Pronunciation · Words with fewer syllables than they look

How to pronounce “every”

EV-ree

2 syllables · stress on “EV”

EVree

Britishˈevri

Americanˈevri

In short

“every” is pronounced EV-ree: 2 syllables, with the stress on “EV”. The middle vowel is deleted in almost all natural speech. Because every appears in so many fixed phrases, the extra syllable is heard constantly. The version to avoid is EV-uh-ree — three syllables.

Say “every” in 3 steps

1Two syllables: EV-ree.
2Everyone, everything and everywhere all keep the same two-syllable start: EV-ree-wun, EV-ree-thing.
3Stress the first syllable.

The version to avoid

Commonly said as: EV-uh-ree — three syllables

The middle vowel is deleted in almost all natural speech. Because every appears in so many fixed phrases, the extra syllable is heard constantly.

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

1 human recording

Actual people saying “every”, 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, licensed under 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.

ee as in bed vv as in very rr as in red iːee as in see

More words with fewer syllables than they look

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

comfortableKUMF-tuh-bul vegetableVEJ-tuh-bul chocolateCHOK-lut interestingIN-truh-sting temperatureTEM-pruh-chuh restaurantRES-tront

Frequently asked questions

How do you pronounce every?

every is pronounced EV-ree, written /ˈevri/ in IPA. Two syllables: EV-ree.

How many syllables are in every?

two: EV-ree. The stress falls on “EV”.

What is the most common mistake with every?

EV-uh-ree — three syllables. The middle vowel is deleted in almost all natural speech. Because every appears in so many fixed phrases, the extra syllable is heard constantly.

The full sound library

Next step

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