Which of the following is a typical example of a miscue during reading aloud?

• A. Saying a word that sounds the same or similar but is not the printed word.
• B. Reading at the same pace as the text.
• C. Stumbling over punctuation marks.
• D. Using the same wording as printed.

Answer: (A)

When reading aloud, a typical miscue is when the reader says a word that sounds the same or similar but isn’t the printed word. This shows the reader is mapping sounds to words and sometimes takes a phonetic shortcut, substituting one word for another because the sounds line up even though the print differs. It’s a common kind of error that reflects how decoding and phonology influence what we hear in real time. For example, saying “bare” when the text says “bear” is such a substitution—the sentence still makes sense, but the exact print isn’t read correctly.

Other options aren’t miscues in the same way: stumbling over punctuation affects pacing or phrasing rather than a wrong printed word; reading with the same wording as printed is accurate and not a miscue; and reading at the same pace as the text indicates fluency, not an error in word reading.