Without clear pronunciation, students end up telling colleagues they’ve been “angry” all morning when they mean “hungry”. These 25 English pronunciation activities and games target the problems that cause the most confusion: minimal pairs, word stress, past -ed endings and connected speech. Each sound includes ESL pronunciation exercises for your students to practice, along with a list of the trickiest words at the end.

Table of contents

This is a mega-resource, so use the links below to find what you need.

1. How to teach English pronunciation

2. Minimal pairs

3. Voiced and unvoiced ‘th’

4. Schwa sound /ə/

5. Silent letters

6. Other irregular sounds

7. Word stress

8. Connected speech

9. Heteronyms

10. Past regular verb pronunciation rules

11. Pronunciation homework

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How to teach English pronunciation

1. Tackle big pronunciation problems by writing difficult words phonetically between slashes next to the correctly-spelled word.

For example: Character /ka-ra-ct-a/.  Or, using phonics /kær.ək.tə/)

Personally, I use the normal alphabet because asking students to memorise phonetic symbols adds another layer of complexity to the task.

2. Separate the syllable sounds with dashes.

For example: The three syllable sounds of ‘literature’ becomes /lit-ra-cha/.

3. Word stress: underline the stressed syllable

This is important as words often change meaning depending on where you put the stress. For example, ‘REC-ord;’ (the disk for playing music) and ‘rec-ORD’ (the verb for recording videos). Ask students to say the word out loud several times to understand the difference.

Now to our list of pronunciation activities for ESL students

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Minimal pairs: words that differ by one sound

Minimal pairs are words that sound similar, with just one syllable to tell them apart. To differentiate them, students should practise the two words together to master the distinct sound. Common minimal pairs are:

Angry vs. Hungry

Fix: Ask your student to think of the game Angry Birds when they pronounce ‘angry’ and the country Hungary when they pronounce ‘hungry’.

Practice with these sentences:

• I get angry when I get hungry
• The hungry child got angry when dinner wasn’t ready
• Anger was not my first emotion. It was hunger

Uncle vs. Ankle

Fix: Ask your student to make a lower pitch ‘un’ sound when pronouncing ‘uncle’ and a higher pitch ‘an’ sound when pronouncing ‘ankle.’

Practice with these sentences:

• My uncle twisted his ankle
• I have three uncles and two ankles

Ball vs. Bald

Fix: Your student will know how to pronounce ‘ball’. Now, to pronounce ‘bald’ say ‘ball’ and add a ‘d’ /bal-d/.

Practice with these sentences:

• The bald eagle took off with the ball.
• Bald and ball sound similar

Bird vs. Beard

Fix: ‘Bird’ is actually pronounced /berd/. For beard, ask your student to say ‘beer’. Now add a ‘d’ /beer-d/.

Practice with these sentences:

• His beard looks like a bird’s nest
• His beard and our bird are two new things this year

Ear vs. Hear

Fix: Ask the student to say ‘ear’ and then make them say a hard ‘h’ to make ‘hear.’ This is why it is important that students don’t drop the ‘h’. It will make a different word.

Practice with these sentences:

• My ears hear what you say
• I hear that monkeys’ ears are small

Ship vs. sheep /ɪ/ vs. /iː/

Fix: This is a common problem. Fix the difference between a long ‘ee’ sound and a short ‘i’ sound by asking your student to say a long ‘ee’ like ‘eat’ and the short like ‘it’.

• Sit vs. seat
• Fill vs. feel
• Pill vs. peel
• Still vs. steel
• Hill vs. heel
• to live vs. leave

Practice with these sentences:

• I fill my cup and feel better
• The girl sits on the seat.
• They must leave early as they live far from here
• I still think that steel is the best material

Though vs. through

Fix: ‘Though’ is pronounced /thow/ and ‘through’, /threw/ (past of ‘throw’).

Practice with these sentences:

• Though they understood, I thought we could go through the document again.
• We went through the tunnel, though we thought it was unfinished.

