Are ‘muscle’ & ‘mussel’ different or the same?
By Georgie Harding – Founder & Head Speech Pathologist
Are ‘muscle’ and ‘mussel’ pronounced differently or the same?
The same! They are pronounced exactly the same way.
Homophones are words that look different but are pronounced the same way. ‘Muscle’ and ‘mussel’ are homophones.
English has many, many homophones and these are often difficult for ESL speakers – because words can look quite different to how they are pronounced in English.
Correct over 100 homophones with our English Homophones List with Listen & Record Tools
and download a printable .pdf on homophones too.
So you already know that ‘not’ and ‘knot’ and ‘whole’ and ‘hole’ are homophones.
What about some other lesser known homophones. See 10 homophones below that ESL speakers often don’t know are homophones.
- muscles = mussels /ˈmʌ.səlz/
- career = Korea /kəˈrɪər/
- one = won /wʌn/
- chews = choose /tʃuːz/
- paw = poor = pour /pɔː/
- bored = board /bɔːd/
- sauce = source /sɔːs/
- genes = jeans /dʒiːnz/
- flower = flour /ˈflaʊ.wə/
- waist = waste /weɪst/
So, now you know that muscles = mussels are pronounced the same way – in the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet it is – /ˈmʌ.səlz/.
Would you like to listen to every sound in English? Record your own speech and check your pronunciation of every English vowel sound and consonant sound.
You will improve your pronunciation of over more than 100 homophones with a Speech Active English Pronunciation Course.
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Remember to check out our English Pronunciation Youtube channel.
Good luck, have a great day.
Are ‘muscle’ & ‘mussel’ different or the same?
Georgie Harding has assisted thousands of people from all over the world with improving their clarity and spoken English skills. A Speech Pathology degree (BAppSc(SpPath) and CELTA qualifications and over 15 years of experience providing 1:1, group and online training make Georgie a leader in her field.
Georgie is the creator the world’s leading English Pronunciation online courses that are tailored to the language background of the student and presents regularly at Universities.
If you’ve ever met Georgie or completed her award winning courses you’ll know how passionate she is about helping people move forward with better spoken English and more confidence.
Email: georgie@speechactive.com
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