Pronunciation · Words with silent letters

How to pronounce “island”

EYE-lund

2 syllables · stress on “EYE”

EYElund

Britishˈaɪlənd

Americanˈaɪlənd

In short

“island” is pronounced EYE-lund: 2 syllables, with the stress on “EYE”. The s is a false insertion: the word comes from Old English igland and has nothing to do with Latin insula, though scribes assumed it did and added the letter. The version to avoid is IS-land — sounding the s.

Say “island” in 3 steps

1The s is silent. The word starts exactly like the word “I”.
2Two syllables: EYE-lund.
3The second syllable is weak — “lund” with a schwa, not “land”.

The version to avoid

Commonly said as: IS-land — sounding the s

The s is a false insertion: the word comes from Old English igland and has nothing to do with Latin insula, though scribes assumed it did and added the letter.

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

2 human recordings

Actual people saying “island”, 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 Association Shtooka, Judith Franck and stalker of Amanda T and Amanda found out Dvortygirl, licensed under CC BY 3.0 us / 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.

aɪi as in my ll as in light əa as in about (schwa)nn as in no dd as in day

More words with silent letters

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

WednesdayWENZ-day subtleSUT-ul receiptrih-SEET salmonSAM-un debtDET psychologysy-KOL-uh-jee

Frequently asked questions

How do you pronounce island?

island is pronounced EYE-lund, written /ˈaɪlənd/ in IPA. The s is silent. The word starts exactly like the word “I”.

How many syllables are in island?

two: EYE-lund. The stress falls on “EYE”.

What is the most common mistake with island?

IS-land — sounding the s. The s is a false insertion: the word comes from Old English igland and has nothing to do with Latin insula, though scribes assumed it did and added the letter.

The full sound library

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