Correct Pronounciation Mispronounciation Person who mispronounced this word
vacuum /'vækyu(e)m/ /'veki(v)m/ Miss Lau Sheung Wan
fluid /'flu:id/ /'fulid/ Miss Lau Sheung Wan
squash /skw(a)š/ /skweš/ Miss Lau Sheung Wan
phenolphthalein /,finolfq(e)'li:n/ /,fi'nofali:n/ Miss Lau Sheung Wan
blurred /bl3:rt/ /blu:d/ Miss Lau Sheung Wan
debris /'debri:/ /'debris/ Mr Chan Tong
fragile /'fræd3ail/ /'fregail/ Miss Tam Wai Ling
Aborigine /æb(e)'rid3ini/ /'a:bo:ri:d3(e)n/ Miss Tam Wai Ling

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