Difficult Words to Pronounce: English Pronunciation
*List with word frequency counts included
After the word = Longman frequency code (S1,2,3 and W1,2,3), where S1 is one of the
thousand most frequently used words in spoken English, S2 one of the next thousand most
frequent, ... and W refers to written English.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
abandon, W3
absolutely, S1/W3
admirable
admire, S3
advantage, S1/W1
36. common, S1/W1
37. companion, W3
38. complicated, S2
39. comprehensive, W3
40. compromise
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
emphatic
encounter, W3
encourage, S2/W1
energetic
energy, S1/W1
6. advantageous
7. afraid, S1/W2,
8. allow, S1/W1
9. analysis, S3/W1
10. ancient, W2
41. concern, S1/W1
42. conclusion, S2/W2
43. confirm, S2/W2
44. connotations
45. consider, S1/W1
76.
77.
78.
79.
80.
engineer, S3/W3
enthusiasm, W3
envelope, S3
familiar, S2/W2
famous, S2/W2
11. another, S1/W1
12. anxiety, S3/W3
13. anxious, S3/W3
14. appearance, W2
15. apply, S1/W1
46. cost, S1/W1
47. courage, S3
48. courageous
49. critical, S2/W2
50. culture, S2/W1
81.
82.
83.
84.
85.
fashion, S2/W2
fashionable
follow, S1/W1
foreign, S3/W1
generous
16. approach,S3/W2
17. assistant, S3
18. assume, S1/W1
19. attached, S2/W2
20. available, S1/W1
51. curious, S3
52. curtains, S2/W3
53. damage, S2/W2
54. daughter, S1/W1
55. debate, S1/W2
86.
87.
88.
89.
90.
great, S1/W1
historical, W2
history, S2/W1
honey
hotel, S2/W1
21. awkward, S2
22. background, S2/W2
23. become, S1/W1
24. beginning, S1/W2
25. behaviour, S2/W1
56. decision, S1/W1
57. defeat, W3
58. desperate, W3
59. develop, S3/W1
60. development, W1
91.
92.
93.
94.
95.
huge, S2/W2
idea, S1/W1
idiomatic
indicate, W1
indicator
26. blood, S1/W1
27. broad, S2/W2
28. brother, S1/W1
29. cancel, S2
30. cause, S1/W1
61. different, S1/W1
62. domesticated
63. dominate, W3
64. done
65. effort, S1/W1
96.
97.
98.
99.
100.
indifferent
individual, W1
inevitable, W3
influence, S2/W2
information, S1/W1
31. change, S1/W1
32. character, S1/W1
33. check, S1/W2
34. choose, S1/W1
35. comfortable
66. effortless
67. effortlessly
68. electric, S2/W3
69. emotional, S3/W3
70. emphasise, S2/W2
101.
102.
103.
104.
105.
interesting, S1/W2
intolerable
invisibility
invisible
ironic
106.
107.
108.
109.
110.
isolated, W3
jealous
journalist, W3
journey, S3/W2
laughter
141.
142.
143.
144.
145.
particular, S1/W1
percent, S3/W3
percentage, W3
petrol, S3
presence, S3/W2
176.
177.
178.
179.
180.
standard, S3/W2
subject, S2/W2
successful, S2/W1
support, S2/W2
suppose, S1/W1
111.
112.
113.
114.
115.
leisure, W3
line, S1/W1
local, S3
low, S1/W1
magazine, S2/W2
146.
147.
148.
149.
150.
to present, S2/W1
preserve, W3
privacy
private, S1/W1
privilege, W3
181.
182.
183.
184.
185.
talkative
taught
terror
thought, S1/W1
traditional, S3/W1
116.
117.
118.
119.
120.
magnificent
majority, S3/W2
manage, S1/W1
material, S1/W1
materialistic
151.
152.
153.
154.
155.
process, S2/W1
profession, S3/W3
promote, S3/W2
proportion, S2/W2
purchase, S3/W3
186.
187.
188.
189.
