How to pronounce “pho”

FUH

1 syllable · stress on “FUH”

FUH

Britishfɜː

Americanfɜː

In short

“pho” is pronounced FUH: 1 syllable, with the stress on the only syllable. The Vietnamese vowel is closer to the /ɜː/ of “her” than to “oh”. The spelling suggests an English long o, which is why almost everyone guesses wrong first. The version to avoid is FOH — rhyming it with “go”.

Say “pho” in 3 steps

1One syllable, closer to “fuh” than “foh”.
2The vowel is the /ɜː/ of “her”, without the r.
3Vietnamese uses a rising tone that English does not reproduce; the vowel is the part that matters.

The version to avoid

Commonly said as: FOH — rhyming it with “go”

The Vietnamese vowel is closer to the /ɜː/ of “her” than to “oh”. The spelling suggests an English long o, which is why almost everyone guesses wrong first.

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 “pho” 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.

ff as in fan ɜːer as in bird

More food and drink words

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

croissantKWAS-on quinoaKEEN-wah gnocchiNYOK-ee bruschettabroo-SKET-uh espressoe-SPRES-oh jalapeñohal-uh-PAY-nyoh

Frequently asked questions

How do you pronounce pho?

pho is pronounced FUH, written /fɜː/ in IPA. One syllable, closer to “fuh” than “foh”.

How many syllables are in pho?

one: FUH. The stress falls on “FUH”.

What is the most common mistake with pho?

FOH — rhyming it with “go”. The Vietnamese vowel is closer to the /ɜː/ of “her” than to “oh”. The spelling suggests an English long o, which is why almost everyone guesses wrong first.

The full sound library

Next step

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