What are the word records for change one letter to radically change pronunciation?

language/english/pronunciation/syllables/entire.word/change.one.letter.to.radically.change New

New entry, edited from material collected for the archive and not yet in a released version.

Problem

What are the word records for change one letter to radically change pronunciation?
(Pronunciation / Syllables / Entire Word)

  a. longest [3-49]
  b. longest, for each letter

[ Editor: question framed by the editor from the headings of the Taxonomy of Wordplay. ]

Show solution

[ Editor: from the Taxonomy of Wordplay, www.questrel.com, retrieved 28 Oct 2026. Classes (common, uncommon, hyphenated words, phrases), scores, ties (-t) and the source codes in brackets are explained in language/english/word.records.introduction. ]

a. longest [3-49]
        common word: encourages = entourages (10)
b. longest, for each letter
        see list "Longest Word That, When a Letter is Changed, Radically Changes Pronunciation Beginning with Each Letter" below

Longest Word That, When a Letter is Changed, Radically Changes Pronunciation Beginning with Each Letter
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a       academics (academies) (9)
b       ballets (bullets) (7)
c       calamite (calamity) (8-t)
        carousal (carousel) (8-t)
        chemises (chemists) (8-t)
        collagen (collages) (8-t)
d       designed (designee) (8)
e       encourages (entourages) (10)
f       fuchsia (fuchsin) (7)
g       gorilla (golilla) (7)
h       hideous (hideout) (7)
i       intimas (intimes) (7)
j       jacobean (jacobian) (8)
k       karate (karats) (6)
l       laniard (laniary) (7)
m       merengues (meringues) (9)
n       nemesia (nemesis) (7-t)
        novella (novelly) (7-t)
o       outrances (outranges) (9)
p       polyphone (polyphony) (9)
q       quinine (quinins) (7)
r       revenges (revenues) (8-t)
        reveries (reverses) (8-t)
        routings (routines) (8-t)
s       saccharic (saccharin) (9)
t       telephone (telephony) (9)
u       unarm (unary) (5)
v       valencias (valencies) (9)
w       washes (wastes) (6-t)
        winded (winked) (6-t)
        worded (worked) (6-t)
x       ?
y       ?
z       ?

-- Taxonomy of Wordplay, www.questrel.com