mispronounce
/ˌmɪspɹəˈnaʊns/verb
mispronounce is a verb meaning “To pronounce (a word, phrase, etc.) incorrectly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled M-I-S-P-R-O-N-O-U-N-C-E and has 3 syllables, and it appears about once in every 13 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).
What does mispronounce mean?
verb
- 1
To pronounce (a word, phrase, etc.) incorrectly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce mispronounce?
- US /ˌmɪspɹəˈnaʊns/
- Australia /ˌmɪspɹəˈnæɔns/
Mispronounce has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Neøn-mispronounce.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of mispronounce
- mispronounces present, singular, he/she/it
- mispronouncing participle, present
- mispronounced participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is mispronounce?
Mispronounce appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 107,757th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Mispronounce in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to pronounce incorrectly:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | mal prononcer, écorcher |
| German | falsch aussprechen |
| Portuguese | mascavar |
| Spanish | pronunciar mal |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.