Pronunciation
guides.
137 guides, grouped by what they teach. Every example word is a button — tap it and hear it in the accent you have chosen.
American vs British pronunciation
The five differences that account for most of the gap between American and British English, each with words you can play in both accents.
IPA for English learners
What the phonetic symbols in a dictionary actually mean, with the vowels English learners confuse most.
Minimal pairs practice
Pairs of words that differ by exactly one sound, and how to use them to fix the contrasts you cannot hear yet.
Silent letters in English
Which letters go unspoken, the patterns behind them, and the words that catch learners out.
English word stress
Stress placement is what makes a word sound right. The rules, and the pairs where stress alone changes the meaning.
How to pronounce TH
English has two th sounds and most languages have neither. Where the tongue goes, which words take which one, and how to stop substituting s, z, t or d.
Pronouncing -ed endings
The three ways -ed is said at the end of a regular past tense verb, the one rule that decides which, and a full word list to practise with.
Pronouncing -s endings
Plurals and third-person verbs take three different -s sounds. The rule is about voicing rather than spelling, and it takes about a minute to learn.
Commonly mispronounced words
Words that trip up learners and native speakers alike, each with the sound people actually get wrong and audio you can play in your own accent.
Hardest words to pronounce in English
Complete guide with audio to the 50 hardest English words — food, names, silent letters, loanwords, and everyday traps.
How to pronounce names
Names are the hardest words to read aloud. How to find a name’s real pronunciation, why spelling misleads, and the names people most often get wrong.
Connected speech
Native speakers link, drop and weaken sounds between words. Learn the four patterns and fast speech stops sounding like a different language.
Indian English pronunciation
What distinguishes Indian English from British and American English: retroflex consonants, pure vowels, syllable timing, and which features are worth keeping.
IELTS speaking pronunciation
Pronunciation is a quarter of your IELTS speaking band. What the descriptors reward, why your accent is not penalised, and what is actually worth practising.
TOEFL speaking pronunciation
Master TOEFL pronunciation scoring, common mistakes, and academic vocabulary with audio examples.
English vowel sounds
English has around twenty vowel sounds but only five vowel letters. The full set with audio, what each one sounds like, and the pairs learners confuse most.
Homophones in English
Hear which words are genuinely identical in sound, which only nearly are, and which look identical on the page but are said two completely different ways.
English pronunciation for non-native speakers
Essential phonetic rules, common vowel traps, and practical exercises for ESL learners mastering clear English pronunciation.
Why English spelling is hard
Explore the historical sound shifts and foreign loanwords that make English spelling one of the least phonetic systems in the world.
The schwa — English’s most common sound
One lazy, shapeless vowel accounts for more of spoken English than any other. What it is, every letter that spells it, and why your rhythm depends on it.
The vs thee
English’s most common word has three pronunciations. The rule that picks between them is about sound, not spelling — and it governs a and an too.
Flap T and glottal stops
American English taps the t in water; much of Britain replaces it with a catch in the throat. The rule behind both, and when to copy them.
Silent K and ghost consonants
Every kn- word once had an audible k. The history behind English’s silent consonants, and the pattern that makes them reappear.
How to pronounce Irish names
Irish spelling is more regular than English. Six rules cover almost every name — bh, mh, slender s, ao, the fada — with audio for each.
IELTS speaking band 7 pronunciation
Band 7 has no descriptor of its own — it is Band 6 with no gaps plus some of Band 8. What that means in practice, and a four-week routine.
English pronunciation for Spanish speakers
Five vowels against twenty, syllable timing against stress timing, and the e that keeps appearing in front of “school”. What to fix, in order.
Vowel minimal pairs chart
Every major English vowel contrast on one page, with audio. The pairs that separate ship from sheep, bed from bad, and thirty more.
English sentence stress
Why some words in a sentence are loud and others vanish, and how mastering this pattern fixes more intelligibility problems than any individual sound.
English intonation patterns
The three pitch shapes that carry meaning in every English sentence, with examples of how changing the melody changes the message.
Connected speech practice
Practical exercises for the three processes that reshape words in fluent English: linking, dropping sounds, and changing sounds to match their neighbours.
IELTS Academic Word List pronunciation
Pronounce the 20 most frequent IELTS academic words with audio buttons, plus a full 1,000-word reference list for IELTS Reading, Writing and Speaking.