Thought vs. taught

Fix: ‘Thought’ is pronounced /thort/ and ‘taught’ (the past of ‘to teach’) is /tort/.

Practice with these sentences:

• I thought you taught French?
• I taught them a few words and they thought I was a good teacher.

Thorough vs. through

Fix: ‘Thorough’ /tha-ra-ow/ and ‘though’ is /thow/.

Practice with these sentences:

• We went through it thoroughly, though they didn’t need it
• All through the week, we were very thorough with the files

Receipt vs. recipe

Fix: Receipt is pronounced like ‘rest + eat’ /res-eat/ and recipe /res-i-pee/.

Practice with these sentences:

• I need the receipt to follow the recipe
• The recipe was great. I’ll check the receipt to see where we bought the meat

Weigh vs. weight

Fix: ‘Weigh’ is pronounced /way/, while weight is /wait/ (as in ‘wait for me.’)

Practice with these sentences:

• They weigh the item and the weight is 5kgs
• I don’t know the weight. How much does it weigh?

Produce vs. product

Fix: ‘Produce’ is /pro-dus/ and ‘product’ /pro-dukt/.

Practice with these sentences:

• The product was produced in Spain
• It takes five hours to produce this product

Imagine vs. image

Fix: ‘Imagine’ is /im-ag-in/ and ‘image’ /im-ayg/.

Practice with these sentences:

• I imagine the image will be better in the light
• The image is what I imagined

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Voiced and unvoiced ‘th’

There are two types of ‘th’ sounds: voiced and unvoiced.

Voiced ‘th’ /ð/

The voiced ‘th’ is pronounced with a ‘tha’ sound at the front of your mouth. The tongue does not meet the teeth. Voiced ‘th’ words include:

Pronouns and connecting words: That, than, the, their, then, there’s, they, they’d, they’ll, they’ve, this, those, themselves, therefore

/ther/ words: mother, other, bother, brother, breathing, clothing, father, feather, gather, lather, rather, weather, worthy, brotherly, together

Pronunciation practice

To practice, ask your students to try some of these words and detect the placement of the tongue.

Practice with these tongue twisters:

• They’d rather those other clothes belonged to my brother.
• There’s their mother, gathering feathers with their father.
• Therefore they’d rather go together.

Unvoiced ‘th’ /θ/

The unvoiced ‘th’ is pronounced with a lisped ‘thee’ sound by placing your tongue against your teeth. Words pronounced with a voiceless ‘th’ include:

Thank, thick, thief, thin, think, thing, three, thousand, Thursday, thirty-eight, thunderstorm.

Athlete, author, nothing, toothache, wealthy, everything, worthwhile, anything.

Bath, earth, teeth, cloth, north, myth, mouth, youth, faith, underneath.

Pronunciation practice

Ask your students to try some of these words out in their mouths to see how they feel and how they are different from a voiced ‘th’ word, such as ‘they’ or ‘those.’

Practice with these tongue twisters:

• He thanked the wealthy author on Thursday for the third time.
• The athlete ran three thousand metres to the north.
• It is a myth that when you are thirty-three you have lost your youth.

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‘Nurse’ vowel /ɜː/

This /er/ sound occurs in the middle of many words where the letters are ‘or’ ‘ir’ or ‘u’. Here are some examples.

Or as /er/

The ‘or’ syllable in a word such as ‘world’ is pronounced /er/ to make /werld/.

