SpeakMetry
Start free

Pronunciation · Academic and IELTS words

How to pronounce “infrastructure”

IN-fruh-struk-chuh

4 syllables · stress on “IN”

INfruhstrukchuh
Britishˈɪnfrəstrʌktʃə
Americanˈɪnfrəstrʌktʃər

In short

“infrastructure” is pronounced IN-fruh-struk-chuh: 4 syllables, with the stress on “IN”. Structure on its own is stressed on its first syllable, and adding infra- moves primary stress all the way to the front. The /str/ cluster twice in one word also takes control. The version to avoid is in-fruh-STRUK-chuh — moving the stress to the third syllable.

Say “infrastructure” in 3 steps

  1. 1Stress the first syllable: IN-fruh-struk-chuh.
  2. 2The -ture ending is “chuh”, as in picture.
  3. 3Keep both /str/ clusters tight — no vowel inserted before the r.

The version to avoid

Commonly said as: in-fruh-STRUK-chuh — moving the stress to the third syllable

Structure on its own is stressed on its first syllable, and adding infra- moves primary stress all the way to the front. The /str/ cluster twice in one word also takes control.

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

No free human recording of “infrastructure” exists yet in the public archives we draw on, so the audio above is our model voice. It is accurate for this word — a human clip would simply add natural variation on top.

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 sitnn as in noff as in fanrr as in redəa as in about (schwa)ss as in seett as in teaʌu as in cupkk as in keytʃch as in chair

Who finds this word hardest

Your first language predicts which part of a word will break. These guides list the highest-impact fixes for each.

  • Spanish speakers: Spanish has 5 pure vowels where English has around 20, so the highest-impact work for Spanish speakers is vowel contrasts (ship/sheep, cat/cut) plus the b/v merger and the extra 'e' that sneaks in before s-clusters (eSpain).
  • Japanese speakers: Japanese has one liquid sound where English has two (making l/r the canonical challenge) and its strict consonant-vowel syllables invite a helper vowel after English finals (strike → sutoraiku).
  • Korean speakers: Korean speakers' highest-impact fixes are /f/→/p/ ('coffee' → 'copi'), /z/→/dʒ/ ('zoo' → 'joo'), the r/l alternation, and the helper vowel that sneaks in after final consonants ('finish' → 'finishi').
  • Vietnamese speakers: For Vietnamese speakers one issue towers over all others: final consonants.
  • Thai speakers: Thai allows very few final sounds, so English word-endings are the top priority: 'rice' → 'rai', 'bill' → 'bin'.

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-NURquestionnairekwes-chuh-NAIRenvironmentin-VY-run-muntphenomenonfuh-NOM-ih-nunhierarchyHY-uh-rar-keegenreZHON-ruh

Keep exploring

Frequently asked questions

How do you pronounce infrastructure?
infrastructure is pronounced IN-fruh-struk-chuh, written /ˈɪnfrəstrʌktʃə/ in IPA. Stress the first syllable: IN-fruh-struk-chuh.
How many syllables are in infrastructure?
four: IN-fruh-struk-chuh. The stress falls on “IN”.
What is the most common mistake with infrastructure?
in-fruh-STRUK-chuh — moving the stress to the third syllable. Structure on its own is stressed on its first syllable, and adding infra- moves primary stress all the way to the front. The /str/ cluster twice in one word also takes control.

The full sound library

Next step

Find every word you're getting wrong

SpeakMetry's Pronunciation Coach scores your speech on the features IELTS examiners assess — individual sounds, word and sentence stress, intonation and rhythm — and builds a plan from your weakest sounds. Free to start.

Try the Pronunciation Coach free