Pronunciation · Words that change with stress

How to pronounce “contract”

KON-trakt

2 syllables · stress on “KON”

KONtrakt

Britishˈkɒntrækt

Americanˈkɑːntrækt

In short

“contract” is pronounced KON-trakt: 2 syllables, with the stress on “KON”. The noun (an agreement) is common in business English; the verb (to shrink, or to catch an illness) is much rarer, so the pair is rarely heard side by side. The version to avoid is kun-TRAKT for the legal document.

Say “contract” in 3 steps

1Noun: KON-trakt — a signed agreement.
2Verb: kun-TRAKT — to shrink, or to catch a disease.
3Keep the /tr/ cluster tight in both; do not insert a vowel between t and r.

The version to avoid

Commonly said as: kun-TRAKT for the legal document

The noun (an agreement) is common in business English; the verb (to shrink, or to catch an illness) is much rarer, so the pair is rarely heard side by side.

“contract” as a verb

Used when contract means to shrink, tighten or catch an illness.

kun-TRAKT

kənˈtrækt · stress on “TRAKT”

kunTRAKT

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

3 human recordings

Actual people saying “contract”, 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. Tomhannen assumed (based on copyright claims). and Dvortygirl, licensed under Public domain / CC BY-SA 3.0. 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 ɒo as in hot nn as in no tt as in tea rr as in red æa as in cat

More words that change with stress

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

presentPREZ-unt recordREK-ord objectOB-jikt subjectSUB-jikt projectPROJ-ekt increaseIN-krees

Frequently asked questions

How do you pronounce contract?

contract is pronounced KON-trakt, written /ˈkɒntrækt/ in IPA. Noun: KON-trakt — a signed agreement.

How many syllables are in contract?

two: KON-trakt. The stress falls on “KON”.

What is the most common mistake with contract?

kun-TRAKT for the legal document. The noun (an agreement) is common in business English; the verb (to shrink, or to catch an illness) is much rarer, so the pair is rarely heard side by side.

Does contract change as a verb?

Yes. Used when contract means to shrink, tighten or catch an illness. That form is pronounced kun-TRAKT, /kənˈtrækt/ in IPA.

The full sound library

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