Attorney /atterni/

World /werld/

Work /werk/

Worker /werker/

Worse /werz/

Worth /werth/

Word /werd/

Worship /wership/

Worm /werm

Practice with these sentences:

• It’s worth working on this project
• The world economy is possibly getting worse
• The worker spread the word about the strike

‘Ir’ as /er/

When an ‘ir’ comes before the consonants: ‘d’, ‘m’, ‘t’, ‘th’, st’ the sound is /er/

Bird /berd/

Girl /gerl/

First /ferst/

Shirt /shert/

Skirt /skert/

Third /therd/

Dirt /dert/

Circle /ser-kil/

Circus /ser-kus/

Thirteen /ther-teen/

Thirty /ther-ti/

Birthday /berth-day/

Confirm /con-ferm/

Practice with these sentences:

• They confirmed that the birthday was on the thirteenth
• The circus drew a circle in the middle of the tent
• The girl got dirt on her skirt

‘Ur’ as /er/

When ‘ur’ is in the middle of the word it’s pronounced /er/.

burn /bern/

turn /tern/

hurt /hert/

nurse /ners/

purple /per-pil/

burst /ber-st/

church /ch-er-ch/

burger /ber-ger/

Thursday /therz-day/

return /re-tern/

surface /ser-face/

Practice with these sentences:

• They returned on Thursday to find the pipe had burst
• The nurse hurt her finger when she cut the burger
• Careful, don’t burn yourself when you turn the heat up

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Silent letters

Kn

When a ‘k’ comes before an ‘n’ then it is silent. These words include:

Knapsack /nap-sac/

Knee /nee/

Kneel /niel/

Knife /nife/

Knit /nit/

Knight /nite/

Knock /nock/

Knuckle /nuck-l/

Knot /not/

Practice with these sentences:

• He hurt his knee when he kneeled
• The knife cut the knot in the knitting
• He knocked on the door with his knuckles

Ch

Most ‘ch’ words are pronounced with the ‘cha’ sound such as ‘chair’ or ‘china.’ However, there are a few words where the ‘h’ is omitted and pronounced ‘k’. Words include:

Ache (i.e. toothache) /ake/

Character /kar-act-a/

Charisma /kar-is-ma/

Chemist /k-emist/

Chemistry /k-emistry/

Chemical /k-emical/

Chemotherapy /kemo-the-ra-py/

Choir /k-why-er/

Christian /k-rist-ian/

Christianity /k-ris-ti-an-iti/

Christmas /k-rist-mas/

Practice with these sentences:

• The character has a lot of charisma
• The chemist created the chemical
• The choir sung Christmas carols

Silent ‘b’

When ‘t’ comes after ‘bt’, the ‘b’ is silent (for most words, exceptions include ‘obtain.’)

Debt /det/

Doubt /dowt/

Subtle /sut-il/

Practice with these sentences:

• I doubt the debt will be large
• There is a subtle difference between ‘debt’ and ‘doubt

The ‘b’ is also silent when it comes at the end of the word. For example:

Plumber /plum-er/

Comb /com/

Lamb /lam/

Climb /clim/

Thumb /thum/

Tomb /toom/

Limb /lim/

Numb /num/

Practice with these sentences:

• They climbed into the tomb and found a comb
• My thumb went numb when I hit it with a hammer

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Other irregular sounds

Al /or/

The ‘al’ in words such as ‘talk’ is actually pronounced ‘or’ /tork/.

Chalk /chork/

Stalk /stork/

Talk /tork/

Walk /w-ork/

Practice with these sentences:

• I walk to work every day
• They want to talk with us about the chalk

Cuit

‘Cuit’ is pronounced ‘kit’ . There are two words with have this structure. These are:

Circuit /ser-kit/

Biscuit /bis-kit/

Practice with these sentences:

• After fixing the circuit the electrician had a biscuit
• My favourite circuit is Silverstone, but my favourite biscuit is a custard cream

Ough

‘Ough’ is pronounced ‘uf’ or ‘off’. For example, ‘tough’ /tuf/. These words include:

Tough /tuf/

Cough /coff/

Enough /en-uf/

Rough /ruf/

Laugh /larf/

Practice with these sentences:

• It’s tough to have a cough in the winter
• The rough waves were enough to make her laugh

‘Et’ at the end of the word

‘Et’ at the end of a word is pronounced /ay/. This comes from French. Examples include:

Ballet /bal-ay/

Bouquet /bou-kay/

Buffet /buff-ay/

Chalet /chal-ay/

Duvet /dou-vay/

Practice with these sentences:

