15 Spanish Words to Test Your Pronunciation
Spanish pronunciation takes more than knowing how a word is spelled. Lucía challenges you with 15 words so you can hear where your pronunciation is strong and where it needs attention.
Watch the lesson
Pronunciation reading companion
This edited guide follows Lucía’s 15-word challenge, with the Spanish examples shown in the video and English translations. Use the time links to replay each word. The syllable breaks are a practice aid, and capital letters mark the stressed syllable.
huevos — 0:44
Meaning: eggs. Stress: HUE-vos.
Keep the ue together; the h is silent.Necesito seis huevos para hacer la tortilla de patatas.
I need six eggs to make the potato omelette.Málaga — 1:34
Meaning: Málaga, a city in southern Spain. Stress: MÁ-la-ga.
Stress the first syllable, as the accent mark shows.El fin de semana que viene me voy a Málaga con mis amigas.
Next weekend, I’m going to Málaga with my friends.efervescente — 2:31
Meaning: effervescent. Stress: e-fer-ves-CEN-te.
Keep the vowel sounds clear; listen for the c before e.Estas pastillas son efervescentes.
These tablets are effervescent.llama — 3:42
Meaning: flame; llama; or “calls” from llamar. Stress: LLA-ma.
Listen for ll as one consonant sound, rather than two separate l sounds.Mi madre me llama.
My mother calls me.aeropuerto — 4:15
Meaning: airport. Stress: a-e-ro-PUER-to.
Practise a-e-ro slowly, and keep ue together in puer.Voy a recoger a mi hermana del aeropuerto.
I’m going to pick up my sister from the airport.guerrero — 4:54
Meaning: warrior. Stress: gue-RRE-ro.
The u in gue is silent; rr contrasts with the single r in ro.Pablo tiene espíritu de guerrero.
Pablo has a warrior’s spirit.desarrolladores — 6:02
Meaning: developers. Stress: de-sa-rro-lla-DO-res.
Work through rr, ll and the single r in res.Los desarrolladores de PlayStation han creado un nuevo juego.
The PlayStation developers have created a new game.occidentalización — 6:46
Meaning: westernization. Stress: oc-ci-den-ta-li-za-CIÓN.
The two c letters have different jobs: the first represents k; the second comes before i.La occidentalización está haciendo que se pierdan algunos aspectos de la cultura en países orientales.
Westernization is causing some aspects of culture to be lost in Eastern countries. This is an example sentence from the lesson.quirúrgico — 7:39
Meaning: surgical. Stress: qui-RÚR-gi-co.
The u in qui is silent. Compare the g before i with the c before o.Algunos pacientes recibirán un tratamiento quirúrgico.
Some patients will receive surgical treatment.irreprochable — 8:24
Meaning: irreproachable; beyond criticism. Stress: i-rre-pro-CHA-ble.
Break it into parts, then join them while keeping the stress on cha.La calidad de su trabajo era irreprochable.
The quality of their work was beyond criticism.ñoño — 9:12
Meaning: bland or lacking character in this lesson’s example. Stress: ÑO-ño.
Ñ is its own letter and consonant sound; do not turn ño into two syllables.Alejandro se ha vuelto muy ñoño en estos últimos años.
Alejandro has become very bland in recent years.sinvergüenza — 9:51
Meaning: scoundrel; shameless person. Stress: sin-ver-GÜEN-za.
The two dots on ü tell you to pronounce the u in güe.Ese sinvergüenza me ha robado la cartera.
That scoundrel has stolen my wallet.branquias — 10:29
Meaning: gills. Stress: BRAN-quias.
The u in qu is silent; keep ia together in quias.Los peces tienen branquias.
Fish have gills.ferrocarril — 10:58
Meaning: railway; railroad. Stress: fe-rro-ca-RRIL.
Practise both rr sounds, and stress the last syllable.La red de ferrocarril se mejoró hace cinco años.
The railway network was improved five years ago.impermeabilizante — 11:49
Meaning: waterproofing; a waterproofing product. Stress: im-per-me-a-bi-li-ZAN-te.
Take the long word in small parts before saying it smoothly.Me han recomendado un tratamiento impermeabilizante para proteger las paredes.
I’ve been recommended a waterproofing treatment to protect the walls.
Sounds to listen for
Lucía’s main advice is to keep your vowels clear and practise difficult words in small parts. Use her demonstrations as a model while remembering that Spanish has several regional accents.
- Vowels and syllables: ue stays together in huevos and aeropuerto. An unstressed i or u next to a, e or o can form a diphthong; a stressed í or ú next to one of those vowels forms a hiatus, as in país or baúl.
- B and v: Spanish b and v represent the same sound, rather than the English b/v contrast. How firmly the lips close depends on the surrounding sounds.
- R and rr: between vowels, single r and rr contrast, as in caro and carro. The trill is also written with a single r at the beginning of a word and after n, l or s, as in enredo, alrededor and Israel.
- Ll and y: most speakers pronounce ll like their consonant y; some keep the sounds distinct. In much of Argentina and Uruguay, you will hear pronunciations similar to English sh or the sound in measure.
- C and z: c before e or i, and z, sound like s normally in Spanish-speaking Latin America, the Canary Islands and many parts of southern Spain. In much of the rest of Spain, they sound like th in English thin.
- G, gu and qu: the u is silent in guerrero and quirúrgico, but pronounced in sinvergüenza because of ü. The g before i in quirúrgico has the Spanish j sound; its strength varies by region, with a more h-like sound in many varieties.
For more detail, see the RAE’s explanations of diphthongs, r and rr, ll and ü.
Try it yourself
Pause before Lucía says each word and pronounce it first. Replay the words you missed, record yourself saying them, and compare the sounds without worrying about perfection.
Watch the original lesson on YouTube.
