Pronunciation · Everyday words people get wrong

How to pronounce “choir”

KWY-uh

2 syllables · stress on “KWY”

KWYuh

Britishˈkwaɪə

Americanˈkwaɪər

In short

“choir” is pronounced KWY-uh: 2 syllables, with the stress on “KWY”. The spelling gives no clue at all: ch is pronounced /kw/, and the oi is the /aɪ/ of “eye”. The word was respelled to look Latin after the pronunciation had settled. The version to avoid is CHOIR as written, with a /tʃ/ start — “choy-er”.

Say “choir” in 3 steps

1The ch is a /kw/ sound: start it like “quick”.
2The middle is the /aɪ/ of “eye”, not “oy”.
3It rhymes with “fire” and “higher”.

The version to avoid

Commonly said as: CHOIR as written, with a /tʃ/ start — “choy-er”

The spelling gives no clue at all: ch is pronounced /kw/, and the oi is the /aɪ/ of “eye”. The word was respelled to look Latin after the pronunciation had settled.

Hear real people say it

Model audio is consistent; real speech is not. Hearing several actual speakers is what makes a word recognisable when someone says it at full speed.

Real speakers

2 human recordings

Actual people saying “choir”, not a synthetic voice. Real speech varies — that variation is what you need to recognise, and what a single model voice cannot show you.

Recordings from Wikimedia Commons by No machine-readable author provided. Celestianpower assumed (based on copyright claims). and Sylvanmoon, licensed under Public domain / CC BY-SA 4.0. Full credits.

Practise it out loud

Reading about a sound does not change your mouth. Say it, hear it back, and fix one thing at a time.

Say it yourself

0/6 practised

Listen first, then record. You get feedback on the individual sounds, the stress and the rhythm — no account needed, and nothing is stored.

Three speakers per accent

Recordings are used only to generate this feedback and are not stored. Your accent is never penalised: IELTS scores intelligibility, and so do we.

The sounds inside this word

Each links to a full guide with mouth position, audio and drills. If a word keeps failing, the problem is usually one of these.

kk as in key ww as in we aɪi as in my əa as in about (schwa)

More everyday words people get wrong

Same pattern, same fix. Learning them as a group is far faster than one at a time.

clothesKLOHDHZ monthsMUNTHS sixthSIKSTH askedAHSKT FebruaryFEB-roo-uh-ree libraryLY-bruh-ree

Frequently asked questions

How do you pronounce choir?

choir is pronounced KWY-uh, written /ˈkwaɪə/ in IPA. The ch is a /kw/ sound: start it like “quick”.

How many syllables are in choir?

two: KWY-uh. The stress falls on “KWY”.

What is the most common mistake with choir?

CHOIR as written, with a /tʃ/ start — “choy-er”. The spelling gives no clue at all: ch is pronounced /kw/, and the oi is the /aɪ/ of “eye”. The word was respelled to look Latin after the pronunciation had settled.

The full sound library

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