You might know the feeling: You’ve read a word a million times, it’s totally familiar, you’re pretty sure what it means… and, because you’ve only ever seen it in print, you have no idea how to actually say it out loud.

English is a difficult and capricious (kah-PRI-shuss) language, and we’ve compiled a huge list of words that our NYPL book experts mispronounced as kids — or still do! — because they’d only seen them in print.

Before you give our list a read, test your pronunciation skills with our quiz!

Acetaminophen

When I read it really, really slowly, syllable for syllable, I can pronounce the word.  However, when I read it quickly or say it from memory it comes out more like “ah-see-toe-meen-oh-phen-oh-meen-oh-lyn”... Every time it comes out slightly different and ends with more of a mumble. 

It’s the main reason why I became a librarian instead of a doctor.   

Adolescence

I don’t know why but my brain just would not process the word “adolescence” correctly, and whenever I said it it came out more like ‘ad-oss-oh-lens’. No specific book for this one, but I seem to remember thinking about Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events and the way the author would define complex vocabulary by saying “______, a word which here means...”

Annals

An embarrassing memory of mine stems from this happening in a literature class in college (I can’t remember the book, but I do remember that it was an 19th-Century American Romances; I believe it was A Romance of the Republic). We went around the class reading passages aloud, and when it was my turn to read, a sentence contained the word “annals”. It looked very much like another word, and I pronounced it like that other word. Annals is not a word commonly used in conversation, and I’d never come across it outside of books I’d read.

My professor kindly interrupted and reminded the class that the word is “AN-als,” not “AY-nals.” Yikes. 

Antigone and Socrates

Zadie Smith, in NW, talks about a character incorrectly pronouncing Socrates with two syllables and Antigone with three... Sock-Rats!

Antimacassar

I had one word in mind: antimacassar (a cover to protect the back or arms of furniture. From macassar, a hair product popular in the 19th c.)

I must have encountered this word in countless Victorian novels and eventually understood the meaning in context, but I sure was pronouncing it wrong in my head. I’ve never needed to say it out loud but finally decided to check the pronunciation when I read the word in a more contemporary novel, Berlin Noir by Philip Kerr:

“From her coat pocket she produced a small lace handkerchief which seemed as improbable in her large, peasant hands as an antimacassar in the hands of Max Schmelling, the boxer, and quite inadequate for the task which lay before it.”

Antiques

I remember being on a family road trip when I was a child and passing a billboard promoting an antique store.  When I asked my mother what “ANTY-KEWS” were, my parents and older brothers all had a good laugh at my expense.

Antithesis

I assumed “antithesis” was pronounced “anti-thesis” until it was thoughtfully pointed out to me (mid-tirade) that I was totally wrong about that. 

Awry

I knew things had gone “awry” when my high school English teacher winced as I mispronounced it in my otherwise perfect rendition of Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy.

Brooch

I always pronounce it to rhyme with “pooch,” but it should actually rhyme with “roach.” It can be found in many Henry James novels as the elegant ladies get dressed and put on their jewelry. 

Crinoline

In 6^th grade, I was dinged out of a televised spelling bee on “crinoline.” To this day I don’t understand how crinoline could possibly sound how it’s spelled.

Dishabille

Not my own, but ever since a friend confessed she had once thought the French-derived word for “in a state of undress” was pronounced “dis-shabbily,” I’ve never been able to read or speak either “dishabille“ or “déshabillé“ without silently pronouncing it that way. 

Draught

Draught, which I always pronounced as rhyming with “jot.” This line from the infamous “Cetology” chapter of Moby-Dick would have really tripped me up: “This whole book is but a draught — nay, but the draught of a draught. Oh, Time, Strength, Cash, and Patience!”

Evangelical

And I went to Catholic school for three years. I start off great, get confused in the middle, and add the end as an afterthought. It was made apparent when reading out loud Meghan Daum‘s essay I Nearly Died, So What?.  

Ewell

I have a VERY specific memory for this one!  I remember having to read To Kill a Mockingbird  out loud in class, and everyone laughed because I said “E-well” instead of “YOU-ell.” I know better now, but I think of this whenever I come across the “ew” combination!

Glower

My long-mispronounced word was “glower” as first encountered in Wuthering Heights. It rhymes with “flower” not “lower” and I still get it mixed up from time to time. 

Hermione

I remember when I first read Harry Potter in the 6th grade, Hermione was always pronounced “Her-moyne.”

Huge

In second grade, we were doing some kind of group practice vocabulary/grammar exercise and there was a question about an adjective that can be used to describe an elephant.  We were looking at the test booklet and It was multiple choice and we had to raise a hand if we wanted to offer an answer to whatever question was next.  For the elephant question, I looked at all four words that were offered and spotted the word, “huge.”  I did not know what this word meant, but, in my mind, I pronounced it “hudge” and I thought, “Well, that sounds like a word that describes something that is really, really big — HUDGE!!!”  So I raised my hand, all set to shout out, “HUDGE!”  Fortunately, another student with her hand raised was chosen by the teacher and she pronounced the word “huge” with accuracy and grace.  I would have been correct in my selection, but I probably would have been mildly humiliated by the experience.

Inchoate x2

A just begun and so not fully formed or developed; rudimentary. It should be voiced as “in-CO-it”, but I still pronounce this in my head as in-CHOAT. I will not budge on this.

I came across this word again recently in Karen Joy Fowler’s We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves:

“But I remember this clearly –waking up each morning and going to sleep each night in a state of inchoate dread. The fact that I didn’t know what I was dreading made it no less dreadful. Arguably, more so.” 

The “inchoate” mail above reminds me of Stephen Donaldson’s writing because he used it frequently in his Thomas Covenant series. Two words I always pronounced incorrectly that he used were surquedry and malign. “Surquedry” (sur-KWEE-dri) is an old one so I’ll give myself a pass on that. “Malign” I kept pronouncing as “malin” because I figured it was like malignant. Whoops.

