Do You Know the Real Words to These Mispronounced Song Lyrics?

By: Isadora Teich
Estimated Completion Time
3 min
Do You Know the Real Words to These Mispronounced Song Lyrics?
Image: Neon Tommy

About This Quiz

Think you are a music buff? You may be a total music lover, but sometimes it can be hard to know the exact lyrics to popular songs. While Broadway and more classical styles of music often have strict pronunciation rules for vocalists, all that goes out the window when it comes to pop and rock and roll. In fact, sometimes, the rougher and more unintelligible the pronunciation of the words in these songs, the better they can be. No one judges rock stars on how round their vowel sounds are. What matters is that we can feel their passion and energy.     

This leads to all sorts of accents, pronunciations, and quirks, making songs a bit hard to understand at times. Misunderstood song lyrics are super common. People can listen to the same song for years without really knowing the words. In a group of friends, they all might even have different ideas of what the words in one single song are. This is why this quiz is for the true music fiends who know their favorite songs inside and out. 

If you are a music lover with a well-trained and talented ear, put it to the test with this very musical quiz! 

“Then I saw her face, now I’m ____________."
gonna leave her
a believer
lost a liver
about to meet her
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line is from "I'm a Believer" by The Monkees. The correct line is, “Then I saw her face, now I’m a believer.”

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“I can see clearly now ___________ is gone.”
my pain
Lorraine
the chain
the rain
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line is from Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now." The correct lyric is “I can see clearly now the rain is gone."

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“I want to hold your _______.”
hand
ham
heaven
heart
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

"I Want To Hold Your Hand" is a song by The Beatles. It was released in 1964.

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"This is for all you girls about 42 / Tossing __________ into the fountain of youth."
pennies
panties
peonies
purses
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line is from "This One's For The Girls" by Martina McBride. The correct lyric is "This is for all you girls about 42 / Tossing pennies into the fountain of youth."

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“It doesn’t make a difference if _________________.”
we're naked or not
we take them in or not
we make it or not
they sleep in or not
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This is from Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer." The correct line is “It doesn’t make a difference if we make it or not.”

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“See that girl, ______________, dig in the dancing queen.”
watch her scream
she'll be seen
watch that scene
on the scene
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line is from the song "Dancing Queen" by Abba. The correct line is "“See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the dancing queen.”

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"Take me to church, I'll worship like a ________ at the shrine of your lies."
doll
dart
dog
dawn
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line is from "Take Me To Church" by Hozier. The correct lyric is "Take me to church, I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies."

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"Shake it like a ______________."
lemonade pitcher
popular preacher
polaroid picture
high school bleacher
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line comes from "Hey Ya" by Outkast. The correct lyric is "shake it like a polaroid picture."

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“We didn’t start the fire. It was always burning ____________________.”
since my stomach's churning
since the world's been turning
says the girl in warning
we are always learning
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This lyric comes from the Billy Joel song, "We Didn't Start The Fire." The right line is “We didn’t start the fire. It was always burning since the world’s been turning.”

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"You big disgrace/ Kickin' your ______ all over the place."
cat
can
kid
man
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line is from Queen's "We Will Rock You." The correct lyric is "You big disgrace/ Kickin' your can all over the place."

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“Here we are now, __________.”
wearing trainers
in containers
entertain us
apparatus
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line is from "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. This song's lyrics are famously hard to understand.

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“A year has passed since I ___________.”
wrote my note
broke my nose
lost my oats
began to float
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line comes from "Message in a Bottle" by The Police. The correct line is "“A year has passed since I wrote my note."

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“Money for nothin’ and your ________ for free.”
chips
cheese
chicks
chess
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This is from the Dire Straits song, "Money For Nothing." The correct line is “Money for nothin’ and your chicks for free.”

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“I like big butts ____________."
standing in a line
and I cannot lie
in a can of limes
and I never lie
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This is a line from "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-A-Lot. The correct line is “I like big butts and I cannot lie.”

