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    Pronunciation · Words with fewer syllables than they look

    How to pronounce “literature”

    LIT-ruh-chuh

    3 syllables · stress on “LIT”

    LITruhchuh
    Britishˈlɪtrətʃə
    Americanˈlɪtərətʃər

    In short

    “literature” is pronounced LIT-ruh-chuh: 3 syllables, with the stress on “LIT”. Same two problems as temperature: a deleted vowel in the middle and a -ture ending that becomes /tʃə/ rather than “tyoor”. The version to avoid is li-te-ra-TURE — four syllables ending like “tour”.

    Say “literature” in 3 steps

    1. 1Three syllables: LIT-ruh-chuh.
    2. 2Stress the first syllable.
    3. 3The -ture ending is “chuh”, exactly as in picture, feature and nature.

    The version to avoid

    Commonly said as: li-te-ra-TURE — four syllables ending like “tour”

    Same two problems as temperature: a deleted vowel in the middle and a -ture ending that becomes /tʃə/ rather than “tyoor”.

    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 “literature”, 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

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    Three speakers per accent

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    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.

    ll as in lightɪi as in sittt as in tearr as in redəa as in about (schwa)tʃch as in chair

    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-bulvegetableVEJ-tuh-bulchocolateCHOK-lutinterestingIN-truh-stingtemperatureTEM-pruh-chuhrestaurantRES-tront

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    Frequently asked questions

    How do you pronounce literature?
    literature is pronounced LIT-ruh-chuh, written /ˈlɪtrətʃə/ in IPA. Three syllables: LIT-ruh-chuh.
    How many syllables are in literature?
    three: LIT-ruh-chuh. The stress falls on “LIT”.
    What is the most common mistake with literature?
    li-te-ra-TURE — four syllables ending like “tour”. Same two problems as temperature: a deleted vowel in the middle and a -ture ending that becomes /tʃə/ rather than “tyoor”.

    The full sound library

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