Schwa is the weak unstressed vowel sound made by relaxing your mouth fully, as in the unstressed vowels in “banana” that make it sound like “bernahner”. It is the most common sound in English but is not usually shown by the spelling, so is a common confusion when listening and speaking. This is a list of the words which are most likely to confuse when spoken without schwa or if you expect to hear a vowel sound that is more like the spelling, for all levels from A1 to C1/ C2.
Important Elementary words with schwa
- about
- accountant
- actor
- address
- agree
- apartment
- arrive
- August
- author
- banana
- breakfast
- Britain
- button
- carrot
- children
- colour
- different
- director
- doctor
- dollars
- eleven
- garden
- German
- hundred
- husband
- important
- invitation
- island
- lemon
- lesson
- listen
- London
- magazine
- melon
- moment
- motorbike
- neighbour
- o’clock
- often
- open
- parent
- pasta
- pencil
- person
- present
- problem
- question
- quiet
- salad
- second
- seven
- station
- student
- telephone
- television
- thousand
- tomato
- vegetable
- visitor
- woman
Important Pre-Intermediate words with schwa
- ambulance
- afraid
- appointment
- around
- balloon
- basement
- beaten
- broken
- celebrate
- certain
- chosen
- consultant
- correct
- cousin
- cupboard
- curtain
- eaten
- editor
- elevator
- excellent
- experience
- fallen
- fashionable
- foreign
- forgotten
- given
- handsome
- happen
- independent
- instrument
- insurance
- marathon
- medicine
- mirror
- nationality
- ocean
- octopus
- oven
- pardon
- passionate
- popular
- president
- raisin
- reason
- recently
- science
- season
- signature
- silent
- similar
- talent
- umbrella
- zebra
Important Intermediate words with schwa
- absent
- acquaintance
- afterwards
- ancient
- arrogant
- bachelor
- boredom
- bottom
- burglar
- carbon
- cardigan
- collar
- common
- competitor
- corporate
- current
- distance
- dozen
- effect
- efficient
- employment
- error
- even
- fluent
- forward
- freedom
- harbour
- hooligan
- imaginative
- innocent
- instant
- kitten
- machine
- migrant
- patent
- pavement
- petrol
- pirate
- pleasant
- pregnant
- razor
- Roman
- seldom
- stomach
- symbol
- treasure
- tutor
- union
- urban
- urgent
- vegan
Important Upper-Intermediate words with schwa
- accurate
- affectionate
- anthem
- arrogance
- balance
- beggar
- carol
- comfort
- compassionate
- constant
- contractor
- councillor
- creator
- definite
- delicate
- distributor
- donor
- emperor
- enjoyment
- equator
- fasten
- figure
- governor
- heaven
- human
- immediate
- infinite
- innovative
- inspector
- item
- kingdom
- major
- method
- minor
- monument
- mutton
- operator
- organ
- parrot
- particular
- patience
- pistol
- poison
- random
- reckon
- riot
- sailor
- sector
- sensible
- sentence
- servant
- slogan
- sponsor
- statement
- support
- ultimate
- wisdom
Important Advanced words with schwa
- abundance
- alliance
- ambient
- analogy
- anchor
- appreciative
- backwards
- baron
- burden
- cannon
- chancellor
- competent
- creditor
- decent
- desperate
- electorate
- element
- factor
- fallible
- fearsome
- garland
- hesitant
- idol
- ignorant
- initiative
- intimacy
- literacy
- lizard
- maiden
- merchant
- mistaken
- occupant
- parlour
- pillar
- polar
- proficiency
- shaman
- splendour
- tenor
- weapon
- wizard