• After the ballet they went for a buffet at the chalet
• The chalet owner welcomed us with a beautiful bouquet

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More difficult to pronounce words

Anxiety /an-zi-et-ti/

Author /or-tha/

Clothes /clothz/

Depot /dep-o/

Equipment /ek-wip-ment/

Flour /flower/

Heir /air/

Hierarchy /hi-ra-key/

Inherent /in-hair-ant/

Island /ireland/ (like the country)

Literature /lit-ra-cha/

Mayor /may-er/

Mortgage /mor-gaeg/

Muscle /mus-il/

Patient /pay-shant/

Sword /sord/

Random word pronunciation activity

‘As I was going to St Ives, I met a man with seven wives,‘ is a repetition game. Player one says, ‘As I was going to St Ives, I met a man with seven wives who had… [object, e.g. ” an island”]’. The next person repeats that sentence and adds another object and so on.

The game ends when someone can’t remember an object or gets the order wrong. It’s a great way to get your student to repeat difficult words.

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Word stress

Two syllable words: 80% of two syllable words are stressed on the first syllable. For example:

• Apple /Ap-pel/
• Happy /HAP-Y/
• Modern /MOD-ern/
• Doctor /DOCT-or/

Some exceptions: About /a-BOUT/, photo /fo-TOW/, enjoy /en-JOY/, forget /for-GET/, today /to-DAY/.

Three syllable words: Many are also stressed on the first syllable. For example:

• Carnival /KAR-ni-val/
• Family /FAM-i-ly/
• Dangerous /DAN-ger-ous/
• Camera /CAM-er-a/

BUT if the word ends in /ic/ /ion/ or /ity/ (Latin words), the stress almost always lands on the syllable right before the suffix for example:

• Economic /eco-NOM-ic/
• Education /edu-CA-sh-ion/
• Community /com-MUN-ity/
• Station /st-AY-sh-ion/

Prefixes: words with prefixes, you stress the first syllable of the root word. For example:

• Rewrite /re-WRITE/
• Rebuild /re-BUILD/
• Disagree /dis-AGREE/
• Reactivate /re-ACT-iv-ate/
• Precaution /pre-CAUT-sh-ion/
• Forecast /for-CAST/
• Today /to-DAY/
• Await /a-WAIT/

Compound nouns: you stress the first word. For example:

• Football /FOOT-ball/
• Bedroom /BED-room/
• Keyboard /KEY-bord/
• Toothbrush /TOO-th-bru-sh/

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Connected speech

Weak forms: To, for and of /ə/ schwa

Small high-frequency words that fall in the middle of sentences are hardly pronounced. This is because the listener expects to hear them and so the speaker makes no effort in pronunciation. This is called weak forms.

To: Before the infinitive, ‘to’ becomes either /ta/ or /a/, and joins the preceding word.

“ I want to try ice skating,” becomes, /I wanna try ice skating/

Practice with these sentences:

• I try to go to the gym twice a week. /I try-ta go to the gym twice a week/
• I’m going to book the hotel. /I’m gonna book the hotel/
• I need to call him to discuss this. /I need-ta-call-im ta-discuss this/
• They decided to book the holiday. /they decided-ta book-tha holiday/

For: In the middle of a sentence, ‘for’ becomes /fa/, joining the preceding word. For example:

“I’m looking for my keys,” becomes, /I’m looking-fa my keys/

Practice with these sentences:

• I’ll take the dog for a walk. /I’ll take the dog-fa a walk/
• I want soup for lunch. /I want soup-fa lunch/
• I’m looking for my keys. /I’m looking-fa my keys/

BUT: If ‘for’ is at the end of the sentence or goes before a name or object pronoun, it is stressed.

“Who is this FOR?” “The gift is FOR you.”

