Pronunciation · Famously mispronounced words

How to pronounce “epitome”

ih-PIT-uh-mee

4 syllables · stress on “PIT”

ihPITuhmee

Britishɪˈpɪtəmi

Americanɪˈpɪtəmi

In short

“epitome” is pronounced ih-PIT-uh-mee: 4 syllables, with the stress on “PIT”. The word looks like it should rhyme with “home”, so readers who meet it in print before they hear it say it in two syllables. It is Greek, not French, and the final e is pronounced. The version to avoid is EP-ih-tohm — two syllables, rhyming with “home”.

Say “epitome” in 3 steps

1Say it in four syllables, not two: ih-PIT-uh-mee.
2Put the stress on the second syllable, PIT — the same shape as “ability”.
3End on a clear /i/, like the last sound of “happy”. The final e is never silent.

The version to avoid

Commonly said as: EP-ih-tohm — two syllables, rhyming with “home”

The word looks like it should rhyme with “home”, so readers who meet it in print before they hear it say it in two syllables. It is Greek, not French, and the final e is pronounced.

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 “epitome”, 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 Dvortygirl, Commander Keane and EncycloPetey, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 / 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.

ɪi as in sit pp as in pen tt as in tea əa as in about (schwa)mm as in man iːee as in see

More famously mispronounced words

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

hyperbolehy-PUR-buh-lee colonelKUR-nul awryuh-RY segueSEG-way cacheKASH facadefuh-SAHD

Frequently asked questions

How do you pronounce epitome?

epitome is pronounced ih-PIT-uh-mee, written /ɪˈpɪtəmi/ in IPA. Say it in four syllables, not two: ih-PIT-uh-mee.

How many syllables are in epitome?

four: ih-PIT-uh-mee. The stress falls on “PIT”.

What is the most common mistake with epitome?

EP-ih-tohm — two syllables, rhyming with “home”. The word looks like it should rhyme with “home”, so readers who meet it in print before they hear it say it in two syllables. It is Greek, not French, and the final e is pronounced.

Is epitome pronounced like “epi-tome”?

No. Despite the spelling, it is never two syllables. It is ih-PIT-uh-mee, four syllables with stress on the second, and the final e is sounded.

The full sound library

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