English Words That Sound Similar -How To Pronounce Them
I recently asked customers which English words they get mixed up when they’re trying to pronounce them, and I got quite a few. Thank you to everyone who contributed. The interesting thing is, quite a few of the English words show a confusion between the ‘aw’ vowel and the ‘oe’ vowel sounds. I’ve prepared a training lesson on these English words for you, and also written them below including the phonetics so you can see how to say the words.
English Words That Sound Similar -How To Pronounce Them
| Words | British | American | Australian | Said |
| hall- hole (whole) | /hɔːl/- /həʊl/ | /hɔːl/- /hoʊl/ | /hɔːl/- /hoʊl/ | hawl – hoel |
| law – low | /lɔː/- /ləʊ/ | /lɔː/- /loʊ/ | /lɔː/- /loʊ/ | law – loe |
| horse – hose | /hɔːs/- /həʊz/ | /hɔːrs/- /hoʊz/ | /hɔːs/- /hoʊz/ | hors -hoez |
| ball – bowl | /bɔːl/- /bəʊl/ | /bɔːl/- /boʊl/ | /bɔːl/- /boʊl/ | bawl – boel |
| call – coal | /kɔːl/- /kəʊl/ | /kɔːl/- /koʊl/ | /kɔːl/- /koʊl/ | kawl – koel |
| oil – well | /ɔɪl/- /wel/ | /ɔɪl/- /wel/ | /ɔɪl/- /wel/ | oyl – wel (lips forward -w) |
| ball – bull | /bɔːl/- /bʊl/ | /bɔːl/- /bʊl/ | /bɔːl/- /bʊl/ | bawl- bool (short oo) |
| hawk – hook | /hɔːk/- /hʊk/ | /hɔːk/- /hʊk/ | /hɔːk/- /hʊk/ | hawk – hook (short oo) |
| roll (role)- rule | /rəʊl/- /ruːl/ | /roʊl/- /ruːl/ | /roʊl/- /ruːl/ | roel- rool (long oo) |
| worm – warm | /wɜːm/ – /wɔːm/ | /wɝːm/- /wɔːrm/ | /wɜːm/ – /wɔːm/ | werm – worm |
| walk -work | /wɔːk/- /wɜːk/ | /wɔːk/- /wɝːk/ | /wɔːk/- /wɜːk/ | wawk- werk |
| debt – death | /det/- /deθ/ | /det/- /deθ/ | /det/- /deθ/ | det (b is silent)- deth |
| sport – support | /spɔːt/- /səˈpɔːt/ | /spɔːrt/- /səˈpɔːrt/ | /spɔːt/- /səˈpɔːt/ | sport – suport |
| accept – expect | /əkˈsept/ – /ɪkˈspekt/ | /əkˈsept/ – /ɪkˈspekt/ | /əkˈsept/–/ɪkˈspekt/ | əksept – ikspect |
| soap -soup | /səʊp/-/suːp/ | /soʊp/- /suːp/ | /soʊp/- /suːp/ | soep- soop |
If you have any more examples let me know in the comments below and I will collect them and make another training lesson with them. In the meantime have a look at this training lesson that shows you how to say some other tricky words.
Best wishes, Esther
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Esther Bruhl
Esther Bruhl is a Speech and Language Pathologist with more than 30 years of experience helping children and adults. Over the years, assisting people who wanted to eliminate their accents became a specialty for Esther.
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