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"You can call me __________ / And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule."
mean queen
queen bee
green bean
teen queen
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This is from "Royals" by Lorde. The correct lyric is "You can call me queen bee / And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule."

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"Go, get your __________."
free throne
freak thing
free cone
freak on
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This comes from "Get Ur Freak On" by Missy Elliott. This song was released in 2001.

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“Hold me closer, __________."
Tony Danza
influenza
tiny dancer
lady danger
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This is a line from Elton John's, "Tiny Dancer." The correct line is “Hold me closer, tiny dancer.”

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"We built this city on_________."
heart and soul
hard coal
an ice floe
rock and roll
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line comes from the Starship song, "We Built This City." It was released in 1985.

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"________ has a devil put aside for me."
algebra
Beelzebub
rub-a-dub
the old flub
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line comes from Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." It as originally released on the band's 1975 album, "A Night At The Opera."

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"Don't go ___________ waterfalls."
Jason
chasing
racing
placing
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line is from "Waterfalls" by TLC. The correct lyric is "Don't go chasing waterfalls."

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"Just another day, had to pick up all the ________."
mayo
mail
men
meals
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line comes from "No Problem" by Chance the Rapper. The song features 2 Chains and Lil Wayne.

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“There’s a __________ on the rise.”
bathroom
red room
bad moon
blue moon
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line comes from Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising." The right lyric is, “ There’s a bad moon on the rise.”

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"Say you’ll remember me, _____________, staring at the sunset, babe.
slipping off my sundress
standing in a nice dress
changing up my address
young and blonde and restless
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This lyric is from Taylor Swift's "Wildest Dreams." The right line is "Say you’ll remember me, standing in a nice dress, staring at the sunset, babe."

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"There's nothing that a hundred men __________ could ever do."
on mars
or warts
nor wars
or more
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line comes from "Africa" by Toto. Originally released in 1982, this song has recently become popular again.

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"The story of my life, I take _________."
the ghost
her home
her name
the plan
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line comes from the One Direction song, "Story of my Life." The correct lyric is "The story of my life, I take her home."

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"I want you to take me, like a ___________ in the night."
creep
thief
beef
wraith
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line is from "Only Girl" by Rihanna. The correct lyric is "I want you to take me, like a thief in the night."

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"It’s gonna be ________."
mine
may
me
meat
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line comes from the *NYSYNC song, "It's Gonna Be Me." Despite being a popular meme, the lyric is actually "me" and not "May."

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"I wanna love you but __________ are venomous poison."
your lips
your kisses
your hips
your eyes
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line is from "Poison" by Alice Cooper. The correct lyric is "I wanna love you but your lips are venomous poison."

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"Give me the ________ boys and free my soul."
beach
best
beat
bean
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line is from the song, "Drift Away." The correct line is "Give me the beat boys and free my soul."

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"And the last known survivor _______________ in the night."
walks this way
waits for day
stalks his prey
sits and prays
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line comes from "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor. It was released in 1982.

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"Last night I dreamt of __________."
some mayo
San Francisco
la playa
San Pedro
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line is from the Madonna song, "La Isla Bonita." The correct lyric is "Last night I dreamt of San Pedro."

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"I took a pill ___________."
and ate pizza
to please ya
in the gazebo
in Ibiza
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This is from the Mike Posner song, "I Took A Pill In Ibiza." It was released in 2015.

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"Living with a lover with a ___________"
red iphone
radar phone
ready phone
rotary phone
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line is from "Pour Some Sugar On Me" by Def Leppard. The correct lyric is "Living with a lover with a radar phone."

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"Fire up ____________, another round of shots!"
that crowd
that loud
my mouth
down south
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This lyric comes from DJ Snake's "Turn Down For What." The correct lyric is "Fire up that loud, another round of shots!"

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"...got gloss on my lips, a man on my hips / Hold me tighter than my _________ jeans."
very own
DKNY
Dereon
painted on
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This line is from the Beyonce's song,​"Single Ladies." The correct lyric is "got gloss on my lips, a man on my hips / Hold me tighter than my Dereon jeans."

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You Got:
/35
Neon Tommy