How to pronounce names
Names from Irish, Spanish, French, Japanese, Indian, African and celebrity contexts — each with audio buttons and the spelling rules that explain them.
Teaching English pronunciation
A practical framework for ESL teachers: what to teach, in what order, how to diagnose errors, and classroom activities that work.
How to improve English pronunciation
Ten research-backed methods for improving English pronunciation, from minimal pairs to shadowing native speakers, each with practice links and audio examples.
English pronunciation by accent
Key features, example words and comparisons for six major English accents: American, British, Australian, Indian, Canadian and Irish.
English pronunciation rules
The eight core rules of English pronunciation: silent letters, TH, -ed, -s, schwa, word stress, connected speech and intonation, each with audio examples.
How to pronounce English words
Five strategies for pronouncing any English word: learn spelling patterns, master commonly mispronounced words, tackle the hardest traps, and understand name pronunciation.
R sound pronunciation
English r is rhotic in American English but dropped after vowels in British and Australian English. Where the tongue goes, how r differs from l and w, and the words to practise.
L sound pronunciation
English l has two forms: a clear light l before vowels and a dark l at the ends of words. Where the tongue differs for each, and why final l is the hard one.
W vs V pronunciation
W is made with the lips alone; v presses the upper teeth against the lower lip. Why west and vest are different words, and the minimal pairs that train the contrast.
S vs SH pronunciation
S and sh are both hisses, but the tongue tip stays at the teeth for s and pulls back for sh. Pairs like seat and sheet show how much meaning rests on the contrast.
CH vs SH pronunciation
Ch is an explosive stop-then-hiss; sh is a smooth hiss from the first instant. Why chip and ship start differently, and the pairs that train the contrast.
J vs Y pronunciation
J is a blocked sound that bursts; y is a glide that never blocks. Why Jill and yell are different words, and how to stop turning y into j.
NG sound pronunciation
The letters ng hide two pronunciations: a single back-nasal in singer and a nasal plus hard g in finger. Plus how -ing endings really sound in speech.
H sound pronunciation
H is a puff of breath with no mouth position of its own. When it is pronounced, when it is silent, and why hour, honest and herb behave differently.
Z vs S pronunciation
Z and s are the same hiss with one difference: vibration. Why zeal and seal are different words, and how the same written s changes sound.
B vs V pronunciation
B is a lip pop; v is teeth on lip. How berry and very differ, and why Spanish and Arabic speakers often merge the pair.
English pronunciation for French speakers
The silent H, the TH barrier, lax vs tense vowels, and stress-timing rules every French native speaker needs to master English.
English pronunciation for Mandarin speakers
Master final consonant clusters, L vs N dialect merges, R vs L contrasts, and English stress timing.
English pronunciation for Arabic speakers
Fix P vs B substitution, consonant cluster epenthesis, and master the 6-vowel English contrast system.
English pronunciation for Hindi speakers
Master V vs W distinctions, clear alveolar T/D vs retroflex stops, and stress-timed rhythm.
English pronunciation for German speakers
Overcome Auslautverhärtung (final devoicing), fix W vs V swaps, and master /æ/ vs /e/ vowel contrasts.
English pronunciation for Japanese speakers
Eliminate Katakana vowel insertion, separate R from L, and adjust from mora-timing to English stress-timing.
English pronunciation for Korean speakers
Fix P/F and B/V substitutions, stop final -eu vowel epenthesis, and master English fricative sounds.
English pronunciation for Portuguese speakers
Master word-final M/N consonant closures, prevent vowel nasalization, and fix European vs Brazilian accent traps.
English pronunciation for Russian speakers
Overcome word-final consonant devoicing, eliminate /v/ for /w/ swaps, and soften hard palatalized consonants.
English pronunciation for Italian speakers
Master initial exhaled H, stop trailing vowel additions (-a sound), and separate lax from tense English vowels.
Syllable stress patterns
Where the stress lands by word length — two-syllable nouns, three-syllable verbs, and the middle-heavy long words — with audio for every pattern.
Compound word stress
The stress pattern that separates compound nouns from adjective-plus-noun phrases, with audio pairs like blackboard versus black board.
Suffix stress shifts
Why adding a suffix moves the stress: photograph, photography, photographic. The -tion, -ic and -ity endings that decide where the weight lands.