Macabre

My word is “macabre” and I’d say anything by Edgar Allen Poe fits the bill. 

Meringue

The first time I read Amelia Bedelia, the Lemon Meringue Pie she made was a lovely Lemon “merin-goo” pie.  My family still calls all merignues “merin-goos.”

Misled

I used to think “misle” was a word (pronounced “MIZE-el”).  I believed if something was “misling” then it was confusing or deceiving.  I had read the word in past tense a number of times: “misled” (which I figured was pronouced “MIZE-ld”).  It took me forever to realize the word “misled” was just “mis-LED” - i.e., the past tense of “mislead.”  I would say a lot of “mystery books” are intentionally written to be misling misleading at first. 

Moniker

I always think “monkey-er” when I read “moniker.” It does make reading more entertaining! Oh, and “detritus” always trips me up too.

Penelope (x2!)

Mine were names: Penelope (from the Odyssey) in my mind always rhymed with “cantaloupe” and Honoria was “honor-EE-a.” I could never figure out why someone would want to name their daughter that!

I remember as a brand new NYPL hire, discussing author Penelope Lively with my branch manager and being met with a rather quizzical expression, at which point she then pronounced

“Penelope Lively” correctly and I turned 50 shades of red. 

Picturesque

I can’t tie it to a book, but for years I pronounced picturesque, “pictures Q.” One of my most embarrassing moments is being corrected by my 12th grade English teacher. I think my mispronunciation went on for so long because no one had any idea what I was talking about!

Preface

For a long time, every time I read a book with a “preface”, I would pronounce it as “pre-face.” It does not help that prefaces are found at the beginning, because the “pre” always threw me off.

Rendezvous

When I was young, I knew of the word “rendezvous” but had no idea how it was spelled, so when I saw the book Rendezvous with Rama, I thought it was pronounced entirely differently and was a different word.  I forget how I finally figured it out.

Satin

I always had trouble with the word “satin” when I was a child. I pronounced it like “Satan.”

Sean

I keeping with name pronunciation issues, I grew up reading about characters named Sean well before I actually met one.  Imagine my embarrassment when I was corrected and learned that Sean was “Shawn” and not “See-an.” Oh boy.

Sergeant

My second-grade class was reading a story out loud, with various students being given passages to recite.  When it was time for my best friend to read, he came to the word “sergeant” and pronounced it “SIR-gee-ant.” I kind of knew it was not correct, but I didn’t say anything to my friend and, to this day (yes, we are still friends), I have never mentioned it, although I still remember it vividly! 

Sherbet

I still haven’t nailed down the difference between sherbet and sorbet, and I’ve definitely called them both sherbet out loud. If you’re an adventurous home cook and dessert eater, you might enjoy the recipes in Lomelino’s Ice Cream. The author helpfully includes a section of sherbets and sorbets, which, believe it or not, are actually two different things! It’s all delicious to me

Shoulder/soldier

When I was a kid, I had a problem pronouncing “shoulder” and “soldier.”  The word I said out loud would end up sounding like a bizarre blending of the two.  And regarding author names, at least once a year I share this author name pronunciation guide with my teens and we listen to dozens of authors talking about their names. That’s how I learned that Rick Riordan’s last name is pronounced like “rye” bread!

Statistics

I’ll admit to having trouble with a word that is pronounced exactly as written: statistics. I always get stuck and want to stick an extra “s” in there, so it comes out something like “sta-sti-sticks.” At least I am honest about this, not like some who employ the numbers to dishonest ends, telling damned lies with statistics. 

Terpischore

The Greek muse of Dance?  Terpischore:  pronounced by me as Terp-i-shore rather than Terp-sick-ory. Edith Hamilton’s Mythology!

Vegan

Please don’t laugh, but although I’ve heard the word thousands of times I will never get used to the pronunciation of the spelled word “vegan.” This I know is a quirk, but as the OED says, it is a combination “from vegetarian + -an” so I think of the soft “g” sound when I read the word. We have lots of books in the Library about the lifestyle and the diet, and you’ll also find cookbooks galore for vegans.

Wreath/wrath

In my head they sound the same, and wrong! The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and A Wreath for Emmett Till by Marilyn Nelson.

Wriggle

Wriggle! I TRIP UP EVERY TIME. Whenever I did a story time with that word in it, I changed it to wiggle.

Wyvern

This one is particularly egregious because that’s my cat’s name!

Yosemite

Until I was twenty-four years old ... I thought Yosemite was pronounced “Yo-SMITE-ee.” I was nattering on about Yosemite to my parents while they politely stared at me. After several minutes of confusion, they realized I had quite possibly only read the word.

Contributions by NYPL staffers: Alessandra Affinito, Nancy Aravecz, Susen Aufrichtig, Jenny Baum, Adriana Blancarte-Hayward, Crystal Chen, Kathie Coblentz, Frank Collerius, Caitlyn Colman-McGaw, Richard Dowe, Kathleen Fais, Althea Georges, Gregory Huchko, Jeffrey Katz, Melissa Koszer, Ronni Krasnow, Emily Lazio, Christina Lebec, Suzanne Lipkin, Andrea Lipinski, Sherri Machlin, Meredith Mann, Nanyamkah Mars, Kay Menick, Amber Moller, Maura Muller, Katrina Ortega, Joe Pascullo, Emily Pullen, Charlie Radin, Nicole Rosenbluth, Jenny Rosenoff, Wayne Roylance, Susen Shi, Gretchen Smith, Joshua Soule, Brian Stokes, Chantalle Uzan, Elizabeth Waters, Sue Yee

All images from NYPL's Digital Collections.