Words You’ve Been Mispronouncing All Along
Why some English words end up sounding very different from how they look — and how those pronunciations got that way.
Many native English speakers discover, sometimes to their embarrassment, that words they've been reading for years (often in books) are not pronounced the way their spelling suggests. The reasons are historical: double borrowings, spelling “corrections” to show Latin roots, sound changes in Middle English, and simple fossilized pronunciations that survived after spellings changed. Below I take a measured, source-backed look at some of the most common — and most surprising — examples. For each word: the correct pronunciation (IPA), a common mistaken pronunciation, and a concise explanation of why the mismatch exists.
Colonel
Correct: /ˈkɜːrnəl/ (BrE/AmE) — sounds like kernel.
Common mistaken reading: call-o-nel, co-lo-nel (saying the L and O as written).
Why?
The form entered English from Middle French as coronel, which had an /r/ sound. English later respelled the word as colonel to reflect its Italian/Latin ancestry (colonnello), but by then the pronunciation with an /r/ (kernel-like) was already established. So spelling and pronunciation point to two different historical moments: Italian origin vs. French form.
Awry
Correct: /əˈraɪ/ — rhymes with try.
Common mistaken reading: AW-ree (rhymes with story) or pronouncing the first vowel like aw in law.
Why?
Awry historically is a- + wry (on + twisted). The stress and vowel developed so that the second syllable is emphasized and ends with the /aɪ/ diphthong. Because the spelling begins with “aw-”, readers sometimes mis-map it to the aw vowel (as in law), but standard pronunciation places the stress on the second syllable and rhymes with try. Dictionary and historical evidence show the a- + wry origin and the resulting /əˈraɪ/ form.
Epitome
Correct: /ɪˈpɪtəmi/ (BrE) — often heard in dictionaries as /əˈpɪtəmi/ or /əˈpɪdəmi/ (AmE).
Common mistaken reading: EP-i-tome (rhyming with tome /toʊm/) or pronouncing the final -e as /oʊ/.
Why?
Epitome comes via Latin and French from Greek epitomē (“abridgment”), and in English the final syllable is pronounced like -mee. The visual resemblance to tome tempts readers to use an /oʊ/ ending, but historical morphology and standard dictionaries show the final vowel is /i/ or /iː/.
Indict
Correct: /ɪnˈdaɪt/ — in-dite.
Common mistaken reading: pronouncing the “c” (e.g., in-dict).
Why?
Early Middle English forms were spelled endite / indite and pronounced with the /aɪ/ sound. In the 16th–17th centuries scholars respelled the word indict to reflect its Latin root indictare, reintroducing a C in the spelling — but not the C in the pronunciation. The spelling was “corrected” for etymological reasons, while the established spoken form stayed the same.
Victuals
Correct: /ˈvɪtəlz/ — sounds like vittles.
Common mistaken reading: vic-tuals (/vɪkˈtjuːəlz/), pronouncing the ctu- cluster as separate sounds.
Why?
Victuals derives from Anglo-French vitaille and Latin victualia. The pronunciation evolved separately from spelling; the historic spoken form (and an alternative spelling vittles) preserves the reduced pronunciation /ˈvɪtəlz/. In short: spellings were adapted to show Latin roots while speech kept the older, simpler form.
Draught
Correct (most common British): /drɑːft/ or /dræft/ — essentially draft.
Common mistaken reading: reading it like draught ≈ /drɔːft/ or linking it to drought
Why?
In Middle English the gh sequence was pronounced; later sound changes reduced or altered it. The result is that draught and draft are historically the same word; American English simplified the spelling to draft. British English preserves the conservative spelling draught but pronounces it as /dræft/ or similar.
Misled
Correct: /mɪsˈlɛd/ (past tense of mislead).
Common mistaken reading: MY-zled (/ˈmaɪzəld/) — imagining a verb to misle (pronounced myzle) with a regular past misled.
Why?
This is a psychological/orthographic illusion rather than an etymological puzzle. Readers who have only seen the written form sometimes parse misled as the past of a non-existent base misle (rhyming with missile/myzle). In reality, mislead (present /mɪsˈliːd/) has an irregular past misled with the vowel change; many English past-tense forms follow this pattern and the correct pronunciation is /mɪsˈlɛd/. There are many documented anecdotes and forum threads where people confess they read misled wrong for years — it’s extremely common.
Lieutenant
Correct (BrE traditional): /lɛfˈtɛnənt/ — lef-tenant.
Correct (AmE): /luːˈtɛnənt/ — loo-tenant.
Common mistaken reading: treating one accent’s pronunciation as “wrong” for the other variety.
Why?
Both pronunciations are historical and dialectal. The /lɛf-/ variant in British English dates back centuries (and its precise origin is debated — possibly from Old French forms or dialectal alternations). The /luː-/ form reflects a different phonetic evolution and is standard in American English. Both are acceptable in their dialects; confusion arises when a reader assumes one variety is “correct” for all Englishes.
Quick roundup — other common “trickster” words
Below are more words that commonly trip people up; for each I give the usual standard pronunciation and a short note about why the mismatch happens.
- Subtle — /ˈsʌtəl/ (silent b). The b was reintroduced to reflect Latin subtilis; pronunciation stayed with the older form.
- Debt — /dɛt/ (silent b due to Latin debitum spelling restoration).
- Island — /ˈaɪ.lənd/ (silent s; spelling influenced by mistaken Latin insula).
- Yacht — /jɒt/ (Dutch origin jacht; spelling preserves origin, pronunciation streamlined).
- Bologna (the sausage) — /bəˈloʊni/ or /bəˈloʊnjə/; often misread by learners. (Italian origin.)
- Salmon — /ˈsæmən/ (silent l).
- Rendezvous — /ˈrɒndeɪˌvuː/ (French; silent z).
- Queue — /kjuː/ (rest of the letters are historical).
- Quay — /kiː/ (spelling from Old French; pronunciation /kiː/).
- Gauge — /ɡeɪdʒ/ (odd spelling reflects history).
- Worcester — /ˈwʊstər/ (English place-name contraction).
- Cupboard — /ˈkʌbərd/ (silent p and simplified cluster).
By VerbsUp Editor