Pronunciation · Words with fewer syllables than they look

How to pronounce “temperature”

TEM-pruh-chuh

3 syllables · stress on “TEM”

TEMpruhchuh

Britishˈtemprətʃə

Americanˈtempərətʃər

In short

“temperature” is pronounced TEM-pruh-chuh: 3 syllables, with the stress on “TEM”. Two things happen at once: a vowel is deleted after the p, and the -ture ending becomes a /tʃə/ sound rather than “tyoor”. Both are invisible in the spelling. The version to avoid is tem-pe-ra-TURE — four syllables ending like the word “tour”.

Say “temperature” in 3 steps

1Three syllables: TEM-pruh-chuh.
2Delete the vowel after the p — “tempra”, not “tem-pe-ra”.
3The -ture ending is “chuh”, the same ending as in “picture” and “nature”.

The version to avoid

Commonly said as: tem-pe-ra-TURE — four syllables ending like the word “tour”

Two things happen at once: a vowel is deleted after the p, and the -ture ending becomes a /tʃə/ sound rather than “tyoor”. Both are invisible in the spelling.

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 “temperature”, 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.

British vs American

American English often keeps a fourth syllable: TEM-per-uh-cher.

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.

tt as in tea ee as in bed mm as in man pp as in pen rr as in red əa as in about (schwa)tʃch as in chair

More words with fewer syllables than they look

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

comfortableKUMF-tuh-bul vegetableVEJ-tuh-bul chocolateCHOK-lut interestingIN-truh-sting restaurantRES-tront businessBIZ-nus

Frequently asked questions

How do you pronounce temperature?

temperature is pronounced TEM-pruh-chuh, written /ˈtemprətʃə/ in IPA. Three syllables: TEM-pruh-chuh.

How many syllables are in temperature?

three: TEM-pruh-chuh. The stress falls on “TEM”.

What is the most common mistake with temperature?

tem-pe-ra-TURE — four syllables ending like the word “tour”. Two things happen at once: a vowel is deleted after the p, and the -ture ending becomes a /tʃə/ sound rather than “tyoor”. Both are invisible in the spelling.

Is temperature pronounced differently in British and American English?

American English often keeps a fourth syllable: TEM-per-uh-cher. IELTS accepts either accent, so choose one model and stay consistent.

The full sound library

Next step

Find every word you're getting wrong

SpeakMetry's Pronunciation Coach scores your speech on the features IELTS examiners assess — individual sounds, word and sentence stress, intonation and rhythm — and builds a plan from your weakest sounds. Free to start.

Try the Pronunciation Coach free