Top 10 words that are hard to pronounce năm 2024

If you've ever stumbled over friend's name, or struggled with your meal order, you're not alone. Irish names, foreign food and Americanisations rank among the words we find the most difficult to pronounce, according to a study.

Based on Google search results, the research found that the hardest name of all is Aoife, pronounced 'ee-fa', which generated 111,000 searches over the course of last year, The Times reports.

Saoirse, pronounced 'sur-sha', ranked as the second, while the third was omicron, which has at least two common pronounciations in use - 'om-my-kron' and 'om-uh-kron'.

Next comes Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, which is pronounced 'keev' in Ukrainian.

English speaking countries have traditionally referred to the city as 'key-ev', like chicken 'kiev' but a campaign since 2018 prefers the sounding to be 'kee-yiv' or 'keev'.

Finishing the top five is the Brazilian super fruit açaí - pronounced 'ah-sah-ee' - the Brazilian super fruit, followed by two more Irish names, Niamh and Siobhan, pronounced 'neev' and 'shi-vawn' respectively, as well as gyros - 'yee-ros' -, which is a type of kebab.

Another name commonly mispronounced is the Vietnamese surname Nguyen, typically said 'n-win'.

We also get confused by Americanisations like the word schedule, which comes in tenth place in the study.

The confusion might be because there are two common pronunciations — 'shed-yool' and 'sked-yool', the former being the traditional English version and the latter being American.

Lee Beardsley, of Slotbox, told The Times: 'This research might highlight how many of us have been wrongly pronouncing everyday words without realising — and even worse, it highlights our mispronunciations of names.

'The influence of current events can also be seen, with many Brits wanting to find the correct pronunciation of Kyiv and omicron to involve them in topical conversation.'

Research commissioned by car maker Hyundai found adults also struggle with other words including their own brand name.

Also in the top ten are tenterhooks and cache, which many people mangle into ‘tenderhooks’ and ‘cash-ay’.

The study, commissioned by car maker Hyundai, lists 25 words in all, also including parliament, foyer, Arctic, mange tout and February.

The survey of 2,000 adults found quinoa is the word we struggle with the most, often pronouncing the foodstuff ‘ki-no-ah’ instead of ‘keen-wah’.

Next comes probably, which regularly ends up as ‘probly’ instead of ‘prob-buh-blee’, followed by espresso, frequently rendered as ‘ex-spres-so’.

Also in the top ten are tenterhooks and cache, which many people mangle into ‘tenderhooks’ and ‘cash-ay’.

The study lists 25 words in all, also including parliament, foyer, Arctic, mange tout and February.

It will doubtless remind readers of Ronnie Barker’s classic ‘Loyal Society for the Relief of Suffers from Pismronunciation’ sketch on The Two Ronnies TV show.

But unlike members of the comically created support group for ‘people who can’t say their worms correctly’, at least today’s sufferers have the internet to turn to for help.

Nearly half (47 per cent) of those surveyed admitted to ‘Googling’ to check the correct pronunciation of a word, according to the research.

Two increasingly used tech words, GIF, an abbreviation of a type of computer file used for images, meme, meaning a humorous image widely shared on the internet, made the top ten, with GIF often being mispronounced ‘JIF’ and meme ‘meh-meh’.

The study also found that where you live may impact your ability to say certain words correctly. ‘Probably’ was a particular problem in the North East, ‘zoology’ in the North West, and ‘Arctic’ in Wales.

Meanwhile, nearly half (49 per cent) of Londoners often use words or phrases they don’t understand or know the definition of in conversation, the survey says.

Londoners were also found to be the most likely to correct someone if they know they are pronouncing a word incorrectly, with 49 per cent of them saying they do that.

More than four out of ten (44 per cent) in the North West said they knew the correct way to say words - but chose not to.

The study coincides with Hyundai’s change from the anglicised pronunciation of its name - ‘Hy-un-dai’ - to the South Korean pronunciation ’Hyun-day’.

A separate study commissioned by Slotbox found the hardest words to say are the Irish names Aoife (correctly pronounced ‘Ee-fa’) and Saoirse (correctly pronounced ‘Sursha’)

The pronunciation of words in English is not always straightforward. Unlike some languages, such as French or Spanish, there is not always a direct relationship between the spelling of words and how they are said aloud. In technical terms, there is not always a consistent relationship between graphemes (basically, writing units) and their phonemes (sounds) in English. There are a couple of reasons for this. The English language is a wondrous hodgepodge of loanwords, or words borrowed from other languages all of which follow their own conventions for pronunciation, and English spelling was not standardized until relatively recently in its history. For native English speakers and English language learners alike, there are words that are hard to pronounce.

