Skip to the word
Slova
Start learning
Menu

How to pronounce cliche

Cliche is pronounced klee-SHAY in American English and KLEE-shay in British English. It has two syllables, and the stress moves. The ch is sh, and the end rhymes with day.

Say it yourself
  • 2 syllables
  • Stress on SHAY
  • US and UK IPA
  • Checked in Cambridge and Oxford

cliche

Two syllables, stress on the second

noun · a phrase or idea that has been used so often that it has lost its meaning

  1. kleekliː
  2. SHAYʃeɪ (stressed)
  • US /kliːˈʃeɪ/klee-SHAY Recorded voice
  • UK /ˈkliː.ʃeɪ/KLEE-shay Your device’s voice

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

Cliche, sound by sound

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

US American English/kliːˈʃeɪ/

  1. klee

    • /k/as in cat
    • /l/as in leg
    • /iː/as in see

  2. SHAYstressed

    • /ʃ/as in shoe
    • /eɪ/as in day

UK British English/ˈkliː.ʃeɪ/

  1. KLEEstressed

    • /k/as in cat
    • /l/as in leg
    • /iː/as in see

  2. shay

    • /ʃ/as in shoe
    • /eɪ/as in day

Say cliche yourself

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

Tip. US: klee-SHAY, stressed at the end. UK: KLEE-shay, stressed at the start.

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

Say it

Say this word

cliche

    Common cliche pronunciation mistakes

    What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say klee-SHAY.

    • NotKLICH

      Reading it as one syllable with ch. It has two syllables and ends in AY.

    • Notklee-CHAY

      Saying ch as in chair. In this French word ch is sh.

    • NotKLY-shay

      Using the eye sound in the first syllable. It is the ee of see.

    Cliche 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.

    • Saying that it was only a dream is a cliche.

    • The film is full of every cliche you can think of.

    • It may be a cliche, but it is true.

    How do you say cliche?

    Cliche is a French word, so ch is sh, as in chef and machine, not ch as in chair. The end is the ay of day.

    The stress changes between accents. In the US it is on the second syllable: klee-SHAY. In Britain, speakers usually stress the first: KLEE-shay. Both dictionaries show that difference.

    The word is French for a printing plate that makes the same print again and again. That fits the meaning: a cliche is an expression that has been printed so many times that it feels worn. English usually writes it without the accent, so it looks like it is said CLITCH.

    Words that sound like cliche

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

    More words from other languages

    All 170 difficult words

    Say words like cliche out loud with Slova

    In Slova you say new words out loud in every lesson, at your level, in lessons built around what you love.

    Start learning free
    All free tools