Commonly Misheard Words in PTE Listening: Avoid These Mistakes
9 min read • Updated January 2025
Learn about commonly misheard words in PTE listening section and how to avoid these critical mistakes that can significantly impact your overall score.
Table of Contents
Most Common Mistakes
Understanding commonly misheard words in PTE listening is crucial for achieving high scores. These mistakes often occur due to similar pronunciation, weak syllables, or unfamiliar accents.
Top 10 Most Misheard Words:
1"Affect" vs "Effect" - Often confused due to similar pronunciation
2"Accept" vs "Except" - Minimal pair causing frequent errors
3"Advice" vs "Advise" - Noun/verb confusion with different sounds
4"Lose" vs "Loose" - Different vowel sounds often missed
5"Than" vs "Then" - Temporal vs comparative confusion
Error Impact Analysis
| Word Pair | Error Rate | Score Impact | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Affect/Effect | 68% | High | Very Hard |
| Accept/Except | 54% | Medium | Hard |
| Advice/Advise | 47% | Medium | Hard |
| Lose/Loose | 39% | Low | Medium |
| Than/Then | 33% | Low | Medium |
Similar Sounding Words
PTE listening mistakes often stem from words that sound nearly identical but have different meanings. Recognizing these patterns is essential.
Minimal Pairs - High Risk
Consonant Confusion:
Ship / Sheep/ɪ/ vs /iː/
Bit / Beat/ɪ/ vs /iː/
Live / Leave/ɪ/ vs /iː/
Sit / Seat/ɪ/ vs /iː/
Vowel Variations:
Cat / Cut/æ/ vs /ʌ/
Bet / But/e/ vs /ʌ/
Hot / Hut/ɒ/ vs /ʌ/
Full / Fool/ʊ/ vs /uː/
Context-Dependent Words
Academic Context Confusion:
- • Principal / Principle: Person vs concept
- • Stationary / Stationery: Not moving vs writing materials
- • Complement / Compliment: Complete vs praise
- • Desert / Dessert: Dry land vs sweet food
Technical Terms:
- • Discrete / Discreet: Separate vs careful
- • Elicit / Illicit: Draw out vs illegal
- • Emigrate / Immigrate: Leave vs enter
- • Ensure / Insure: Make certain vs protect financially
Homophones & Confusing Pairs
PTE listening errors frequently involve homophones - words that sound identical but have different spellings and meanings.
Perfect Homophones:
- • There / Their / They're: Location / possession / contraction
- • To / Too / Two: Direction / also / number
- • Your / You're: Possession / contraction
- • Its / It's: Possession / contraction
- • Hear / Here: Listen / location
Near Homophones:
- • Weather / Whether: Climate / if
- • Quite / Quiet: Very / silent
- • Breath / Breathe: Noun / verb
- • Cloth / Clothe: Material / dress
- • Bath / Bathe: Noun / verb
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