To help give you a leg up on some of the trickier words you may come across in everyday life, we have broken down 26 of the hardest-to-pronounce words in the English language, from A–Z … or from A–W, anyway. Bonus: click on each word to hear its proper pronunciation on its entry page!

accessory

The double C in accessory is part of what makes this word tricky. People are often tempted to replace the C with a single S sound. However, each of these C letters represents a different sound (a “hard C” and a “soft C”). With that in mind, accessory is pronounced [ ak-ses–uh-ree ].

anemone

This word is so hard to pronounce that it was even featured as a joke in the popular Pixar film Finding Nemo. There are two elements that make the word anemone tricky—the preponderance of M and N sounds and the [ uh-nee ] ending that looks like it should be pronounced like the number one. That said, this word does have a particular rhythm to it that can help you pronounce it correctly: [ uh–nem–uh-nee ].

choir

It’s tempting to pronounce the CH in choir with a [ ch ] sound, but that would be incorrect. The word choir is actually pronounced [ kwahyuhr ]. An antique and sadly obsolete spelling of this word is quire, which is a clearer representation of how it is pronounced.

colonel

The word colonel came to English through French, where it was spelled coronel. For historical reasons, which you can read about at our entry for the word, the R was eventually replaced with an L. Keeping this in mind, colonel is still pronounced [ kur-nl ].

Learn about where colonels sit in military rankings, here.

coup

Another word that has been adopted into English from French, complicating pronunciation, is coup. In French, the letters -oup at the end of a word is pronounced [ oo ]. We didn’t just adopt this French word into English, we adopted the French pronunciation, too. That means coup is correctly pronounced [ koo ].

epitome

In words that have been adopted into English from Greek, it is typical to pronounce all of the vowels. This is how we get the pronunciation epitome, from the Greek epitomḗ. Unlike many words in English, the final -e here is not silent; epitome is pronounced [ ih-pit–uh-mee ].

espresso

Coffee snobs love to correct folks on their pronunciation of the word espresso. It’s tempting to replace that first S with an X, because ex– is a common prefix in English. However, the word comes from Italian and is correctly pronounced [ e-spres-oh ].

February

The word February is often pronounced as if the first R is not present: [ feb-yoo-er-ee ]. This is because R sounds and Y sounds are quite closely related. Therefore, this is considered a correct pronunciation of the word. However, it is also considered correct to pronounce the R, as in [ feb-roo-er-ee ].

hyperbole

Like the other words from Greek we have covered, the final -e in hyperbole is not silent. Hyperbole, from the Greek hyperbolḗ, is correctly pronounced [ hahy-pur-buh-lee ].

isthmus

The word isthmus presents a challenge of pronunciation when read aloud, because most English speakers would be tempted to pronounce the TH in this word. However, in this case, the TH is silent, making the correct pronunciation [ is-muhs ]. Another word you may be familiar with that has a silent TH is asthma [ az-muh ].

juror

The R sounds in English can be particularly tricky. It can be hard to get your mouth around them. The word juror is pronounced [ joor-er ] or [ joor-awr ]. Pronouncing R sounds in English simply takes practice. Relaxing your jaw and reciting tongue twisters like “Round and round the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran” can help.

library

Speaking of R sounds, the R in library throws many people off. They feel tempted to make the first R sound an [ er ], making the word four syllables, as in [ lahy-ber-er-ee ]. However, there is no E in library, so the word is simply pronounced with three syllables: [ lahy-brer-ee ].

mischievous

Another word where you may be tempted to add an unnecessary syllable or two is mischievous. The –ie and –ous endings often make people think there are [ ee ] sounds in the word [ mis-chee-vee-uhs ], but there aren’t. The word is simply three syllables long, without any [ ee ] sounds: [ mis-chuh-vuhs ].

murderer

As we noted earlier, the R sound in English can be tricky. That’s what makes murderer, with its three R sounds particularly difficult to pronounce. The word is pronounced [ mur-der-er ].

