Pronunciation · Words that change with stress

How to pronounce “suspect”

SUS-pekt

2 syllables · stress on “SUS”

SUSpekt

Britishˈsʌspekt

Americanˈsʌspekt

In short

“suspect” is pronounced SUS-pekt: 2 syllables, with the stress on “SUS”. The noun names a person and the verb describes a belief, so the meanings feel close enough that learners do not expect a sound difference. The version to avoid is suh-SPEKT for the person.

Say “suspect” in 3 steps

1Noun (a person): SUS-pekt.
2Verb (to think something is true): suh-SPEKT.
3The adjective (“a suspect claim”) follows the noun pattern: SUS-pekt.

The version to avoid

Commonly said as: suh-SPEKT for the person

The noun names a person and the verb describes a belief, so the meanings feel close enough that learners do not expect a sound difference.

“suspect” as a verb

Used when suspect means to believe something is probably true.

suh-SPEKT

səˈspekt · stress on “SPEKT”

suhSPEKT

Hear real people say it

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Real speakers

1 human recording

Actual people saying “suspect”, 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

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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.

ss as in see ʌu as in cup pp as in pen ee as in bed kk as in key tt as in tea

More words that change with stress

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

presentPREZ-unt recordREK-ord objectOB-jikt subjectSUB-jikt projectPROJ-ekt contractKON-trakt

Frequently asked questions

How do you pronounce suspect?

suspect is pronounced SUS-pekt, written /ˈsʌspekt/ in IPA. Noun (a person): SUS-pekt.

How many syllables are in suspect?

two: SUS-pekt. The stress falls on “SUS”.

What is the most common mistake with suspect?

suh-SPEKT for the person. The noun names a person and the verb describes a belief, so the meanings feel close enough that learners do not expect a sound difference.

Does suspect change as a verb?

Yes. Used when suspect means to believe something is probably true. That form is pronounced suh-SPEKT, /səˈspekt/ in IPA.

The full sound library

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