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by smnrchrds 1754 days ago
My favourite example: "banana" has three a's, no two of which are pronounced the same.
3 comments

I think I pronounce the first and last a's the same (specifically, as /ə/)... it must be a dialectical difference (mine is General American English).
I've think I've heard bina:na:, bina:nɚ, and binænə, in addition to bənænə.
I think you are right.
For me the first a is reduced to almost nothing, the second is a long vowel and the last is a schwa.
That's a good example. I am amused by "record" being pronounced differently whether it's a verb or a noun.
They're called heteronyms, and there are a lot of them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heteronym_(linguistics)
panorama is similar.