Pronunciation · Everyday words people get wrong

How to pronounce “often”

OF-un

2 syllables · stress on “OF”

OFun

Britishˈɒfən

Americanˈɔːfən

In short

“often” is pronounced OF-un: 2 syllables, with the stress on “OF”. The t is silent for most speakers, but a spelling-influenced OF-ten has become common and is now listed in dictionaries. Both are acceptable; only the stress is fixed. The version to avoid is Neither form is wrong — but stressing the second syllable is.

Say “often” in 3 steps

1Most common form: OF-un, with a silent t.
2OF-ten with a pronounced t is also standard now.
3Stress the first syllable either way.

The version to avoid

Commonly said as: Neither form is wrong — but stressing the second syllable is

The t is silent for most speakers, but a spelling-influenced OF-ten has become common and is now listed in dictionaries. Both are acceptable; only the stress is fixed.

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 “often”, 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.

ɒo as in hot ff as in fan əa as in about (schwa)nn as in no

More everyday words people get wrong

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

clothesKLOHDHZ monthsMUNTHS sixthSIKSTH askedAHSKT FebruaryFEB-roo-uh-ree libraryLY-bruh-ree

Frequently asked questions

How do you pronounce often?

often is pronounced OF-un, written /ˈɒfən/ in IPA. Most common form: OF-un, with a silent t.

How many syllables are in often?

two: OF-un. The stress falls on “OF”.

What is the most common mistake with often?

Neither form is wrong — but stressing the second syllable is. The t is silent for most speakers, but a spelling-influenced OF-ten has become common and is now listed in dictionaries. Both are acceptable; only the stress is fixed.

The full sound library

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