How to pronounce “Loughborough”

LUF-bruh

2 syllables · stress on “LUF”

LUFbruh

Britishˈlʌfbrə

Americanˈlʌfbʌroʊ

In short

“Loughborough” is pronounced LUF-bruh: 2 syllables, with the stress on “LUF”. The word contains the -ough spelling twice and pronounces it two different ways: /ʌf/ the first time and a weak /brə/ the second. Twelve letters, two syllables. The version to avoid is LOW-buh-ROW — four syllables, guessing at both “ough” spellings.

Say “Loughborough” in 3 steps

1Two syllables: LUF-bruh.
2The first -ough is /ʌf/, as in “rough” and “tough”.
3The -borough ending is a weak “bruh”, as in Edinburgh and Peterborough.

The version to avoid

Commonly said as: LOW-buh-ROW — four syllables, guessing at both “ough” spellings

The word contains the -ough spelling twice and pronounces it two different ways: /ʌf/ the first time and a weak /brə/ the second. Twelve letters, two syllables.

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 “Loughborough” 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

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Say it yourself

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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.

ll as in light ʌu as in cup ff as in fan bb as in bed rr as in red əa as in about (schwa)

More british place names

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

WorcestershireWUUS-tuh-shuh LeicesterLES-tuh GloucesterGLOS-tuh EdinburghED-in-bruh ThamesTEMZ GreenwichGREN-ich

Frequently asked questions

How do you pronounce Loughborough?

Loughborough is pronounced LUF-bruh, written /ˈlʌfbrə/ in IPA. Two syllables: LUF-bruh.

How many syllables are in Loughborough?

two: LUF-bruh. The stress falls on “LUF”.

What is the most common mistake with Loughborough?

LOW-buh-ROW — four syllables, guessing at both “ough” spellings. The word contains the -ough spelling twice and pronounces it two different ways: /ʌf/ the first time and a weak /brə/ the second. Twelve letters, two syllables.

The full sound library

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