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How to pronounce build

Build is pronounced BILD, exactly like the word billed. It is one syllable with the short i of bill, and the U is silent. The past tense, built, is BILT.

Say it yourself
  • 1 syllable
  • Stress on BILD
  • Sounds like billed
  • Checked in Cambridge and Oxford

build

One syllable

verb and noun · to make something by putting parts together; the size and shape of a person's body

  1. BILDbɪld (stressed)
  • US /bɪld/BILD Recorded voice
  • UK /bɪld/BILD Your device’s voice

IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. The recording is American English.

Build, sound by sound

Each sound in the IPA, with a word you already know that has it.

USUK American and British English/bɪld/

  1. BILDstressed

    • /b/as in bad
    • /ɪ/as in sit
    • /l/as in leg
    • /d/as in did

Say build yourself

Press the microphone and say it once. Your browser writes down what it hears: if it writes build, you were understood. If it writes another word, you see which sound changed.

Tip. Say BILD, like billed. The U is silent and the vowel is the short i in bill.

Record yourself and play it next to our recording: the quickest way to hear a difference.

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build

    Common build pronunciation mistakes

    What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say BILD.

    • NotBWILD

      Reading u as a w sound. The U is silent: start with B and go straight to the i.

    • NotBEELD

      Making the vowel long, as in feel. It is the short i in bill.

    • NotBILT

      Ending with T. That is built, the past tense. Build ends in a voiced D.

    Build in a sentence

    Hear each one, slow it down, then say it. Words change a little when they join others, so practise them in sentences too.

    • They plan to build a new bridge next year.

    • It takes time to build trust with new people.

    • He has a strong, athletic build.

    Why does build have a u in it?

    The vowel in build has been written many ways. The Old English verb was byldan. Middle English writers spelled it bilden, bylden, buylden and more. The form with ui is the one that stayed, but the sound stayed the short i.

    Busy has the same kind of spelling: a U on the page, the short i of bit in the mouth. Guild works like build too.

    Read build as if it were spelled bild. Keep the vowel short and end with a voiced D, not a T, so that it does not turn into built.

    Words that sound like build

    Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.

    More words with silent letters

    All 170 difficult words

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