Two-syllable word stress
The noun–verb stress pairs: REcord the noun versus reCORD the verb, the vowel changes that come with them, and the words that do not shift.
Weak forms pronunciation
Function words have two pronunciations: strong and weak. The schwa versions native speakers actually use, and when the strong form is right.
Numbers pronunciation
How stress separates the teens from the tens, plus how to pronounce prices, years and phone numbers the way native speakers do.
Contrastive stress
Stressing a different word changes what a sentence means. The rules of emphasis, correction and contrast, with the classic seven-meanings sentence.
Question intonation
Rising intonation for yes/no questions, falling for wh-questions, and how echo questions and tag questions borrow both patterns.
Rhythm and stress timing
English is stress-timed: stressed syllables arrive at even intervals and unstressed ones are squeezed between them. How to hear and copy the beat.
Phrasal verb stress
The particle in a phrasal verb carries the main stress: give UP, turn OFF. The pronoun rule, and how to tell particles from prepositions.
Assimilation in English
Why ten bikes becomes tem bikes and could you becomes couldjoo. The three patterns of assimilation — place, coalescence and voicing — with audio examples.
Elision in English
Sandwich becomes sammich, next day becomes nex day, comfortable loses a syllable. The rules behind the sounds English drops in connected speech, with audio.
Linking sounds in English
Consonant-to-vowel linking, the /w/ and /j/ bridges between vowels, and linking r. How fluent English welds words together, with audio examples and practice.
How contractions are really pronounced
Contractions are the default of spoken English, not an optional shortcut. The actual sounds of don't, won't, I'd, it's, negatives and stacked forms, with audio.
Reductions in fast speech
The reduced forms native speakers use constantly — gonna, wanna, gotta, shoulda, kinda, outta, 'sup, dunno, gimme, lemme. What they sound like and when to use them.
Chunking and pausing
Fluency is where you pause, not how fast you speak. Thought groups, pause placement, why pausing changes meaning — and the drills that train it.
The shadowing technique
The listen-repeat-shadow method for pronunciation: matching rhythm, stress, linking and intonation. The five-step loop, the daily routine, and what to copy.
Weak vowel reductions
English only fully pronounces the stressed bits. How unstressed vowels collapse to the schwa, the weak forms of function words, and when the strong form returns.
Intrusive r
When a British English r appears where no r is written — law and order becomes law-r-and-order. Linking r versus intrusive r, which accents do it, and whether you should.
Stress timing practice
English is stress-timed, not syllable-timed: the stressed syllables tick evenly and everything else gets squeezed. Six drills to build the rhythm, plus a daily routine.
Ough words pronunciation
The same four letters are pronounced at least six different ways. The sound families for through, though, tough, cough, plough, borough and more, each with audio.
Soft c and soft g pronunciation
Before e, i and y, c and g soften to /s/ and /dʒ/. The rule, the word lists, and the exceptions — get, give, girl, tiger and the Italian loanwords.
Vowel digraph pronunciation
Two vowel letters, one sound — usually. The main sounds of ea, oo, ou, ai and ie, the exception families that break them, and how to guess in a new word.
Silent b pronunciation
When b goes silent: after m at the end of a word (comb, thumb, bomb), in the -bt group (debt, doubt), and when the b comes back in crumble and bombard.
Silent t pronunciation
The t that vanishes after s in listen, castle and whistle, the one-offs Christmas, soften and mortgage, the French silent t of ballet, and the famous often debate.
Silent d and g pronunciation
The d squeezed out of Wednesday and handsome, the g dropped from gnome, sign, design and foreign, and the words where the silent g returns: signature, designate.
Silent l pronunciation
The l that vanished before k, m, f and d: the -alk, -alm, -alf, -olk and -ould families, plus salmon, colonel and the accent-split almond and solder.
Silent p pronunciation
The silent p of Greek ps-, pn- and pt- clusters, the never-spoken p of receipt, the surprise p of raspberry and cupboard, and the words where the p is fully pronounced.
Double consonant pronunciation
Why English doubles consonants: the short-vowel signal of dinner and letter, the pairs where doubling changes the word, and the real doubled sounds of pizza and latte.
