Le-prad.

Leop⏤mmhm.

What's up guys? My name is Shane, and today we are talking about pronunciation.

English is a very funny language because we have letters which have sounds, but when you put those letters into words, sometimes the sounds change.

But don't worry, because today we are looking at five commonly mispronounced words.

Let's get started!

Okay, let's look at our first word.

How do we say that word?

It should be "com-for-ta-ble", right?

It looks like it has four syllables.

But it actually has three. We say it like this.

Comfortable.

Comfortable.

Comfortable.

Now you say it. Comfortable.

The O and the R are silent letters.

That means we don't pronounce them.

We don't make any sound for them.

English has many words which have silent letters.

For example, knife.

Lamb.

Write.

Okay, so what does comfortable mean?

Comfortable means a good feeling with no problems.

So, for example, I could say, "This chair is very comfortable."

When I sit in it, I have no problems. I feel good.

Now let's look at our second word.

How do we say this one?

It's photography.

Photography.

The stress, or the emphasis, is on the "tog", the T-O-G.

Photography.

Photography.

Now you try.

If you want to find out where the stress is on words, you can look at the Cambridge Online Learner's Dictionary.

And the little apostrophe will show you where the stress is.

So you can see here on photography, the little apostrophe is before the "tog".

So we know that we must stress "tog".

Photography.

Two other common words which often have stress mistakes are "desert" and "dessert".

Desert and dessert.

Now you try.

Desert.

Dessert.

Okay, so what does photography mean?

Photography means taking photos, and an example sentence is, "Do you like photography?"

Comment down below and let me know.

The third word for today is... [leopard].

How do we say that one?

Let's split it in half.

Should be leo pard, right?

Leo pard.

But we actually pronounce it "leopard".

Leopard.

Leopard.

Now you try.

Leopard.

Some words are funny like this; you have to hear them before you know how to pronounce them.

Some other common examples are "liaison", "queue", and "jeopardy".

Okay, and what does leopard mean?

Leopard is an animal, like this.

It's like a cheetah or like a tiger.

And an example sentence could be, "Have you ever seen a leopard before?"

Comment down below and let me know.

Have you ever seen a leopard before?

And the fourth word for today is... [health].

How do we pronounce that one?

It's "health".

Health.

Because there's a "th" at the end, we have to pronounce the "th (θ)".

Health.

Health.

Now you try, health.

Some other words which have "th" at the end are "bath", "both", and "earth".

Okay, so what does health mean?

Health normally means the condition of your body and your mind.

So, for example, if we use it in a sentence, we could say, "My health is very important to me."

That means the condition of my body and my mind is very important to me.

And the last word for today is... [overcooked].

How do we pronounce that one?

It's got "ed" at the end, so it should be "ed", right? Overcooked.

But we actually pronounce it "overcooked".

Overcooked.

When we have a "ked" at the end of a word, we always pronounce it with a "t".

Overcooked.

Now you try, overcooked.

Some other words with "ked" at the end are "walked", "talked", and "looked".

So what does overcooked mean?

Overcooked means you have cooked something for too long and an example sentence is, "You overcooked my food."