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Perfect Stranger Posted 11 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation

Is there a difference in pronunciation between /naughty/ and /knotty/ ?

Dear Users,

I've checked both of these words in a few online dictionaries and they sound very similar to me...

knotty
naughty

Thanks
  

Top answer

ti/.

  • ti/.
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2 Answers
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Yes there is a difference, one is pronunced with short o and the other with long o, /'n?ti/ and /'n??ti/.
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In British accents, there is a tangible difference: knotty ['n?ti] and naughty ['n??ti].

However, in American accents, both vowels become open, with little difference between them, so you get ['n??ti] for both.

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