It's easy to write these off as noise: extra sounds a speaker throws in out of habit, safe to ignore while you listen for the “real” content. That's a mistake. These words are called discourse markers by linguists for a reason: they signal hedging, agreement-seeking, topic shifts, and tone, and missing them means missing part of the actual message, not just some background noise around it.
Five Markers, Decoded
What each one is actually signaling, beyond just taking up space.
“Like”
Softening or hedging a claimNot always meaningless. "Like" often signals that what follows is approximate, not exact, or that the speaker is choosing their next words carefully. Cutting it doesn't always keep the same meaning.
"It was, like, really weird" softens the claim compared to the flatter "It was really weird."
“I mean”
Reframing or softening an opinionUsually signals a shift: either restating something more precisely, or cushioning an opinion that's about to sound blunt.
"I mean, it's not that deep" softens the opinion that follows, making it sound less like a firm judgment.
“You know”
Checking for shared understandingA quick check-in that the listener is following along, or an implicit request to fill in a detail the speaker is skipping over.
"It was just, you know, a lot" assumes the listener can fill in what "a lot" means without more detail.
“Right?”
Seeking agreement mid-sentenceDropped in to invite quick agreement or confirm the listener is still tracking, functioning almost like a mini question buried inside a statement.
"That meeting ran forever, right?" invites a quick nod more than an actual answer.
“So, anyway”
Signaling a return to the main pointA verbal marker that a tangent has ended and the speaker is steering back to what they were originally saying.
"So, anyway, back to what I was saying" is a clear audio cue that a detour is over.
THE REAL TEST
Try removing one of these words from a sentence you've heard. If the meaning shifts even slightly, it wasn't filler.
Four Jobs These Markers Are Doing
Most discourse markers fall into one of these functions, sometimes more than one at once.
Hedging
Softening how certain or definite a statement sounds, so it lands as an opinion rather than a hard fact. "Like" and "I mean" do most of this work.
Checking in
Quietly confirming the listener is still following, or inviting quick agreement without pausing the conversation to ask directly. "You know" and "right?" both do this.
Transitioning
Signaling a shift back to the main point after a tangent, or moving from one idea to the next without a formal announcement. "So, anyway" is the clearest example.
Buying time
Giving the speaker a beat to choose their next words, without going silent. This overlaps with hedging, but the job here is timing, not softening meaning.
Why This Matters for Listening, Not Just Speaking
Most English instruction treats these words as something to avoid producing, since they can sound unpolished in formal writing. But for listening comprehension it's the opposite problem: these markers show up constantly in real conversation, and if your ear is trained to tune them out as noise, you lose the hedge, the tone shift, or the agreement check they were actually carrying.
This is exactly what PopEar is for.
Real conversation is full of these markers, delivered fast and folded into the sentence around them. PopEar trains your ear on real, unscripted speech, matched to your level, so you start catching what these small words are actually doing, not just filtering them out.
Try PopEar FreeA "like" or a "you know" slipping past unnoticed is a small loss, repeated constantly. Each one is carrying real signal, said quietly enough that it's easy to stop hearing at all.
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