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How to pronounce sandwich

Sandwich is pronounced SAN-wich, with two syllables and the stress on the first. The d is usually not said, so the first syllable is san, like the start of Santa.

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  • 2 syllables
  • Stress on SAN
  • US and UK IPA
  • Checked in Cambridge and Oxford

sandwich

Two syllables, stress on the first

noun · two slices of bread with food between them

  1. SANsæn (stressed)
  2. wichwɪtʃ
  • US /ˈsæn.wɪtʃ/SAN-wich Recorded voice
  • UK /ˈsæn.wɪtʃ/SAN-wich Your device’s voice

Also said: UK /ˈsæn.wɪdʒ/.

IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Cambridge lists SAN-wij for British English. Oxford lists SAN-wich for both accents, which most people use. The recording is American English.

Sandwich, sound by sound

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

USUK American and British English/ˈsæn.wɪtʃ/

  1. SANstressed

    • /s/as in see
    • /æ/as in cat
    • /n/as in now

  2. wich

    • /w/as in wet
    • /ɪ/as in sit
    • /tʃ/as in chair

Say sandwich yourself

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

Tip. The d is not needed. Say SAN-wich: an n, then w. Not SAND-wich.

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

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sandwich

    Common sandwich pronunciation mistakes

    What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say SAN-wich.

    • NotSAND-wich

      Saying a clear d. It is not wrong, but it is rare. Most people drop it.

    • Notsan-WICH

      Stressing the second syllable. The stress is on SAN.

    • NotSAN-weech

      Making the last vowel long. It is the short i of sit.

    Sandwich 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.

    • I made a cheese sandwich for lunch.

    • She ate a sandwich on the bus.

    • Would you like a sandwich or a salad?

    Do you say the d in sandwich?

    Usually not. In fast, natural speech most people say SAN-wich, and the d disappears between the n and the w. Some people do say it, SAND-wich, and nobody will mind, but SAN-wich is more common.

    The word is named after the Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu, an 18th-century English nobleman who is said to have been the first person to eat this food. His title comes from the town of Sandwich in Kent.

    The ending is not wedge. It is -wich, as in witch, with a ch sound. Cambridge also lists a British form with a j sound at the end, SAN-wij, but SAN-wich is the usual one in both accents.

    Words that sound like sandwich

    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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