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How to pronounce cupboard

Cupboard is pronounced KUB-erd in American English and KUB-ud in British English. It has two syllables with the stress on the first. The P is silent, and board shrinks to a weak erd or ud.

Say it yourself
  • 2 syllables
  • Stress on KUB
  • Sounds like cub
  • Checked in Cambridge and Oxford

cupboard

Two syllables, stress on the first

noun · a piece of furniture or a small space with a door and shelves, for keeping dishes, food or clothes

  1. KUBkʌb (stressed)
  2. erdɚd
  • US /ˈkʌb.ɚd/KUB-erd Recorded voice
  • UK /ˈkʌb.əd/KUB-ud Your device’s voice

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

Cupboard, sound by sound

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

US American English/ˈkʌb.ɚd/

  1. KUBstressed

    • /k/as in cat
    • /ʌ/as in cup
    • /b/as in bad

  2. erd

    • /ɚ/as in mother (US)
    • /d/as in did

UK British English/ˈkʌb.əd/

  1. KUBstressed

    • /k/as in cat
    • /ʌ/as in cup
    • /b/as in bad

  2. ud

    • /ə/as in about
    • /d/as in did

Say cupboard yourself

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

Tip. Start with KUB, like cub. The P is silent and the B follows at once.

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

Say it

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cupboard

    Common cupboard pronunciation mistakes

    What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say KUB-erd.

    • NotKUP-bord

      Reading the two words cup and board. The P is silent, and the second part is weak.

    • NotKUB-bord

      Dropping the P but keeping a full board. The second syllable is just erd (US) or ud (UK).

    • Notkup-BORD

      Stressing the second part. Put the stress on KUB.

    Cupboard 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.

    • The plates are in the cupboard above the sink.

    • Our kitchen cupboard is almost empty.

    • In British English, a cupboard can also hold coats.

    Why is cupboard not pronounced cup board?

    It once was a cup board: in Middle English, cuppeborde was a board or table where cups and plates were set out to show. As the two parts became one everyday word, the sounds merged.

    First the P changed to B, because B was next to it. By the 1500s people were already saying KUB-. The spelling with P won anyway, and it has been standard since the 1700s. Then board, no longer stressed, shrank to a weak erd.

    So say it as one word, not two: KUB plus a short erd or ud.

    Words that sound like cupboard

    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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