English word stress

A stressed syllable is longer, louder and higher in pitch than the ones around it. English is a stress-timed language: stressed syllables arrive at roughly even intervals and everything between them is compressed. That compression is why unstressed vowels collapse into the schwa /ə/, and why fluent English sounds uneven compared to syllable-timed languages such as Spanish or Japanese.

Getting stress wrong disrupts understanding more than getting an individual sound wrong. A listener can usually repair a mispronounced vowel; a word stressed on the wrong syllable is often simply not recognised.

The most useful pattern in English. For many two-syllable words that are both a noun and a verb, the noun takes stress on the first syllable and the verb on the second. Play each and listen for where the weight lands.

A REcord is a thing; to reCORD is an action. Each pair is played as a short phrase, because a word read on its own is always given its noun stress — the contrast only exists in context. The stress shifts word list plays the set in order.

Adding a suffix often drags the stress to a new syllable, and the vowels change with it. This is why a word you know can become unrecognisable in another form.

Two nouns forming one idea are stressed on the first: a GREENhouse is a building for plants, while a green HOUSE is a house that is green.

Read slowly first. Pronounce each syllable deliberately before trying to blend them at full speed. Rushing hides the vowel and consonant shapes your ear needs to learn.

Record yourself. Most phones have a voice memo app — record a word, then compare it to the playback here. Hearing the gap between your version and the model accent makes targeted practice far easier.

Focus on one accent. Jumping between American, British and Australian in the same session creates confusion. Pick the accent you encounter most and stick with it until the patterns feel natural.

Every word above is a button. Set the accent and voice you want on the main screen, then come back — the guides use whatever you chose. To hear two accents against each other, use Compare; to test whether you can actually hear a contrast, use the listening quiz.