Of: Mid-sentence, ‘of’ becomes /a/, also joining the preceding word, particularly after ‘kind’ and ‘sort.’ For example:

“I sort of know what you’re talking about,” becomes, /I sort-a know what you’re talking about/

Practice with these sentences:

• I kind of like travelling by train. /I kind-a like travelling by train/
• I’m kind of scared of snakes. /I’m kind-a scared-a snakes/

BUT when ‘of’ is in interrogative form at the end of the sentence, it is usually stressed. “What is that made OF?” “What are you afraid OF?” (Just do it). “What are you afraid of?” (tell me your fears).

Object pronouns

The object pronouns: ‘you’, ‘him’, ‘her’ and ‘them’ are absorbed into the previous verb with only the final vocals audible. For example:

“Take him home,” becomes /take-im home/

Practice with these sentences:

• I’ll send them an email. /I’ll send-em an email/
• Give me a spoon. /gimme a spoon/
• I advise her to accept the offer. /I advise-er-ta accept the offer/

BUT, when you want to emphasis who the person is in a sentence, the object pronoun is stressed. “I gave it to HER, not him.” “Tell US the truth.”

Subject pronouns

When asking questions in present tense, the subject pronouns ‘you’, ‘he’, ‘she’ and ‘it’ are absorbed into ‘do’ or ‘does.’ For example:

“Do you want some tea?” becomes /du-want-som-t?/

Practice with these sentences:

• Do you want to come? /d-ja-wanna come?/
• Does he like cats? /duz-e like cats?/
• Does she eat meat? /duz-she eat meat?/
• What are you doing? /wot-ya-doin’?/
• Does it rain much here? /duz-it rain much-ere?/

Plurals

When the noun ends with ‘e’ or ‘a’, we pronounce the plural with a /z/. For example:

‘Eyes,’ becomes, /eyez/

Practice with these sentences:

• The clothes are dirty. /the clothz ar derty/
• I drink three teas a day and two coffees. /I drink three teaz a day and two coffeez/

There is and there are

‘There are,’ becomes /therez/.

Practice with these sentences:

• There are a lot of cars in the street. /therez a lot of cars in the street/
• There is a cat on my balcony. /therez-a cat on my balcony/
• There are four birds in the field. /therez four birds in the field/

For more practice here is list of common English words that have weak forms by Perfect English Grammar.

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Heteronyms: same word, different pronunciation

Heteronyms are words which are spelled the same, but pronounced differently. For example ‘tear’ /t-air/ as in, ‘to rip’ and ‘tear’ /tier/ as in, water from the eyes.

To practise, write the pronunciation for each word on the board and model the difference. Next, ask students to read out the example sentence under each of the words. Don’t tell them which word it is, let them guess from the content.

10 common heteronyms

To close (v) /cloze/ ─ to shut

“Close the window please, it’s getting cold in here.”

to be close (adj) /CLOS/ ─ to be near

“The station is close to the post office. You can’t miss it.”

To lead (v)/leed/ ─  to be a leader, or to have followers

“The manager leads the team.”

Lead (n)/led/ ─ a type of metal

“We now use unleaded petrol in vehicles.”

Invalid (adj) /in-VAL-id/ ─ not valid.

“This passport is invalid. It has passed its expiration date.”

Invalid (n) /IN-val-id/ ─ an ill person.

“Sadly, she has had this disease for more than 6 years. She is an invalid.”

Minute (n) /MIN-it/ ─ 60 seconds. 

“If you believe the pop songs, it only takes a minute to fall in love.”

Minute (adj) /my-NOOT/ ─ tiny, very small.

“This car is minute. How are we supposed to fit a family inside?”

To live (v) /liv/─ to inhabit, to be a living thing.

“He lives in the city.”

Live (n) /lie-v/ ─ to see a performance in person or to be connected to electricity.

“Oasis are playing live this summer.”

To permit (v) /per-MIT/ ─ to allow some event to occur.

“We can’t permit you to enter the building at this time. It is unsafe.”

Permit (n) /PER-mit/ –a document giving permission.

“Do you have a permit for this type of vehicle? Because they are not normally permitted in cities.”

To record (v) /re-KORD/ ─ to write down information for future use.

