English words can be really confusing sometimes. In these how-to-pronounce episodes published on Fridays, I'll help you with the pronunciation of confusing words and common names. This week we're going to talk about the minimal pair, 'pool' and 'pull'.

Here's a loose transcription of the words as explained in the episode: pool: puwl [IPA: puːl] food: fuwd [IPA: fuːd] you: yuw [IPA: yuː] who'd: huwd [IPA: huːd] kook: kuwk [IPA: kuːk] Luke: luwk [IPA: luːk] fruit juice: fruwt djuws [IPA: fruːt dʒuːs]

pull: pul [IPA: pʊl] foot: fut [IPA: fʊt] cook: kuk [IPA: kʊk] look: luk [IPA: lʊk] book: buk [IPA: bʊk] cookie: ku-kee [IPA: kʊki] hood: hud [IPA: hʊd]

You can watch the video version here: https://hadarshemesh.com/magazine/pool-pull/

If you want to improve your accent and understand spoken English better, download my free American Accent audio crash course: https://hadarshemesh.com/audio-accent-course/ You can also download an interactive list of 50 of the most mispronounced words in English and master the pronunciation of those tricky words: https://theaccentsway.com/mispro-signup/ Join our Facebook community to connect with non-native English learners from all over the world: https://hadarshemesh.com/influency-community/