Pronunciation · Academic and IELTS words

How to pronounce “hypothesis”

hy-POTH-uh-sis

4 syllables · stress on “POTH”

hyPOTHuhsis

Britishhaɪˈpɒθəsɪs

Americanhaɪˈpɑːθəsɪs

In short

“hypothesis” is pronounced hy-POTH-uh-sis: 4 syllables, with the stress on “POTH”. The stress sits on the second syllable and the third reduces to a schwa. The plural, hypotheses, changes the ending to “-seez” while keeping the same stress. The version to avoid is HY-po-thee-sis — first-syllable stress with a long “thee”.

Say “hypothesis” in 3 steps

1Stress syllable two: hy-POTH-uh-sis.
2The th is the voiceless /θ/ of “think”.
3Plural: hypotheses, hy-POTH-uh-seez.

The version to avoid

Commonly said as: HY-po-thee-sis — first-syllable stress with a long “thee”

The stress sits on the second syllable and the third reduces to a schwa. The plural, hypotheses, changes the ending to “-seez” while keeping the same stress.

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 “hypothesis”, 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.

hh as in hat aɪi as in my pp as in pen ɒo as in hot θth as in think əa as in about (schwa)ss as in see

Don't confuse it with…

Minimal pairs isolate the exact contrast this word depends on — the fastest way to train both ear and mouth.

/θ/ vs /s/: think vs sink

More academic and ielts words

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

entrepreneuron-truh-pruh-NUR questionnairekwes-chuh-NAIR environmentin-VY-run-munt phenomenonfuh-NOM-ih-nun hierarchyHY-uh-rar-kee genreZHON-ruh

Frequently asked questions

How do you pronounce hypothesis?

hypothesis is pronounced hy-POTH-uh-sis, written /haɪˈpɒθəsɪs/ in IPA. Stress syllable two: hy-POTH-uh-sis.

How many syllables are in hypothesis?

four: hy-POTH-uh-sis. The stress falls on “POTH”.

What is the most common mistake with hypothesis?

HY-po-thee-sis — first-syllable stress with a long “thee”. The stress sits on the second syllable and the third reduces to a schwa. The plural, hypotheses, changes the ending to “-seez” while keeping the same stress.

The full sound library

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