“We record all births and deaths in this city.”

Record (n) /RECK-ord/ ─ a list, a music record or when someone ‘breaks a record’ in a sports or activity challenge.

“We know all the transactions he completed yesterday from the bank record.”

To row (v) /ROH/ – to row a small boat with oars.

“They row down the river on a summer’s day.”

A row (n) /ROH/ (the same pronunciation as ‘to row’) ─ a line of numbers or seats.

“I have tickets to the theatre. We are in row 10.”

A row (n) /ROUW/- a verbal fight or argument (British English).

“My parents just had a row with their neighbours. They are now speaking to each other – how awkward!”

To tear (v) /TARE/ ─ to rip paper or material.

“I tear the paper because I am bored.”

Tear (n) /TEER/ ─ fluid in eye.

“A tear rolled down the girl’s face when she realised that she had forgotten her homework.”

To wind (v) /WINE-d/─ to coil, for example, ‘to wind a watch.’

“My grandparents wind the old clock every day.”

Wind (n) /WIN-d/- the blowing air.

“There is a lot of wind today. I think I’ll fly a kite.”

For further practise, check out this short video on the topic.

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Past regular verb pronunciation rules

A final pronunciation issue is with ‘ed’ in past tense. This sound changes depending on last constant in the infinitive of the verb. For example, instead of pronouncing ‘worked’ with an ‘ed’ (/work-id/) native speakers pronounce it /work-t/. This is because of the ‘k’ at the end of the verb.

The rules

‘T’ sound: If the root verb ends with a ‘k’, ‘p’ or ‘h’, the past tense of the verb is pronounced with a ‘t’ sound. For example, ‘worked’, ‘stopped’ and ‘laughed’ are pronounced /workt/, /stopt/ and /laught/.

‘Id’ sound: If the verb ends in either ‘t’ or ‘d’, the past is pronounced with an ‘id’ sound. For example, ‘wanted’ and ‘decided’ are pronounced /wantid/ and /decided/.

‘D’ sound: For all other verbs the past is pronounced with a ‘d’ sound, omitting the ‘e.’ For example ‘stressed’, ‘rained’, ‘closed’ are actually pronounced /stress’d/, /rain’d/ and /clos’d/.

How to teach it past regular verbs pronunciation

After you’ve explained the rules, draw three columns on the board and head each one with a sound. Next say a verb in infinitive form and your students must put it into the correct column. Finally, ask your students to model some of the words and make some example sentences.

Verbs which end with K, P and H: To work, to talk, to walk, to look, to like, to ask, to pick up, to cook, to park, to check, to escape, to jump, to stop, to hop, to help, to watch, to laugh, to push, to finish, to reach, to wash.

Verbs which end with T and D: To decide, to depend, to defend, to avoid, to divide, to include, to add, to attend, to create, to count, to taste, to hate, to want, to cheat, to last, to visit, to rent, to paint, to act, to contact, to invite, to print, to rent, to start, to treat, to wait, to waste.

Other verbs (a selection): to answer, to deliver, to call, to believe, to travel, to kiss, to stress, to travel, to listen, to arrive, to change, to play, to show, to study, to try, to use, to save, to pull, to move, to explain, to carry, to agree.

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ESL pronunciation homework

Your students will never learn to pronounce English without a foreign accent from your lessons alone. If they really want to get a native speaker accent, they must do a lot of work in their own time. Here are some ways to practice outside of class.

Podcasts and films: Ask your students to listen to podcasts and watch films and TV in the accent of their choice.

Songs: Singing along to songs is also a good pronunciation practice. Ask students to find the lyrics of a clearly sung song online and sing along. If you’re students like this method, they may enjoy Lyrics Training; a paid app to learn English through songs.

Specialist videos: To practice a North American accent, try Rachel’s English. This comprehensive video guide will walk your students through all of the sounds in the English language. To practice a UK accent, try BBC Learning English Pronunciation; a guide which covers all the common sounds in the English language.

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