Silent letters tricky cases
The silent h of which, what and why, the silent w of who and whole, the silent first letters of write, knee and gnome, and the silent h of hour, honest and heir.
How to pronounce medical terms
Medical vocabulary keeps Greek stress, silent letters and the -itis rule. Hear stethoscope, Alzheimer’s, cholesterol and anesthesia in your own accent.
How to pronounce food words
Gnocchi, bruschetta, quinoa, croissant and mozzarella — the four foreign spelling rules that fix most menu pronunciation disasters.
How to pronounce brand names
Brands decide their own pronunciation. Nike, Adidas, Porsche, Versace, Hermès and Zara, with the home-country rules and the companies that corrected everyone.
How to pronounce tech terms
Software names were invented, not evolved — so the creator decides. Kubernetes, nginx, Linux, SQL, GIF and algorithm, with the stories that settle them.
How to pronounce legal terms
Subpoena, tort, affidavit, bona fide and caveat — the Latin and Norman French vocabulary of the courtroom and the silent letters inside it.
How to pronounce finance terms
Fiduciary, amortize, leverage, portfolio and entrepreneur — the French final stress, the US/UK vowel splits, and the one word everyone overcomplicates.
How to pronounce fashion brands
Givenchy, Balenciaga, Loewe, Moschino and Louis Vuitton. French zh and nasals, Italian sch-as-sk, and a German name a Spanish house re-pronounced.
How to pronounce academic words
Methodology, paradigm, epistemology and hypothesis — the -ology stress rule that unlocks Greek academic vocabulary, and the odd words that break it.
How to pronounce business English
Especially, colleague, receipt, schedule and advantageous — the silent p, the phantom x, and the US/UK splits that surface in every meeting.
How to pronounce place names
Leicester, Norwich, Worcestershire, Loughborough, Edinburgh and Spokane — the collapsed English town names, the -shire rule, and the US towns that split them.
How to pronounce French names
Silent final consonants, stress on the last syllable, and the nasal vowels — the rules that unlock French names, from Jean to Renault, with audio.
How to pronounce Italian names
Soft c and g, hard gh, held double consonants and stress on the second-to-last syllable: the four rules behind Giovanni, Fellini and Versace.
How to pronounce Spanish names
J is h, ñ is ny, the accent mark is the stress, and Spain and Latin America split on c and z. The rules behind Joaquín, Ximena and Barcelona.
How to pronounce German names
J is y, w is v, z is ts, ei is eye and ie is ee — the six letter swaps that unlock German names, plus ü, ö and ch.
How to pronounce Japanese names
Five pure vowels, syllable timing, a tapped r and a hard g — the easy rules behind Suzuki, Haruki, Toyota and Nintendo.
How to pronounce Arabic names
The guttural consonants kh, gh and q, doubled letters that are really held, and why Abdul is only half a name. With audio.
How to pronounce city names
English exonyms have their own pronunciations: Moscow is MOS-koh, Prague is one syllable, Seoul rhymes with soul. The rules and the traps.
How to pronounce country names
The -stan countries stress the final syllable except Kyrgyzstan; Djibouti begins like “jam”; Liechtenstein hides a k. Audio for each.
How to pronounce Greek mythology names
Ph is f, ch is k, final -es is “eez”, and Zeus rhymes with moose in English. The rules behind Achilles, Persephone and Odysseus.
How to pronounce biblical names
Silent final h, y as a long i, and the th of “thin” — the habits that unlock Jeremiah, Rebekah, Bethlehem and Gethsemane.
Scottish English pronunciation
The features that make Scottish English sound the way it does: the r that never disappears, the vowel that makes put and but rhyme, and the loch sound that English lost.
New Zealand English pronunciation
Why fish and chips sounds like fush and chups: the centralised KIT vowel, the raising of dress and trap, and the other shifts that separate New Zealand from Australian English.
South African English pronunciation
The doubled KIT vowel, flattened face and goat, and the Dutch and Afrikaans influence that shapes the English of South Africa — with example words for each.
Nigerian English pronunciation
Why Nigerian English gives every syllable equal time, keeps every vowel full, and merges pairs like bad and bed — the systematic sound system of a major West African variety.
Singaporean English pronunciation
The sound system under Singlish: syllable timing, full vowels, simplified final consonants, and the t and d that replace th — plus the particles that mark it.
