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How to pronounce owl

Owl is pronounced OWL, with the ow of now and cow. It is one syllable that rhymes with howl and fowl, not with bowl. It is the same in American and British English, though some speakers stretch it to almost two beats.

Say it yourself
  • 1 syllable
  • Stress on OWL
  • US and UK IPA
  • Checked in Cambridge and Oxford

owl

One syllable

noun · a bird with large eyes that hunts at night

  1. OWLaʊl (stressed)
  • US /aʊl/OWL Recorded voice
  • UK /aʊl/OWL Your device’s voice

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

Owl, sound by sound

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

USUK American and British English/aʊl/

  1. OWLstressed

    • /aʊ/as in now
    • /l/as in leg

Say owl yourself

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

Tip. The ow is the vowel in now and cow, not the oh in bowl.

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

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owl

    Common owl pronunciation mistakes

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

    • NotOHL

      Using the ow of bowl and own. Owl has the ow of now.

    • NotAWL

      Saying it like all. Open your mouth wide and glide: ow.

    • NotHOWL

      Adding an h. That makes howl, the long cry of a wolf. Owl starts with the vowel.

    Owl 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.

    • An owl hooted in the trees all night.

    • My sister is a real night owl.

    • The owl turned its head toward the noise.

    Does owl rhyme with bowl or howl?

    English uses the letters ow for two different vowels. One is the ow in now, cow and how. The other is the oh in bowl, low and own. Owl has the first one. The spelling gives no clue, so you learn each word.

    The sound has changed over time. In Old English the bird was ūle, with a long oo. Later, long oo became ow in many words, which is how hūs became house and mūs became mouse.

    Its relatives in other languages keep an older vowel: German Eule and Dutch uil. To get the English word right, start from now and add an l: OWL.

    Words that sound like owl

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

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