190.
undoubtedly
unfortunate, S3
university, S2/W1
unspeakable
varied
121.
122.
123.
124.
125.
means, S2/W2
mere, W3
method, S1/W1
methodical
money, S1/W1
156.
157.
158.
159.
160.
purpose, S1/W1
quite, S1/W1
range, S1/W1
real, S1/W1
relevant, S2/W2
191.
192.
193.
194.
195.
variety, S2/W1
village, S1/W1
vintage
vocabulary
weight, S1/W2
126.
127.
128.
129.
130.
mood, S3/W3
most, S1/W1
mountain, S3/W2
movement, S1/W1
necessary, S1/W1
161.
162.
163.
164.
165.
remarkable, W3
responsible, S2/W2
retain, S2/W2
right, S1/W1
riot, S3
196. women
131.
132.
133.
134.
135.
neighbour, S2/W2
obey
obligatory
obvious, S2/W2
occur, S1/W1
166.
167.
168.
169.
170.
robot
sarcastic
satisfaction, S3/W3
senior, W2
shortage
136.
137.
138.
139.
140.
official, S3/W2
oppose, W3
opposite, S2/W2
opposition, S2/W1
package, S2/W2
171.
172.
173.
174.
175.
significance, W2
significantly, S3/W2
solution, S2/W1
soul, S3/W3
specific, S1/W1
Words with silent letters,
commonly mispronounced
1. calm, S3
2. climb, , W2
3. could, S1/W1
4. debt, S2/W2
5. doubt, S1/W1
6. dumb, S3
7. half, S1/W2
8. heir
9. honest, S1/W3
10. honourable
Proper Nouns
Africa
America
Asia
Australia
Brazil
Britain
Canada
11. hour, S1/W1
12. iron, S3
13. knowledge, S2/W1
14. muscle, S2/W3
15. pseudonym
16. psychic
17. psychology, W3
18. receipt, S2
19. should, S1/W1
20. subtle
21. talk, S1/W1
22. walk, S1/W1
England
Europe
Germany
India
South Africa
Japan
United States
Short Text to Record: The Invention of the Air Conditioner, from Bill Bryson’s book
On the morning of the 2nd of July, 1881, President James Garfield accompanied by his
Secretary of State, James G. Blain, was passing through the central railway station in
Washington, D.C., to spend the Fourth of July holiday on the New Jersey shore with his
family. In those days there was no Secret Service protection for the President. On occasions
such as this, the President was quite literally a public figure. Anyone could approach him and
one man did, a quietly deranged lawyer named Charles Gitteaux, who walked up to the
President and calmly shot him twice with a revolver, then stepped aside and awaited arrest.
Despite an incredible absence of qualifications, Gitteaux had long pestered the President to
make him Chief Consul in Paris.
The nation waited breathlessly for news of the President’s recovery. As the President
slipped in and out of consciousness, the greatest minds in the country were brought to his
bedside. Alexander Graham Bell, at the peak of his fame, devised a makeshift metal detector
which he called an induction balance, and which employed his recently invented telephone as
a listening aide. The intention was to locate the bullets lodged in the President’s frame. But to
Bell’s considerable consternation, it appeared to show bullets practically everywhere in the
President’s body. Not until much later was it realised that the device had been reading the
bedsprings.
Summer of 1881 was one of the sultriest for years in the nation’s capital. To provide
some relief for the stricken President, a corps of Naval engineers who specialised in
ventilating mine shafts was summoned to the White House and instructed to build a cooling
device. They rigged up a large iron box filled with ice, salt and water and a series of terrycloth
filters which were saturated by the melting ice. A fan drew in warm air from outside, which
was cooled as it passed over the damp terrycloth and cleansed by charcoal filters and was
propelled onward into the President’s bedroom. The device was not terribly efficient but it
worked- up to a point; it cooled the President’s room to a more or less tolerable 81°F and
stands in history as the world’s first air conditioner. Nothing, alas, could revive the sinking
President. And on the evening of the 19th of September, two and a half months after he had
been shot, he quietly passed away.