Welsh English pronunciation
The rolled r, the clear l, the sing-song intonation — how the sounds of the Welsh language shape the English spoken in Wales.
Caribbean English pronunciation
The vowel shapes, the t and d that stop th and drop out between vowels, and the rhythmic swing that carry across Jamaican, Trinidadian and other Caribbean English.
The American Southern accent
The drawl, the ah-sounding I, the pen–pin merger and the vowels that stay distinct: how the American South pronounces English, with examples.
The Northern British accent
The vowels that divide England: a short u in cup, a short a in bath, and the fast-moving vowels of Manchester and Leeds, explained with audio.
Filipino English pronunciation
Why fifty can sound like piftee and very like bery: the sound swaps, the full vowels and the syllable timing that come from Tagalog and the other languages of the Philippines.
PTE speaking pronunciation
PTE Academic scores pronunciation and oral fluency by machine. What the engine listens for, why accent is not penalised, and the words that appear in Read Aloud.
Cambridge exam pronunciation
How pronunciation is assessed at C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency, the stress-shift words that mark advanced vocabulary, and the errors that cap your band.
Duolingo English Test pronunciation
Read Aloud, photo description and interactive speaking on the DET: how the automated scoring hears you, the words that trip speakers up, and time-tested tips.
OET pronunciation for healthcare
OET scores intelligibility in its speaking role-plays, not accent. The medical words, medication names and patient-facing phrases worth learning precisely.
Job interview pronunciation
The interview is won on a narrow set of words. Master stress on the words you will actually say, sentence stress on your achievements, and confident intonation.
Presentation pronunciation tips
Presentations compress your speech into its most visible moments. Pace, pausing, stress on slide keywords and the signposting phrases that structure your talk.
Accent reduction guide
Accent reduction is really intelligibility training: fixing the features that cause misunderstanding, not erasing your identity. Realistic goals and the methods that work.
English pronunciation for doctors
Doctor-patient pronunciation is a patient-safety issue. Symptom words, anatomy stress patterns, medication names and the suffixes that make medical English predictable.
English pronunciation for lawyers
Legal English mixes Latin and Norman French stress rules. The terms clients and courts hear — liability, jurisdiction, affidavit, plaintiff — pronounced correctly.
English classroom pronunciation
For international students in English-medium universities: the vocabulary of every course, listening for stress, question frames that sound confident, and note habits.
Homographs pronunciation
Words spelled identically but said differently — lead, read, wind, tear and friends — with audio for every pronunciation and the pattern that explains them.
Words pronounced differently in US and UK
Schedule, route, aluminium, garage, vitamin, vase, advertisement and privacy — the eight everyday words Americans and Brits say differently, with audio in both accents.
Commonly mispronounced food names
Chipotle, espresso, phở, gyro, açaí, focaccia, bruschetta and edamame — the menu words everyone mangles, each with the rule that explains its sound and audio.
Irregular plural pronunciation
The six irregular plurals that actually matter — children, mice, geese, oxen, teeth and analyses — with audio and the three historical mechanisms behind them.
Advanced minimal pairs
The pairs after the basics: r and l inside clusters, s against z, th against f, and the silent-e vowel pairs — each with audio and a drill routine.
Tricky vowel sounds
The three vowel contrasts learners confuse most — the short-a family, sit versus seat, full versus fool — with anchor words and audio for each pair.
Word endings pronunciation
-tion, -sion, -cian, -cial, -tial, -able, -ible, -ary, -ery and -ture: the endings that decide the pronunciation — and the stress — of thousands of words.
How to find the stressed syllable
How to locate the stressed syllable of any new English word: the noun-verb rule, suffix stress magnets, compound and prefix rules, and the dictionary habit.
English pronunciation for beginners
First steps for absolute beginners: sounds are not letters, the twenty vowels, the consonants that set traps, and the listen-first method with a week-one plan.
Mastering English pronunciation
The capstone: the five layers of the whole pronunciation system — sounds, stress, spelling, connected speech, accent — every cluster guide mapped, with a twelve-week plan.
Practise what you read
Every guide links to the practice lists that go with it, and each list plays end to end in the accent and voice you have set. You can also browse all word lists, look up a single word in the word index, hear two accents side by side on Compare, or test whether you can hear a contrast with the listening quiz.