Pronunciation · Everyday words people get wrong

How to pronounce “probably”

PROB-uh-blee

3 syllables · stress on “PROB”

PROBuhblee

Britishˈprɒbəbli

Americanˈprɑːbəbli

In short

“probably” is pronounced PROB-uh-blee: 3 syllables, with the stress on “PROB”. Two b sounds separated by a weak vowel. Native speakers often reduce the whole word to “probly” in fast speech, so the careful form is rarely modelled. The version to avoid is pro-BAB-lee — stressing the second syllable.

Say “probably” in 3 steps

1Stress the first syllable: PROB-uh-blee.
2The middle syllable is very weak — barely a schwa.
3The fast form “PROB-lee” is normal in conversation and not an error.

The version to avoid

Commonly said as: pro-BAB-lee — stressing the second syllable

Two b sounds separated by a weak vowel. Native speakers often reduce the whole word to “probly” in fast speech, so the careful form is rarely modelled.

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 “probably”, 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.

pp as in pen rr as in red ɒo as in hot bb as in bed əa as in about (schwa)ll as in light iːee as in see

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 probably?

probably is pronounced PROB-uh-blee, written /ˈprɒbəbli/ in IPA. Stress the first syllable: PROB-uh-blee.

How many syllables are in probably?

three: PROB-uh-blee. The stress falls on “PROB”.

What is the most common mistake with probably?

pro-BAB-lee — stressing the second syllable. Two b sounds separated by a weak vowel. Native speakers often reduce the whole word to “probly” in fast speech, so the careful form is rarely modelled.

The full sound library

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