Pronunciation · Words with silent letters

How to pronounce “receipt”

rih-SEET

2 syllables · stress on “SEET”

rihSEET

Britishrɪˈsiːt

Americanrɪˈsiːt

In short

“receipt” is pronounced rih-SEET: 2 syllables, with the stress on “SEET”. Like subtle, the p is a scholarly insertion from Latin recepta. English never pronounced it. The related verb receive has no p at all, which is the clue. The version to avoid is rih-SEEPT — sounding the p.

Say “receipt” in 3 steps

1The p is silent: rih-SEET.
2Stress the second syllable, which is a long /iː/ as in “see”.
3End cleanly on a /t/ — do not let it become a soft d.

The version to avoid

Commonly said as: rih-SEEPT — sounding the p

Like subtle, the p is a scholarly insertion from Latin recepta. English never pronounced it. The related verb receive has no p at all, which is the clue.

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 “receipt”, 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.

rr as in red ɪi as in sit ss as in see iːee as in see tt as in tea

Don't confuse it with…

Minimal pairs isolate the exact contrast this word depends on — the fastest way to train both ear and mouth.

/ɪ/ vs /iː/: ship vs sheep

More words with silent letters

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

WednesdayWENZ-day subtleSUT-ul salmonSAM-un islandEYE-lund debtDET psychologysy-KOL-uh-jee

Frequently asked questions

How do you pronounce receipt?

receipt is pronounced rih-SEET, written /rɪˈsiːt/ in IPA. The p is silent: rih-SEET.

How many syllables are in receipt?

two: rih-SEET. The stress falls on “SEET”.

What is the most common mistake with receipt?

rih-SEEPT — sounding the p. Like subtle, the p is a scholarly insertion from Latin recepta. English never pronounced it. The related verb receive has no p at all, which is the clue.

The full sound library

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