Did you know a group of crows is called a “murder”?Learn about other fanciful and strange names for groups of animals.

nuclear

For whatever reason, many people like to add an additional [ yoo ] sound to the word nuclear. However, it is pronounced with a single [ oo ] or [ yoo ] sound: [ noo-klee-er ] or [ nyoo-klee-er ].

onomatopoeia

The word onomatopoeia is a riot of vowels, making it a challenge to pronounce. The ending –poeia is pronounced simply [ pee–uh ]. The O is silent. Onomatopoeia, which describes a word that imitates a sound, is pronounced [ on-uh-mat-uh–pee–uh ].

remuneration

A common mistake people make when pronouncing the word remuneration is to swap the easily-confused M and N sounds, likely because the word number is so common in the English language. The word, although it describes pay, does not come from the word number, but the Latin mūnus, meaning “gift.” Remuneration is pronounced [ ri-myoo-nuh–rey-shuhn ].

rural

Rural, like juror and murderer, is challenging because of all of its R sounds. Rural is pronounced [ roor–uhl ].

schadenfreude

The word schadenfreude is a loanword from German. It means “satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else’s misfortune.” The pronunciation of schadenfreude also comes from German, so it does not follow typical English pronunciation guidelines: [ shahd-n-froi-duh ].

scissors

Like in our first example, accessory, there is some confusion about whether the C in scissors is a “hard C sound” or a “soft C sound.” Well, the SC in scissors is pronounced simply [ s ], making the correct pronunciation of this word [ siz-erz ].

specific

People often like to swap the S and P sounds in the word specific, rendering it closer to the name of the ocean: Pacific. However, the word is pronounced with the sounds in the order they appear, [ spi-sif-ik ].

squirrel

One of the hardest words in the English language to pronounce, especially for non-native English speakers, is squirrel. They tend to want to add an additional [ uh ] sound in there. However, remember that this slippery-sounding word has only two syllables: [ skwur–uhl ].

supposedly

The –edly ending of supposedly tends to trip people up. They like to swap it out for the more-common -ably. But, the word should be read as written, making the correct pronunciation [ suh–poh-zid-lee ]. If you mix up these two terms, you’re definitely not alone. Even Joey from Friends famously and hilariously couldn’t figure out if supposedly and supposably were different words. Shockingly, supposably is, in fact, a real word and has been used since at least the 1700s. Learn more about its surprising meaning here.

synecdoche

This word is almost as hard to spell as it is to pronounce correctly. As you may have guessed from some of the other terms on this list, synecdoche comes from Greek synekdochḗ. The first C and the CH here are both pronounced as hard K sounds. The correct pronunciation of synecdoche is [ si-nek-duh-kee ], not to be confused with the name of the town in New York: Schenectady, pronounced [ skuh–nek-tuh-dee ].

Worcestershire (sauce)

If you are a fan of Bloody Marys, making your own salad dressing, or eating a nice steak, you are likely familiar with Worcestershire sauce. British English conventions for the pronunciation of place names is something we could write a whole article on. For now, though, just trust us that Worcestershire is pronounced [ woos-ter-sheer ].

vocabulary

Ironically, one of the hardest vocabulary words to pronounce is vocabulary. People often will pronounce the U in the word as [ uh ]. However, the U here makes a [ yuh ] sound. The correct pronunciation of this word, therefore, is [ voh-kab-yuh-ler-ee ].

Are there words we have not covered here that you find difficult to pronounce? You can use the dictionary to help you out there. In every entry, you will find a guide and audio files to help you pronounce the word correctly. It’s a great resource to help you ensure you nail even the trickiest pronunciations in the English language.

Which is the hardest word to pronounce?

7 most difficult English words that will let you forget what you wanted to say.

Rural. ... .

Sixth. ... .

Sesquipedalian. ... .

Phenomenon. ... .

Onomatopoeia. ... .

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. ... .

Worcestershire..

What are the 10 most mispronounced words in English?

10 words Americans often mispronounce, according to a new study.

Acai – 20,400 monthly searches..

Gyro – 17,660 monthly searches..

Omicron – 15,530 monthly searches..

Charcuterie – 15,140 monthly searches..

Nguyen (pronunciation via Heritage-Line) – 14,990 monthly searches..

Gnocchi – 11,350 monthly searches..

What are the 10 hardest word to spell?

Top 10 Hardest Words to Spell.

Weird. ... .

Intelligence. ... .

Pronunciation. ... .

Handkerchief. ... .

logorrhea. ... .

Chiaroscurist. ... .

Pochemuchka. A Russian term used when a person asks too many questions. ... .

Gobbledegook. Gobbledegook is incoherent babbling in a fashion that makes no sense amounting to random words and noises to your listeners..

What are 10 hard words?

10 of the hardest words to spell in English.

Nauseous..

Dilate..

Fuchsia..

Minuscule..

Ingenious..

Sacrilegious..

Orangutan..

Paraphernalia..